I was wondering if this blog was getting a bit mundane, - so I decided to add some extra spice. No, not the sort that is added to Morecambe Bay potted shimps, but on Saturday we went on a 9 mile guided walk across Morecambe Bay (going from Hest Bank near Morecambe to Grange-over-Sands).When we in the middle of the bay someone told me it was the seventh most dangerous place in the world! 
I thought of various active volcanoes, climbing high mountains and various political trouble spots but decided not to challenge him as I didn't want to fall out with anyone in a place which definitely is dangerous. Morecambe Bay is of course where over 20 cockle pickers tragically lost their lives (21 bodies were recovered but another two are believed to have died).
Apparently there are over 60 unrecovered vehicles out on the bay so it wasn't an isolated incident.
It's a vast area, notorious for its quicksand and fast moving tides. You should not attempt to cross it without a guide. We had to cross the River Keer and the River Kent - one of the fastest flowing rivers in England. The rivers keep changing their path to complicate matters. I learnt that a high tide the bay could be 30 feet deep and the tide comes in twice as fast as an Olympic swimmer!
Our guide told us that most of the losses on the Titanic were not due to drowning but hypothermia, he reckoned could survive in the Irish Sea for about 35 minutes in weather like we had, but in February would be lucky to last more than 4 minutes!
I don't like cockles, but the fishermen we met in the middle of the bay were after shrimps. Apparently they can get about £9 per lb for them -there's a lot of shrimps to the lb and I can think of lots of easier ways to make a living.
I thought of various active volcanoes, climbing high mountains and various political trouble spots but decided not to challenge him as I didn't want to fall out with anyone in a place which definitely is dangerous. Morecambe Bay is of course where over 20 cockle pickers tragically lost their lives (21 bodies were recovered but another two are believed to have died).Apparently there are over 60 unrecovered vehicles out on the bay so it wasn't an isolated incident.
It's a vast area, notorious for its quicksand and fast moving tides. You should not attempt to cross it without a guide. We had to cross the River Keer and the River Kent - one of the fastest flowing rivers in England. The rivers keep changing their path to complicate matters. I learnt that a high tide the bay could be 30 feet deep and the tide comes in twice as fast as an Olympic swimmer!
Our guide told us that most of the losses on the Titanic were not due to drowning but hypothermia, he reckoned could survive in the Irish Sea for about 35 minutes in weather like we had, but in February would be lucky to last more than 4 minutes!
I don't like cockles, but the fishermen we met in the middle of the bay were after shrimps. Apparently they can get about £9 per lb for them -there's a lot of shrimps to the lb and I can think of lots of easier ways to make a living.
If you would like to do the walk, there are two guides - Alan Sledmore and Cedric Robinson.
p.s. If you fancy doing this walk on 20th June 2010, you can do it with Diabetes UK, click here for details.
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