FERRY CROSS THE WYRE...

Day off today which saw the BF and I hit the heady heights of Fleetwood. Now Fleetwood has so much more to offer than the smell of fish and a population so insular it's positively incestuous. My goodness yes.. for Fleetwood has a McDonalds and a KFC, the Freeport shopping experience and a ferry service to Knott End. After a few burps following a McDonalds summer chicken deluxe meal and McFlurry, we decided that a good walk down Fleetwood's front would kill off some cholesterol. Fleetwood's Lifeboat station were having a fundraising day so there were stalls, a folk band and trips out on the lifeboat. There was a huge queue for the lifeboat so in a fit of impulsiveness, we headed towards the Knott End Ferry. Don't ask me why, even we weren't sure why we did it. We were joined by passengers with an average age of 72, about 23 dogs, a captain with a jaunty hat and ruddy cheeks and his very heavily tattooed and slightly deranged looking first mate. Halfway across the Wyre estuary and the boat was rocking quite significantly in the really choppy waters and looked a lot like it was drifting. I had a slight pang of worry mixed with biting my bottom lip at the prospect of being winched up by a Coastguard helicopter just off the Isle of Man. It got considerably worse when I looked up and saw the first mate looking in my direction with a crazed look in his eyes whilst stabbing the back of his hand with a compass. It was with much relief he was finally distracted when we landed on the slipway and he had to chuck out a big rope and secure the boat. We made our way up to the village of Knott End which let me say is nice.. nice in that you would live there as a form of euthanasia. It feels like the end of the road and to some extent it is. To drive there takes an eternity from anywhere. There simply is no reason to go there except live very quietly and slowly die of boredom. We strung out 30 minutes walking and looking out to sea before hitting the one and only coffee shop which was surprisingly busy with little white haired people in wheelchairs. We made our way back to the ferry and my heart sank when I saw Fleetwood's answer to 'Heeeeere's Johnny' licking his lips as he cast a homicidal glance towards my direction. Back to Fleetwood and we had a look round Freeport. It's a shopping outlet area built in the design of a New England  village. It also has four of probably the greatest outlet shops ever:- GAP, M&S, Next and Cadburys World. Replenished of GAP hoodies, we head off for a Costa coffee and then home to reflect on why our clothes stunk of fish and sea water....