Sunshine on Fleetwood

A Cold Winters Day in Fleetwood 

We arrived in Fleetwood by car and parked opposite The North Euston Hotel, back in the 1840's you would have arrived at this grand hotel by train. However it was the warmth of the red brick wall bathed in the winter sunshine at the end of the hotel that caught my photographic eye and not the grandeur of the front elevation which was in shadow.

The abrupt brick wall on the end of the rather grand North Euston Hotel

The hotel was built by Sir Peter Hesketh-Fleetwood who had founded Fleetwood, he saw the boom in the railways as  pivotal to Fleetwood both as a holiday resort for the mill workers and as a transport link to Scotland. With no railway through the Lake District to Scotland, Londoners, would embark at Euston (hence the name of the hotel) travel by train to Fleetwood, stay overnight, then continue their journey via sea ferry to Ardrossan and then on to Glasgow. 

However his dream was short lived, by the 1850's a rail link through The Lakes to Scotland had been completed. The cost of establishing Fleetwood, it's port and railway brought Sir Peter close to bankruptcy by the time of his death in 1866.

An Old Converted Gas Lamp

An old gas lamp fitted with a modern low energy light bulb just outside the hotel was the next thing that caught my eye. 

I wondered which would give off the most light once it had gone dark, '20th Century versus 21st Century technology', but I knew which would have been the most atmospheric. 










It was this juxtaposition of old and new technology that made me look at the next shot, could Fleetwood's Nautical College 'state of the art' radar station have been squashed any closer to the old fashioned Ice Cream Beach Kiosk?

The vibrant colours of the kiosk in the winter sun got me clicking again.

After buying Barbara 'two' windmills (I know how to spoil a woman) we talked to the owner Craig, I showed him the photos I had just taken, proud that I had managed to capture the colours so well, he was impressed and asked me if I would mind taking one of him as well and let him have some copies for his website. 

Craig - At Your Service

I was generally pleased with the photo of Craig, even if he did have a lifeboat sailing up his arm, it was after all a hastily snapped shot in between customers buying ice cream!!!! On a bitterly cold winters day, nobody does seaside like the British. Stoicism! It definitely was more of a 'Fisherman's Friends' sort of a day and Craig has an international customer base for these famously strong lozenges,  manufactured in Fleetwood since 1865. 
Follow this link Fleetwood Beach Kiosk to view my photos again! or buy some Fisherman's Friends.

Image Courtesy of English Heritage

Craig explained where I could find other pictures of his kiosk on the internet and I came across this older one, see above, which was taken from a similar angle to mine, see below. Yet another contrast between the old and the new. Craig had done a good paint job.

While taking photographs and chatting time had moved on and so had the weather and storm clouds were bubbling up behind me.

As the clouds rolled in Barbara and I ran and took shelter in the car as the first big spots of rain started to hit the floor. It wasn't long before a rainbow appeared and despite the cold wind and rain you can't miss a photo opportunity. This is 'The Mount' as the rain shower passed over creating a rainbow.

The Mount

The Mount is a small hill overlooking the promenade with a pavilion on the top. The present pavilion was built in 1902 replacing the original Chinese pavilion on the Mount, known as Prophet or Temple View. However I couldn't ignore the dramatic lighting and heavy clouds over 'The Marine Hall'.

The Marine Hall dating back to the 1920's

Despite the fact that Fleetwood Beach is Northerly facing, the potential for a dramatic sunset from the beach drew me down there and before crossing the road I noticed two rings in the pavement just outside of The Mount Hotel. I can only surmise what they were used for but who knows?

The late afternoon light on the beach did not disappoint.

and I particularly liked the reflections of the clouds on the wet sands.

With a cold wind blowing and a forecast of frost for that evening it was bitterly cold on the beach but a couple of kite-surfers wanted to make the most of this opportunity.

Lets Go Surfing Now

Surfing Fleetwood

but my luckiest photo of the day was the next one which I just managed to catch on our way home, a low flying Spitfire with the moon reflecting on the cockpit and you can just about make out the pilot. 

Well it almost looks real in the twilight, it actually is a full sized model spitfire at Lytham St. Annes, just further down the coast from Fleetwood.

Of course there is a lot more to Fleetwood than the few photos I captured on a winters afternoon so I will definitely return.