Wyre Way in sections (1)

SUNDAY 6th November '16

The Wyre Way is a strange long distance path (LDP), I say long distance but it is only 45 miles. It  starts at Abbeystead and makes a loop north then east following the Tarnbrook River Wyre into the attractive footings of the Bowland Hills then swings south and west to follow the Marshaw River Wyre without going to the source of either of these two feeders, then  returning to Abbeystead where the two rivers join to form the river Wyre proper.

The main river is then followed to its mouth at Knott End-on-Sea where logic would say it had achieved its objective, but no! The ferry is taken across the mouth to Fleetwood from where the walk follows the western coastline before cutting across the peninsula to finish back at the Shard Bridge over the Wyre. There seems to be no rationale for this final section or the finishing point, but there it is. The route is well way-marked, and I think well used.

Click to enlarge - The blue line shows my return path today - see below map for more detail

In January 2013 I walked the first loop from Abbeystead and back with Gimmer.

CLICK HERE TO SEE POST

Today I decided to carry on and walk the rest in sections using other paths to return to my starting point each time, which will take a few visits - I can only walk half the distance on the LDP from my total distance for each walk.

Please click to enlarge. This man-made beauty seemed to rival nature at its best - the whole ambience of the shimmering, flowing water and the sensuous curves moved me quite profoundly

A bit further downstream this elaborately designed bridge must have been associated with the waterworks of the weir - I'm not sure of the date but it comes from an age when design was considered well beyond utility - see next photo

Again, please click to enlarge. Note the round top rail with the contrasting square bottom rail and the elborately designed joining brackets and the elegantly tapered pillars

Back towards the weir - not much sunlight, but autumn colours and light still forceful

I quote below from the above mentioned post recording my earlier visit.
The commemorative stone with the plaque (photo below) is seen bottom left
"Abbeystead, starting point for this walk, was the scene of a dreadful explosion in an underground building at the waterworks in 1984 that killed 16 of a visiting party of 44.

Although I lived only a few miles away in Preston I have always had a feeling that I would somehow be intruding if I visited - the same applies to Lockerbie."

A more modern bridge than the iron beauty - utility rules

Dolphinholme
More attention to attractive stone built architecture in this backwater village

Start Abbeystead - clockwise

This waymarker was not on the Wyre Way, just a minor public footpath on my return route, and I saw no others to supplement it. Anybody any knowledge of its references? Note the letters "TA" on the top surface. As far as I can remeber it was located at approximately SD 554 533