Shifting sands, squirrels and hidden treasure

Our short break ended with a trip to Formby on a beautiful clear day, to hopefully see the squirrels and take a walk around the dunes.

As we regularly visit Southport, just up the road from Formby, we tried to get one over on Tim the sat-nav on the way there, ignoring his instructions all the way right through the village of Croston, until we reached the A59 at Rufford, when we decided he'd better take over. Although you couldn't tell from his voice, Tim was clearly seething and proceeded to take us along all the narrowest lanes he could find over the marshes and dunes, far from any civilization, to eventually arrive into Formby through the back door about half an hour than we'd arranged.

Jean & Kevan were there already, though they'd had their own travel problems on a more conventional route on the M58.

After some lunch, we set off through the pine trees, planed in the dunes less than a century ago in an attempt to stop the sand from retreating further inland. The trees became the perfect haven for red squirrels, who thrived here until very recently, when a virus carried by grey squirrels decimated their numbers. Because of this we weren't expecting to see any reds, however the signs, literally, were good on the way in, where by the National Trust kiosk at the entrance a sign informed us that the squirrels are making a comeback!

Despite our doubts, we turned a corner and there was a red squirrel in a clearing in the trees. It didn't hang about though, so by the time I could point my camera it had already gone.




Carrying on, the path leads on through the pine woodland, but under foot it's clearly sandy rather than mud, so you know the dunes can't be that far away. Eventually after a few wrong turns, we reached an obvious clearing where a clear path headed off to the right towards the sea. We were now close to a geaocache that I'd programmed in to the GPS before we set off - Dead Man's Chest, the Lost Treasure.

Geocaches are hidden, never buried, however their hiding places are carefully chosen to ensure they aren't found by passers by. The GPS took us right to the spot, but it took a few minutes to work out where the "treasure" was as it was very well concealed. When we found it though we were genuinely impressed - it was a true treasure chest wrapped in a camouflage bag with plenty of 'treasure' inside. Obviously I can't explain exactly where it was - that's for you to find yourself, but I've provided the link above as a guide.

Geocaching etiquette requires the finder to sign the log, take a piece of treasure away and leave behind something of equal or greater value in its place, so I left behind an RSPB pin badge in exchange for a toy soldier, who will be left in the next geocache we find.

We now headed over the dunes, perhaps 20 feet high in places, for the return walk up the beach back to the start. We expected sand - but Christmas trees?? The trees are 'planted' in the sand following an appeal by the local council, as they help stabilise the dunes and stop the sea's advance. Most of the trees are dying, but this adds to the strangeness of the place as they gradually change colour from the usual green to a rusty brown. Judging by the vast number of trees planted in just this small area of the dunes indicates that the scheme is certainly valued by the locals.

The walk back up the beach is much easier and we were soon back up near the start of the walk and back to the cars, ending an exhilerating and interesting afternoon out. Our travel problems continued on the way home though, an accident on the motorway delaed us for over an hour, meaning we were very hungry by the time we arrived at the pub for our planned meal.