After yesterday’s hard day in the heat we were rested and ready for more of the same as we head down to Preston.
We left Warton to head onto the A6 and the day’s trek to Preston. Warton is a village steeped in history; its earliest recording as a settlement is made in Doomsday Book written in 1086. It has connections to the first President of the United States, George Washington: Washington’s ancestor of seven generations, Lawrence Washington, is rumoured to have helped build the village church of St Oswald. We stayed overnight in the George Washington Inn.
Our path took us through Cranforth (and past the old Carnforth Ironworks) and through the villages of Bolton-le-Sands and Slyne. We also got a glimpse of Morecambe Bay in the far distance.
We walked into, and through, Lancaster. Lancaster’s name was first recorded in the Doomsday Book in 1086 as Loncastre, where “Lon” refers to the River Lune , and “castre”, from the Old English cæster and Latin castrum for “fort”, refers to the Roman fort which stood at the site. Lancaster gained its first charter in 1193 as a market town and borough, but was not given city status until 1937. Many buildings in the city centre and along St. George’s Quay date from the 19th century, built as the port became one of the busiest in the UK and the fourth most important in the UK’s slave trade.
Not a lot of scenery worth taking the camera out for as we walked towards Garstang. Garstang is mentioned in the Doomsday Book as Cherestanc in 1086 and has a traditional market day on Thursdays that dates back to the early-1300s and stretches the length of street. Later on we crossed a bridge on the River Wyre which was originally built in 1492, rebuilt in 1629, renewed about 1756 and widened in 1829 and 1929.
The heat was, by now, beginning to sap our energy – especially when the sun came out – 27c was a bit much. So what with the majority of the route now going through urban and semi-urban areas there was not much of interest to distract us – so the last 20km our so was a bit of a slog. Eventually we reached Preston and our hotel – Greg, Helena and Nick are here now and will be joining us for the next two days.
We now have less than 400 miles to go and only 13 days of walking left. Happy days!
Thank you to @iginsurance for kindly sponsoring today’s leg
