Preston; Sunday, 16 November, 2014

Up early and out into the grey day for a trip out to the coast.

The last time I’d attempted to visit Morecambe the weather had taken a distinct turn for the worse, and in the face of a torrential downpour and biting wind I’d gone about 100 yards from the station before abandoning the attempt and heading back to the station.

Thankfully today the weather was considerably more benign with just a grey haze covering the horizon and reducing the visibility across the bay.

I had a long wander along the seafront taking in the pier and the recently restored Midland Hotel before heading back towards the centre and the statue of the town’s most famous son.

Unfortunately a couple of weeks earlier there had been an attempt to steal the statue of Eric Morecambe, so to protect the now damaged statue the local council had removed it for repairs, instead there was just a hole surrounded by fencing.

After a quick pit stop in a sea front café for a spot of lunch I headed back towards the station to pick up the train for a journey out into the countryside on the train.

I took the train out across the Lancashire countryside and into the Yorkshire Dales through the considerably quieter Clapham than its London namesake and down to Long Preston, just south of Settle.

I had a quick look at the timetables to see if it was possible to go back a different way either by Leeds or Carlisle, but in both cases, as it was a Sunday afternoon, there would have been a very long wait somewhere, so instead I retraced my steps back across the Dales to Lancaster and then back down to Preston.

Despite having not done very much all day, other than a bit of wandering along the seafront in Morecambe and a lot of sitting down staring out of the window, I was feeling really tired, so I had dinner in the hotel before turning in for an early night.