Seeing the comfort of Barrow Railway line below us, which was fully opened in 1857,
reminds us that for centuries, travellers from beyond medieval times
across the bay on foot and by horse and by coach,
many losing their way and perishing in the misty tidal surges of Morgan Bay.
Crossing the sands was, and still is, a highly dangerous proposition.
But every year, thousands of people walk across the bay,
following in the paths of those ancient travellers, to raise money for charity.
And that's why today we have an official Queen's Guide to the Sands.
Well, before it was guide over sands, looking at the history of the guides,
most of the guides, since Royal Apartment,
they gave up their own surname and took the name of Carter,
because in those days, people had crossed the sands with a horse and cat,
and they were called Carter's.
So looking at most of the guides that lived here, my predecessors,
they took up the name of Carter.
But prior to that, I think the first Royal point in guides was about the early 1500s.
But before that, it was the monks from Furness,
who used to go out onto the sands.
I don't think they must have known the sands intimately,
but they went out to their old farting place,
and if anyone was coming across, they'd just like beckon them to that area,
but there were so many lives lost in those early days.
So tell me, Sadiq, what are the problems out on the bay?
Problems?
The problems are, say, if it was the same weather every day,
and the river was in the same place,
it wouldn't have any many problems,
and if the tide was always the same height.
But it's variable.
The weather, one day the wind could be out of the northwest,
the following day it could be out of the northeast.
Now, last winter we had a very wet winter,
and we had strong north easterlies.
Well, the river had been under the servidal shore,
that's the far shore for about 20 years.
Now, I don't bother much on the sands in winter,
but when I went out to check for my first walks in the spring,
I was so pleased.
The east easterlies, and the strong winds,
and the big tides had brought the river out.
It's an influence, it helps, you see.
It's so open out there.
Now, we also get a lot of north-westerlies.
And what's happened?
We've had a good river, a new river all summer.
It's still moving.
It was coming this way,
and this is how I can tell you how it moves so quickly.
I mean, it may look the same to the layperson, right,
but I had a band of nets down near where we cross,
and it was coming 55 yards per tide.
We had to move my nets.
100 yards, that's in 24 hours.
That's how fast it comes, but it just looks the same shape.
And when we went last fortnight since for the walks,
we got to the river, and I had two colleagues with me.
I said, the river's moved.
I could tell it was only after we'd,
and there was no flowing it.
But you never cross anywhere without testing first.
You can't see what's under that water.
So we jump off, roll my tires, look at me, see.
Test it for firmness.
And then I go through on that line with my tractor,
and the colleagues jump on, and we go up to Anside,
and we mark the route on the way back.
But when we got over to Wards Anside,
that was the new river.
Within 200 yards of that far shore.
So the walks this weekend,
it's going to be a different route completely.
But this is more conveying.
It's always changing, and that's why there's a need for a guide.
You do a lot of guiding across the Sands for Charity, don't you?
We do.
What's your motivation for doing that, then?
You could easily charge a fortune
to take these hundreds of people across there.
No, well, as a guide, when you're appointed,
you're not really allowed to charge.
I was told this 45 years ago,
you're not allowed to charge, but you can accept
if someone offers you a tip, you can accept a tip.
But we are soft-natured, we've been giving all our lives.
There is someone else who brings walks,
but I've heard such bad reports,
and frightening reports,
but he charges them.
He says, I'm not allowed to charge,
but if it's a group coming,
all I can say to them now
is at the end of the walk,
we provide a certificate
for crossing the Sands, which we charge a car for,
and now with the group coming out,
we can sell, you know, you might not sell a lot,
but if you sell a few, eat all that.
I'll just mention to the groups
when they come on the phone
that my public liability insurance,
since the coupling disaster,
went up from £150 to just under £2,000,
and I have to pay that out of my own pocket.
Without me paying that, there would be no walks.
