Friday 21st July 2023
After only getting to sleep at 2am I woke up feeling rather fresh. It was time to leave Blackpool so packed my bags and set off for the small station near my hotel. I'd arrived in the bigger station and walked down, so I wasn't sure what facilities the South station would have. Turns out nothing more than rain shelters. I was an hour early for my train and fortunately there was a tiny, affordable Cafe that I got some breakfast from. The owner was very friendly and chatty too so it passed the time quickly.
The train trip to Morecambe had me change 3 times and I was a little nervous as the middle train delayed my changing platform time to three minutes and there were stairs to climb. Fortunately the last train was delayed too so all ended well. Speaking of delays, my trip from London got fully refunded due to the hour delay on route, so I gladly received my £22 into my account today. I find this kind of thing amazing. Coming from South Africa, where consumers no longer seem to have any rights, it's fantastic when apologies and compensation happens here with encouragement and without a huge debate.
My friend met me at the Morecambe station and we walked to her lovely flat right across from the sea. It's a stunning view and confirms my wish that whenever I settle, I want a view. The rain had lifted long enough for us to take a leisurely walk down to a postcard village of Heysham along a wide promenade.
The tiny town has a picturesque church with a graveyard with a stunning view. There's also a fascinating ruin of an old chapel possibly from the 8th century.
"Of historical interest are the stone-hewn graves in the ruins of the ancient St. Patrick's Chapel, close to St Peter's Church. They are thought to date from the 11th century, and are carved from solid rock. Local legend has it that St Patrick landed here after crossing from Ireland and established the chapel. However it has been established that the chapel was built around 300 years after Patrick's death. These stone graves appear on the cover of the Black Sabbath CD, The Best of Black Sabbath." -Wikipedia
I was in my element, although my feet were extremely sore due to a flare up of my neuromas which I had in 2013. I tried all my tricks to calm them down but in the end I hobbled back to Sam's flat and made up a 5km walk. We had dinner and I stared at the rapidly disappearing tide and right now, the rain and the mist has returned. The view over towards the Lake district, Grange on Sands has now closed. While Europe experiences a heatwave, the English schools closed for the summer today. I hope it returns tomorrow.
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