Stories by Anne Knight
Holiday at Morecambe
Morcambe Bay
The car arrived, the bags arranged neatly in the boot. Gran's big
stick lay at the bottom of the boot underneath the heavy bags; now the
boot’s shut and on our way to Morecambe. Stopping at Botany Bay. First
we had dinner on the top floor, then we walked around looking at items.
An hour had passed so we were on our way to the caravan site where we
were staying. We got there at exactly four o'clock which was the opening
time to collect your keys. We made our way to our caravan and Hannah put
the key into the door: ‘Wow, it's big’.
Hannah's mum, Margaret, and Margaret's dad, Ben, went shopping. Hannah
and her gran sorted out the clothes. Hannah found the teapot with
teabags, milk and sugar, also some white cups. She brewed up a lovely
cup of tea. Margaret and Ben returned with the shopping and Hannah
brewed up for them too, while Margaret and Gran put the groceries in the
cupboards, plus food for the fridge and the small freezer. Gran and Ben
did not know what to have to eat.
Next day we went to the Festival Hall Market, it was busy for a Tuesday
market. Hannah's mum was determined to find a cafe that her friend had
told her about, this cafe was called Artisan, we walked along by the
side of the shops and we saw the old bookshop which we had visited two
years ago. Books tossed here and there, even some on shelves. I found a
small poetry book on the Lakes, a slim volume, just a pound. We then
left the bookshop and went up a side road where charity shops were,
trust Ben he stayed outside he's not one for charity shops at all; but
we three had a good time. I bought Hannah a jigsaw which was in the
shape of a globe with sea life on. We wandered from one shop to another
looking at this and that. Hannah's mum said: ‘Well it’s lunchtime’. We
roamed onto the front and there was the little cafe, all four of us went
in and sat down, first we ordered the tea and it came back in a huge tea
pot and great big tea leaves. We all looked at the huge leaves, they
were massive. After that we studied the menu and three of us had scones.
Hannah had chocolate fudge cake because she didn't like scones!
We went home to our caravan after another walk around the pier, as the
meat would be done in the slow cooker. I made a spaghetti type meal but
found out that it was too much for one day, so I froze it. The next day
was Wednesday, we all woke up and Hannah decided that she wanted to go
swimming with her mum early in the morning. Ben wanted to go to
Carnforth to visit the train station as he is fond of trains. It was a
museum plus they did the Brief Encounter film there, David Lean's
classic made in 1945. We all went to the cafe, it was just like it used
to be. Three
of us had a portion of chips but not Margaret she had soup. We took many
photos and looked around the museum then it was time to return to the
caravan.
Next day Helen chose to go to Skipton, as she had not seen it since the
60's as a member of a group of YHA people. We were going to a hostel of
its day but missed the bus so we had to walk. Friday was our last day.
First we packed our bags, loaded up the car and set off for Heysham,
south of Morecambe. I took many photographs that day and we went into St
Peter's. A guide was telling people about the Vikings, so I didn’t stay
as I had listened to it two years ago. We walked down by the side of the
grave yard and looked out to sea, blue butterflies were flying
everywhere, I tried to take a photo but failed. Then we climbed up to
the top of the hill where Hannah was sitting looking at the sea. All of
us made our way to St Patrick's, the old ruin, it was once a monastery.
Not far away lay six stones graves side by side. We climbed higher, then
took more photos but Margaret's daughter, Hannah, decided to have a lie
down on the grass. It was really an idyllic day, no noise. Everyone who
was up there, past St Patrick's, sat quietly around. Some people sat or
perched themselves on the gravestones drinking tea and coffee and eating
sandwiches.
I started on my way down slowly, this brought Ben down and my girls. We
wandered into the old stable cafe and ordered tea for all plus scones,
Hannah had a slice of cake. As we left the cafe the sun shone more
brightly than at any time that day. Well we had to leave Heysham. We
walked down the slope to the car and made our way to Morecambe to the
cafe where we had all had our scones on Tuesday, but we decided to have
our dinner here. We arrived and had a most wonderful meal after this it
was time to leave Morecambe and make our way home. Ben said: ‘I wish it
had been a longer holiday’. We really did hit the road until we got to
our house, where, four days ago, the holiday began.