{"id":42140,"date":"2021-07-28T14:03:21","date_gmt":"2021-07-28T13:03:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ourtour.co.uk\/home\/?p=42140"},"modified":"2021-07-28T16:23:58","modified_gmt":"2021-07-28T15:23:58","slug":"sea-view-camping-at-bolton-le-sands-morecambe-bay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ourtour.co.uk\/home\/sea-view-camping-at-bolton-le-sands-morecambe-bay\/","title":{"rendered":"Sea View Camping at Bolton-le-Sands, Morecambe Bay"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A few days back we were eyeballing the route south through Cumbria on the M6 and both noticed a campsite called Archers at Red Bank Farm<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s just a few miles from the motorway but has sea views across Morecambe Bay and distant views of the Cumbrian fells. It’s bookable online, fairly cheap to stay at \u00a38 each a night, and gets great reviews. So here we are, and it’s pretty cool (N54.105234, W2.808954<\/a>)!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Archers<\/a>
Archers Campsite at Red Bank Farm, Bolton-le-Sands, Morecambe Bay<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The site has a couple of large fields, one with a set of stabalised pitches and hook-up, many looking out to the sea. Unsurprisingly they were all booked when we looked at short notice. But our solar system’s recharging our batteries each morning and they’re practically full before breakfast. So we don’t need to pay for hook-up and have been able to come here as a result, winner!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Archers<\/a>
Loads of cars park along the road outside the site, grabbing something from the farm’s cafe and eating it looking over the bay<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The weather was scorchio when we arrived but thunderstorms were forecast in the coming days, so we picked a spot where we can roll downhill (hopefully) if the grass gets saturated. So far we’ve only have one proper downpour during the night, not enough to worry about as the ground was very dry after the heatwave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bone-dry<\/a>
Bone-dry salt marsh near Bolton-le-Sands at Morecambe Bay<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
A sign on the salt marsh opposite the campsite – who knew eels migrate across the Atlantic? Amazing!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"An<\/a>
An Elver tidal trap which allows the eels to swim upstream into England after crossing the Atlantic<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

School’s out for summer now, and all English COVID-19 legal restrictions were removed nine days ago. So, for the first time in about 18 months, multiple families can get together for a holiday. And getting together they are, en-masse with banging tunes, barking dogs, screaming nippers and plenty booze to boot! Although almost all our fellow campers are keeping themselves to themselves, a select few are getting a tad hammered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/a>
The Praying Shell is next to the campsite and serves as a memorial to 23 Chinese cockle pickers killed here in 2004<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Steve, the site warden, came over for a chat with us this morning, he’s a fascinating fella who has been working as a site warden for four years to save up for a motorhome. He’s bought his van and is now counting down loo cleans, hoping to hit the road in for winter and return to warden life in the summers. He does a great job at keeping order on the site (rather him than me), but it was his day off yesterday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The site has an official quiet-time policy from 10:30pm, but Ju lay awake until 2am last night listening to voices talking and laughing, as well as the odd car driving around at 1am. I zonked out as soon as I hit the sack. It’s truly a great thing that folks can meet up with mates and enjoy life again after the last year-and-a-half’s grimness, it really is. We just wish they’d do it a bit further away from our bed… <\/p>\n\n\n\n

OK, that’s the moaning done with :-). Onwards and upwards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bolton-le-Sands is a largish village just north of Lancaster. The Lancaster (Westhoughton to Kendal) Canal was built through it in the late 18th Century, used to shift coal north and limestone south. One of England’s rare coastal canals, it’s 41 miles long and the longest lock-free stretch in the country, apparently. Bolton-le-Sands used to be named just Bolton, but with the arrival of the railways (which ultimately killed commercial canal traffic), the named was changed to Bolton-le-Sands to avoid confusion with, erm, Bolton. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/a>
The Lancaster Canal at Bolton-le-Sands, just a few hundred metres from the sea<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The village is about a mile’s walk\/cycle from the site, down a few narrow lanes with passing places. There you’ll find some lovely old cottages, calm walks along the canal, a small CO-OP, a Spar, chippy, takeaways and a couple of pubs. About 5 miles south of here lies Lancaster, and a similar distance along the coast brings you to Morecambe, if you’ve a car\/bikes\/take the bus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/a>
The access road to the Archers Red Bank Farm campsite neat Bolton-le-Sands<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Or you can run there, as Ju did yesterday, tracking down Eric’s statue and eyeballing a few free camping mohos. She also spotted a no-cockling-at-this-time-of-year sign. That’s saved me from wading out onto the endless mudflats, risking my neck for the wee bivalve molluscs in the fast-moving tides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"John<\/a>
John Eric Bartholomew, AKA Eric Morecambe: “Bring Me Sunshine!”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I’ve run a few miles the other way, across the almost-dry salt marshes in the direction of the distance Cumbian fells. There’s not much out there but for a few sheep and farmhouses and the isolated Warton Stock Car Club, deserted at the moment. I too came across a handful of mohos and vans free camping en route. It looked pretty cool to be honest, and they probably got a quieter night than we did last night. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Tidal<\/a>
There’s a classic Hymer free-camping alone on the opposite shore to this inlet. I can see the attraction!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We’ve done very little wild\/free camping in England and Wales in our campervan and motorhomes, not just on this trip but ever, and have been chatting about why not. We miss the sense of freedom and isolation it brings. But we’ve spent almost all our time these past years on the continent and North Africa (as you can see on this motorhome overnight stop map<\/a>), so haven’t been on the British Isles much anyway. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That said, at the moment we’re still drawn to more formal sites in our home nation, by a range of things:<\/p>\n\n\n\n