Coastwalk

Fleetwood → St Anne's-on-Sea

Distance: 13.8 miles
Ascent: 300 metres
Duration: 4 hours 34 minutes

The twelve-mile prom
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I'd planned to walk further. I got distracted. (I think that's what Blackpool does to people.)

Blackpool's somewhere I first heard of as a child. I can't say I spent sufficient time today to get the measure of the place, but I saw enough to come to some conclusions.

Chief amongst those is that it's clinging on to its past. While places like Brighton have determined what sort of resort they want to be in the future, Blackpool seems to be "the only one left" - the one place people can go to see tacky seaside resort from the 70s. It's hard to shake that off when you have three piers, the Tower and the Pleasure Beach.

There were moments of beauty - such as the rejuvinated South Beach prom with the world's largest mirror ball - but all in all I've come away disappointed. I may have set my expectations in the 70s but they were the dreams of a child. These days I see right through that.