Southport Conference 2014 day 6 - Fleetwood

4^th November.  The last day of our trip to the North West and we decided to drive out of Blackpool to see what else the area had to offer. I think our destination had been decided a couple of days earlier, during a conversation with the Hotel Receptionist. We had cancelled our booking for breakfasts in the pub next door, and she was helpfully giving us some suggestions for good places to have breakfast. One of these was the Outlet Village in Fleetwood. ‘Uh-Oh’ I thought, ‘I know where we are going on Tuesday’.  Sure enough, we were up and out early this morning and heading for Fleetwood, about 8 miles along the coast north of Blackpool.

The tramway heads all the way into Fleetwood from Blackpool, and we more or less followed this all the way. Having no idea where exactly the outlet Village was, we just drove in along the main road, hoping to come across it. We didn’t. Whilst looking the address on her G4-enabled I-Pad, the DG made the serendipitous discovery that she could use her I-Pad as a Sat Nav. It was very clever, showing a road map of Fleetwood on which our position was denoted by a blue dot, that moved as we travelled along. How cool is that? We still had some work to do, as the navigator had to pass the directions to the driver, which necessitated knowing the difference between a left turn and a right turn. Anyway, after a couple of wrong turns we duly arrived at the Freeport Outlet Village.

                                                                 Freeport Outlet Village, Fleetwood

For the uninitiated, an Outlet Village is usually an out of town mall where major stores sell their products at discounts, possibly because they are discontinued lines, or have proved difficult to sell in their High Street stores for one reason or another. So, a shopping fest awaited the DG here. I am not averse to shopping myself if I’m in the mood, and if I’ve got some money. In fact I have quite a lot of designer clothing and am very loyal to one particular label. Unfortunately Florence and Fred didn’t seem to be represented at Fleetwood. I did, however, buy some trousers in Marks & Spencer which were so cheap even I couldn't resist.

                                                                  Even M & S are here

Our first job on arrival was to find some breakfast. My suggestion was to have a burger – not that I am a great fan of burgers for breakfast, but I thought it would be amusing to go home saying that I had had a Fleetwood Mac . Sadly, I was overruled and we settled instead on Wave café, which didn’t look too busy.  The arrangement here was that you ordered and paid for your food at the counter, then found a table and your food was brought to you. Pretty straightforward, I thought. I saw a couple ahead of us in the queue order two Full English breakfasts, and when our turn came we did the same, then went to find a table. We found ourselves sitting at a table adjacent to the other couple. After a surprisingly quick time, no more than a couple of minutes, a waitress came over  with two plates and called out ‘Two full breakfasts?’   ‘Yes, over here’ said the DG quickly, and two very fine breakfasts were put in front of us. However, I had a nagging thought that we had been given the other two people’s breakfasts, as they were still waiting for theirs. They obviously thought so too, as they were looking round at us. I whispered to the DG ‘I think we’ve got their food.’ She replied that it wasn’t our problem, so don’t worry about it.

                                                                 The 'Full English'

Then the woman at the next table got up and we heard her having strong words with the staff behind the counter.  When she came back, the DG said to her ‘I’m sorry, but I think we may have been given your breakfasts by mistake’. ‘It’s not your fault,’ said the woman behind clenched teeth, ‘the staff should have known.’ We commiserated, saying there should be table numbers or something to identify who has ordered what. Their food came along in double-quick time, but they were still unhappy, and as we made a hasty exit I saw her going over to talk to the staff again. Fortunately the Outlet Village covers quite a large area, so I was confident I could avoid them for the rest of our time there.

                                                                  Badly parked car seen near Outlet Village

As we wandered about the site, with the DG looking to see which store she would buy shoes and bags from (the usual suspects on these shopping trips), we came across some people having fun with something that looked like a kind of slot machine. On closer inspection it turned out to be a spiral Wishing Well, put there by the Rotary Club of Fleetwood. It is not uncommon for Rotary Clubs to instal Wishing Wells in Shopping Centres, but what was different about this one was that people clearly enjoyed putting their money into it. Instead of just throwing a coin in, you placed it in a slot, then let go, and watched your coin spiral round and round, like the little ball in Roulette, until eventually it drops into the hole at the bottom.  I am in favour of anything that can give people some entertainment whilst raising money, so I made a note to contact Fleetwood Rotary to find out more about it.

                                                                     The Spiral Wishing Well

With the shopping trip over, and bags loaded back into the car, we set off to enjoy some fresh air on this bright and mild day. We headed for the harbour, and parked up near the start of a promenade which would have taken us all the way back to Blackpool if we had stayed on it. It was a good tarmac track, perfect for wheelchairs, which went right along the shore, offering superb views out across the Wyre estuary and Morecambe Bay looking towards the Lake District. The sea was miles out, and we understand the muddy beaches around this area can be very dangerous, partly because when the tide comes in it is very fast, but also because the unwary can get stuck in the mud, which could have disastrous consequences.

                                                                 Looking North

We hadn’t walked far along the path when we met a man with two dogs, one of which was being towed behind his bike on a little covered trolley. The DG stopped to say hello to this little dog, and we chatted to the man who was very knowledgeable about the local area. He said he was originally from a village called Arnside, which was about 10 miles north of us, and said it was well worth a visit. I told him that I had indeed visited it when I was 17, and went on a hitch-hiking trip with a school friend. We stayed in a Youth Hostel in Arnside, and I had memories of a railway line crossing a tidal estuary there, on a viaduct, with infrequent trains rattling across. He assured me that the bridge was still there.

                                              Arnside Viaduct

We spent a pleasant hour or so strolling along the promenade, which understandably was a very popular spot for dog walkers, who are always ready to stop for a chat. The man we spoke to earlier said that if we get hungry, there was an excellent fish and chip shop a short walk from the promenade at a shelter that he pointed out to us. We did actually have a look for this chippy but we failed to find it.

                                                         Mount Pavilion - listed building near Promenade

                                                             Unusual building - Rossall Point marine Observatory

Eventually it was time to head back to the Hotel, where we chilled out for a while before heading out to dinner. On this evening we thought we would stay in Bispham, which seemed to have a good selection of Restaurants. Our decision was made, not so much by the quality of the menu, but by the only one that we could get in to, which was an Italian restaurant, where I had a fabulous steak in a Dolce Latte sauce. Thus our memorable visit to the North West had come to an end. In the morning we were up early and after braving the rush hour traffic, headed for the M6 and home.