Morgan 4/4 at the Dock!

As promised by the Met Office, the day dawned calm and bright, so with with lightness of heart and a skip and a jump, well perhaps not quite as athletically as that, I raised myself from my bed, completed my morning ablutions with a vigour that could only mean a drive was planned and gobbled my breakfast.

Let's face it, I was desperate, after waiting for a small window in the weather that would enable me to get out in the Mog and that window was small, from 8am to 12noon and then things would start to deteriorate again with another weather front due, bringing yet more rain and wind.

Glasson Dock

Oh, the joy of winding up the engine again and listening to it's captivating sound. I let it idle as I shunted the Volvo out of the end of it's garage, into the garden alongside the Morgan's home, thus enabling the Morgan to be reversed through the double-ended Volvo garage and into the drive. It's a bit like Crewe Goods Station marshalling yards!

With my wife settled in the passenger seat and dressed up to kill in her arctic gear and new ear muffs we were off with a stop at the first petrol station for fuel, where I was yet again bombarded with questions about the car. What a beauty! How old was it, how fast does it go, how much did it cost?....money and fair words my boy!

The roads were relatively dry and the winter morning sun was shining but barely clearing the horizon, which caused us to use the sun visors to good effect. Top down, they are only of use while the sun is low in the sky, either in the evening, soon after dawn or on a sunlit winter's day.

Towards Sunderland Point, River Lune estuary

With the heater on full blast we were comfortably warm and mentioning this brings to mind a conversation I had with Helen Thorne as she took me out on a test drive in a Plus Four prior to buying our 4/4, sadly for her from Life's in Southport. http://www.lifesmotors.com/

As we all know when purchasing a vehicle, perhaps especially a Morgan, you need to get the full approval of 'er indoors', otherwise you are likely to be batting on a very sticky wicket, because most women cannot see the obvious benefits in buying a Morgan as opposed to a shiny lump of rock for their finger or something similar. Helen suggested that in order to counter this, just mention the fact that the heating system is superb when top-down in the winter and that could serve as a very good additional bargaining tool when discussing the acquisition! http://rtc.co.uk/ It must have had some effect!

North east towards Lancaster

Our destination, a place called Glasson Dock, is an ancient port on the Lune estuary, just south of Lancaster. The route I had chosen was due east on the A586, from the Fylde coast to the A6, then the B5272 to Cockerham, where it joined the A588, taking us towards Lancaster and finally a minor road off that to Glasson. The return trip would be along the A588 and back home.

Arriving at Glasson we parked firstly by the dock itself and then moved to higher ground in the west where we could settle down to a well earned cup of coffee, as we looked across the River Lune towards Sunderland Point and Heysham. The weather held as we watched as massive flocks of geese circled over the coast opposite confirming that this coastal area is a very important bird-watching location. http://www.glassondock.co.uk/

East towards the Bleasdale Fells

The darkening clouds in the west, plus a request from my illustrious navigator to go to the local supermarket when we got home, suggested a speedy departure and that is what we had, a lovely fast drive on a quiet road, flat as a pancake over the Cockerham sands, an area of salt marsh that at one time used to flood on virtually every tide and where I think the RAF carried out target practice in the last war.

All that has changed today with new sea defences and even if the RAF were still operating there they wouldn't have been able to catch us!

I'm off into the garage now to wipe down my trusty steed!