Who pinched all the sand?

At last the recovery process has begun, first with a couple of four mile walks and yesterday with a three mile run along the sands from Southport pier towards Formby. So far there has been no adverse reaction and the next test will be a short run on tarmac. If all goes well I will make a UTUP appearance on Saturday but will not join the elite group preferring to travel more slowly on a carefully selected shortish route as much on grass and soft ground as possible.

The trip to the seaside brought back memories of the Thomas Cook 10-mile beach race of about 25 years ago when I cycled the 17 miles to Southport, swam a mile in the open-air pool and then completed the race in 69 mins 38 secs before riding home again.

So much has changed since then - the sea bathing pool has now given way to a Premier Lodge hotel and the sandy foreshore that was the course of the race been been colonised by grasses and now seems rarely visited by the tide.