Bay Lines - Beach of Dreams

Bay Lines - Beach of Dreams is an arts and community project creatively mapping Morecambe Bay. It celebrates the natural environment, the walking routes and the cycle ways of the Bay.

Over the summer of 2023 we set off with artists, local residents, walkers, cyclists and nature lovers to explore 120 miles of Morecambe Bay between Walney Island and Fleetwood. We invited people to select a mile of the coastline that they felt a connection with, and walked their own 'special' mile and share their photos, stories and dreams of their mile.

Working with Kinetika in collaboration with Rosa Productions, the photos, drawings and stories gathered about the Morecambe Bay coast inspired the creation of 120 silk pennants - one per mile. These pennants were displayed at 4 special events across the Bay over the August Bank Holiday weekend. The contributions and stories used for the design of the pennants illustrate the beautiful Bay coastal landscape and its environmental challenges. All these stories, words and pictures submitted by the community have been gathered into 5 digital stories of the coastline which reflect the narrative of Morecambe Bay.

Explore each mile of the 120 miles of Morecambe Bay through the eyes of the people who live and work here.

Our journey starts with Gathering Walks heading north from Fleetwood across a glorious summer week in June 2023, and continues through to the events over the August Bank Holiday weekend on Walney Island and in Grange, Arnside and Morecambe.

The artists at Kinetika use walking and silk painting to create epic projects and long distance walks with communities in the UK and abroad. Their wider Beach of Dreams project explores the coastline across the UK and Ireland. It started in 2021 on the east coast of England in Suffolk and Essex and will continue until 2025.

For Beach of Dreams Kinetika artists are exploring the use of natural dyes to create pennant shaped flags. As part of the Bay Lines in Morecambe Bay the artists experimented with dyes from local plants, sustainably sourced. And then chose a colour palette for the Morecambe Bay pennants.

The photos submitted by the 'mile participants' were converted into line drawings, and these were transferred to the silk pennants using a batik process of wax. Then the pennants were dyed with the colour range selected for Morecambe Bay.

Over August Bank Holiday weekend the 120 Morecambe Bay pennants were displayed alongside 500 other UK coastal pennants at four installation events around the Bay with musicians from Sound Intervention in Ulverston and from More Music in Morecambe.

The first event was on Walney Island's west coast, by the Round House Hub and cafe, and the pennants were walked in from Sandy Gap beach, accompanied by Boom Bikes and the Boom Bike Bourrée.

The views over the Irish Sea were amazing and the stormy start to the day turned into lovely afternoon sunshine for the installation display and music.

On Sunday at Arnside a large group of participants gathered by the Coast Guard station to collect their pennants and walk the short walk along the beach to Arnside Pier. The tide was particularly low allowing the promenaders to walk through the beach installation and add their Morecambe Bay pennants on the pier.

Bay Lines - Beach of Dreams culminated in an event in Morecambe on a busy Bank Holiday Monday. The walk in started at the iconic Venus statue at the Hest Bank end of the promenade. Walkers and cyclists enjoyed the views across the Bay to the Lake District fells beyond.

By midday the pennants arrived near the Clock Tower and the busy Bank Holiday crowds enjoyed sea shanties, the Bay Beat Band and the sounds from the Boom Bikes and the Boom Bike Bourrée.

The Gathering Walks started on the Saturday 3 June 2023 from Rossall Observation Tower in Fleetwood and north along the coast to Lancaster. Ali Pretty, the Artistic Director of Kinetika, led the walks joined by local 'mile participants', invited guests, local people, and were photographed, filmed and recorded along the way by a media team from Rosa Productions which included Nigel Thompson from Morecambe Bay Podcasts and radio producer John Offord.

Day 2 started in blazing sunshine at Overton and crossed over Sunderland Point causeway and headed north past Heysham to Morecambe.

On the third day the walkers gathered at Hest Bank and walked along the coast to Jenny Brown's Point, Silverdale, Far Arnside then in the early evening made their way from Arnside to Storth.

Continuing the journey on from Levens, the group walked via Meathop Moss to Grange-Over-Sands, then on to Humphrey Head and Cark.

On Day 5 the journey started at Ulverston Canal Foot and the walkers followed the coast to Roa Island then along the cycle path to Barrow-in-Furness.

The final Day 6 was a walk around Walney Island - first heading south, then following the West Coast northwards along Biggar Bank and around the northern tip of the island back towards the bridge to Barrow.