Cross-Bay Walks

Several times a year through the summer months, organised walks take place across the sands of Morecambe Bay. Usually organised in aid of specific local charities and featuring up to 600 people each time, the walks are a great way to enjoy the beauty of Morecambe Bay from a different angle. Morecambe Bay is notoriously dangerous however, with areas of quicksand among its perils, so please only ever join an organised walk led by official guides.

People have been crossing the sands with a royally appointed guide since the 1500s. More recently, the 25^th Queen’s official Guide, local man Cedric Robinson MBE, retired in 2019 at the age of 86 after 56 years of guiding walkers safely across the sands. During his time, Cedric would walk the route the day before a crossing, setting out a safe route for walking parties, marking it out with laurel ‘brobs" (branches stuck in the sand as markers which would survive being underwater at high tide).

In 1985, Cedric guided Prince Philip across the sands in a horse-drawn carriage and on another occasion took celebrity chef Rick Stein across the sands during one of his TV programmes. He has written several books about his life and work as the Queen’s Official Guide to the Sands. Some of the books were illustrated by his wife Olive (1925-2021).

Cedric’s successor is Michael Wilson, a local fisherman, who continues the great tradition of leading walkers across the sands of the bay. According to Michael, “It helps a lot having been a shrimper because you are working in the channels and that's the most dangerous part of the water.”

The routes across the sands commonly went from Arnside to Kents Bank, but for the 2021 season, the finishing point became the end of Grange-over-Sands Promenade, beyond the famous Grange Lido. A local group is looking to restore the lido to its former glory after being derelict since its closure in 1993.

Grange promenade is a place worth exploring, offering a lovely flat walk along from the town itself, past the Lido. Along the way, you get superb views across the bay. The promenade often plays host to local events such as Grange Art, where local artisan craftspeople have stalls selling their products. There are also cafes, toilets and wonderful gardens along the promenade.

Only ever join official guided Cross Bay Walks.

Morecambe Bay is notoriously dangerous, with shifting sands, quick tides and areas of quicksand. As such, it is absolutely vital that you only attempt to cross the sands as part of an officially organised walk, led by an experienced guide team. Sometimes, walks have to be cancelled due to dangerous flows of water, caused by heavy rain in the preceding days. Severe weather on the day of the walk can also lead to cancellation.

On the evening of 5^th February 2004, the danger of the bay was tragically demonstrated when a group of Chinese Cockle Pickers were drowned by an incoming tide after picking cockles out in the bay. The Chinese workers were unfamiliar with local geography, language, and custom and they were cut off by the incoming tide in the bay around 9:30 p.m. Twenty-one bodies, of men and women between the ages of 18 and 45, were recovered from the bay after the incident.

Love, The Most Beautiful Of Absolute Disasters, popularly known as Venus and Cupid is a sculpture by Shane A. Johnstone which was erected in 2005 on Scalestone Point, a slight promontory and site of a former gun emplacement between the coast road and the sea, just outside Morecambe.

The sculpture, which is covered in multicoloured mosaics depicts a seated woman, facing out to sea, holding the hands of a child who is suspended in the air extending horizontally from her arms, as if being swung round to safety. The sculpture commemorates the 24 cockle-pickers who died.

With an officially organised and guided walk, you can be sure to cross the sands safely and fully enjoy this very special day out. Stay safe, always go with an organised group and you will have a superb time in this very beautiful place. Find out more about cross bay walks and upcoming events here.