Milestones and mysteries part one.

Please don't tell anyone, but Tuesday was one of those milestone birthdays. Mike was being extremely evasive and secretive over the weekend, in fact had been for weeks. I knew he was up to something, but I had no idea what. 

On Monday morning he drove us to the station with a small suitcase. I still had no idea where we were going. Now I've caught enough trains from our station to know what direction the trains go from a particular platform, so as we didn't go further than platform 1 I knew we were heading north or possibly east. Was it Manchester or Liverpool, Borth or Aberystwyth, Glasgow or Edinburgh? Endless possibilities. I felt like I was being kidnapped without the blindfold and gag. 

I waited patiently until eventually Mike said "this is our train." The announcer informed us that the train now standing on platform 1 was the 10:37 train to Glasgow, calling at Crewe, Warrington Bank Quay, Wigan North Western, Preston, Lancaster, Oxenholme Lake District, Carlisle and Glasgow Central. OK, still so many possibilities. Were we changing at any of the stations? Was it the Lake District or the Yorkshire Dales? 

Eventually Mike told me we were getting off at the next stop, Lancaster, but that it wasn't our final destination. Ah ha, we were changing trains. Another wait and more musings until the train to Morecambe was announced and we made our way over the bridge to where the train was waiting.  A mere 10 minutes later we were by the sea. 

Mike suggested we had a short walk from the station to see how the restoration work on The Midland Hotel had turned out. We had passed through Morecambe in 2005 when the magnificent Art Deco building had  been boarded up while plans to restore it were already in the pipeline.

Urban Splash did a fantastic job.

We strolled down the stone jetty and back up again and Mike suggested we should go and find our B+B. I asked which way we had got to go as the Midland Hotel is pretty central as regards guest houses. Mike searched his pockets to find the directions.

"Hang on a second I'll have a look. Well according to this it isn't far." Mike started to pull the suitcase and I quickly caught up and walked alongside him, straight up the ramp to the front door and into the Midland Hotel! I just burst into tears and called him a silly b*****d. I stood in the reception area speechless and vaguely heard the young man on the desk say yes the room definitely had a sea view. 

Into the lift and up to the third floor to our room. 

Note the 2 full length opening windows onto a balcony!!

Yes the bath has a full length window overlooking Morecambe Bay.

The view from the bed. 

Mike in his complimentary bathrobe!

Part 2 tomorrow!