Fleetwood

Luckily Fleetwood is built on a very flat part of the Lancashire coast, as it was the first harbour I decided to bicycle to, from further up Morecambe Bay. (Thank you to previous crew member Piers for lending me such a speedy bike for my 30 mile round trip!).

Carl Bower, the HM of Fleetwood had only been in post for 4 weeks when I sprung my visit on him - so his most "unusual" event as HM was definitely having me ask him lots of questions! A former Tug Skipper, he is very experienced in the tricky waters of Morecambe Bay and is also deputy HM of Barrow-in-Furness - just 15 miles across the bay, but 70 miles by car.

Fleetwood has had many ups and downs in its recent history. An 1830s "New Town" with some fine Georgian buildings, it has always competed with the other Lancashire towns in transport, industry and leisure. In 1920s it grew to be England's third largest fishing fleet, using "new" steam powered deep sea trawlers specialising in catching Hake and employing 9,000 people processing the fish, however only a handful of boats operate now. In 1970s the port was developed by P&O for ferries and container traffic to Ireland, but the competition of Liverpool, Holyhead and Heysham put this out of business.

The harbour now has a good marina and is home to that well known brand - Fisherman's Friend - producing 5 Billion lozenges a year! When I returned to GD I found had a lovely surprise as my wife Fiona had arrived on the boat and is with me for the next month!