Joining guided walks is safer and more fun
WITH the sun just breaking over the dune ridge behind us, the hike out to the intertidal zone felt like a journey to another world – a vast expanse of channels, sand, silt and sea water.
This feeling of an alien, unfamiliar environment made perfect sense as it must be four years, given the upheaval of Covid-19 and its associated lockdowns, since I last led a walk out to the shipwrecks off Formby Point.
Almost a mile offshore, joining a guided walk is the best way to learn about these fascinating artefacts from another time, unless you have a thorough knowledge of tides, weather and channels - all of which can change remarkably quickly.
Joining a guided group is safer and more fun.
As an example of the fluidity of conditions, the topography of the beach and channels changed beyond recognition in the 24 hours between a recce I carried out and the guided walk itself on behalf of the National Trust the next morning.
Low tides that give you enough time to safely walk out only occur on a handful of dates each year, so it was a pleasure to visit again.
Flooded channels prevented us getting close to the wrecks of the Ionic Star, which ran aground in 1939 (everyone got off safely) and the Bradda, which foundered in 1936 with the loss of five lives, but they are still stirring sights as the waves break over their remains.
The Ionic Star, its blackened structure held fast by sandbanks and silt, is still a distinctive landmark, while the wreck of the Pegu, far to the southwest, cannot be safely reached and is always surrounded by water.
The distant Pegu, the source of
Formby’s own “Whisky Galore” story, is rich in folklore of course (her consignment of whisky was gleefully harvested by locals in 1939 before HM Customs could get near them) but should only be admired from the safety of a high dune.
One to observe from distance as she is little more than a debris field anyway, her mast being knocked into the sea and lost in the 1980s.
The wreck of the Bradda is currently protected by a deep channel too, with rivers of seawater forced in by a strong westerly wind, but even at range her tragic history gives her remains a forlorn air.
Low tide exposes her corroded engine block and a few weathered timbers. These remnants remind us how dangerous this coast can be even when relatively close to the safety of the dunes.
The Bradda was sailing out of Liverpool in 1936 with a shipment of coal bound for the Irish Free State, when she became unresponsive, drifted over the old navigation wall and ran aground.
No vessels could come to her aid (to do so would risk stranding too) and five lives were lost, the mariners washed away by the waves and swell.
The sole survivor was Samuel Ball, who battled the waves to stagger ashore and still take part in an unsuccessful search for doomed shipmates.
The wreck of the Bradda must be treated with the respect any maritime grave deserves. Sombre as her history is, a visit to the wild inter-tidal zone is always an experience to cherish.
I look forward to more guided walks in the future.