For those of you that are thinking of going onto the hills I would strongly recommend that you read the advice given by the Mountain Rescue organisation of England and Wales. To read this advice, which will open in a new page please click HERE. If you would like to make a donation to the Mountain Rescue organisation which is purely voluntary please click HERE. Please make the time to read the advice page.

A glorious morning and really we should have been going to the Lakes or Dales, but I'm still feeling well below par. Maybe I just need a good kick up the backside to get me going but Edith isn't going to administer one, she would rather have me taking it easy until the weather warms a little. Anyway as we were having breakfast and deciding on what to do I had a phone call from an old friend who had been keeping me in touch with what was going on a Half Moon Bay. Regular readers may remember a short morning walk I did there recently and at long last the cable laying ship was in place. After a visit to see it we decided to move down the road for a short walk at Sunderland Point and a visit to Sambo's Grave and then another short but rather nostalgic one at Overton.

The ship seen here is the "Stemet Spirit" a cable laying ship which has been given the job of laying the cable which will connect the Ormonde off-shore wind farm to the UK's high voltage national grid.

Seen here are two of the three vessels that are supporting her. There is a tug (l) and two anchor vessels, one of which is on the right. The wind farm that can be seen in the distance is that off Walney Island near Barrow. The Ormonde wind farm will be a further 10 miles or so past there a distance of around 26 miles away in total.

The vessel was supposed to be start the work before Christmas but a combination of events, the latest being the finding of live shells on the beach by my old friend, which the bomb squad had to blow up have delayed things. At over £100,000 per day for the charter of the vessels it's an expensive job.

A wide angle shot showing all the vessels.

The end of the cable as been winched ashore along the row of rollers and will eventually go to a substation nearby. The other 26 miles or so is on board the ship and weighs around 3,500 tonnes. When all is completed at this end the ship will make its way to the Ormonde wind farm sub-station platform laying and burying the cable as she goes. The contraption seen on the beach here is the "plough" which carries out this function. The cable is buried between 2 and 3 metres deep I am told and if all goes well should be connected at the other end in around 5 weeks.

From Half Moon Bay it was only a short drive down the road to Sunderland Point.

A selection of boats, some good, some not so.

Across the River Lune to Clougha Pike and the hills of Bowland.

We set off along the foreshore towards First Terrace.

A look back along First Terrace. We had spent some time chatting to a couple who live and fish here.

At the end of First Terrace we took the lane down to the West Shore. The footpath on the left leads to Second Terrace with the road on the shore.

A look over to Meadow Farm

Arrival at the West Shore.

A look northwards to the power stations at Heysham. Our route was to the south.

A look over the wall to see that all is well at the grave.

Most of the stones on sticks have collapsed as the sticks rot, but a few remain.

Sambo's Grave looks as tidy as ever.

A big close-up of the wind farm off Walney Island and a ship at anchor in the Lune Deeps.

Looking over to Second Terrace with Clougha Pike behind.

A look back as we start to round the point.

Erosion at Sunderland Point......

.....and it's still going on.

We have now rounded the point and are on the east shore along the River Lune, here with a view over to Lancaster and Clougha Pike.

The stonier route along the east shore.

Approaching the Old Hall.

We sat on a bench here having a coffee and enjoying the view.

Second Terrace

The path and the road back to First Terrace.

Back to the car. The coach was here when we arrived. It had brought a party of schoolchildren who were being given a tour of the area.

We left the boots on and drove back over the tidal road to park up at Overton for a walk up the Hall Greave shown here.

The first section being tidal and also used by the farmer on his tractor was quite muddy but most could be avoided.

Just a couple of hundred yards along the shore there is rather a large stile, shown here by Edith in her best modelling pose.

It's a long way up, but only a couple of steps down.

From the stile the top of the triangulation point can be seen to the left of the tree.

A look back to Sunderland Point with the Fylde coast beyond.

The Isle of Man boat is on its way to Heysham Harbour.

On the top now with views to Clougha.

At the princely height of 96' above sea level even yours truly can still manage this. The Hall Greave was our first summit together around 1962 when I would have been 18 and home on leave from the Merchant Navy and Edith a la'al slip of a lass of 15. You can see from the picture how she's aged me....just joking.

We left the summit and made our way towards the churchyard where Edith wanted to take the Christmas wreaths off her parents grave.

Purely by coincidence, if you are a regular reader you should be viewing this on the 7th February, my birthday incidentally. On the 8th February 1969 we were married here at St Helens Church, Overton.

Walking back through the village we passed the Ship Hotel which was run at one time by the inimitable Ma McCluskie. She used to keep a Shillelagh behind the bar and woe betide anybody who caused trouble. Ma Mac's as the pub was affectionately known was very popular with the folk from north of the border who were staying in the guest houses or holiday camps of Morecambe and Heysham. This could have had something to do with the generous measures of whisky which Ma dispensed using a measuring jug which always overflowed into the glass. When I was on leave I always caught the last bus home and without fail it would be full of Scots and the bus would reverberate to the sounds of "Flower of Scotland" and similar all the way to Morecambe. We had our wedding reception in the upstairs room.

And finally The Globe Hotel.

Next Walk:      29th January 2011 - Lake District - Orrest Head from Moor Howe

Last Walk:    26th January 2011 - Arnside & Silverdale - Leighton Moss/Hall and Warton Crag 

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