The Walk
The walk starts by RNLI Fleetwood which was designed by Architect Eric Forster who helped to design Preston Bus Station, but this isn’t a brutalist concrete building, this is a purpose-built lifeboat and coastguard station, with clear views of the bay and ready-to-launch when they are needed. The new station was built in 2006 and includes a shop too.
I would suggest before setting off to sketch the RNLI building or some of the other buildings here as they are interesting. The building with ICES painted on the roof was an old watchpoint but is now is technically run by Fleetwood Beach Kiosk, but is one of my person favourite buildings to paint.
The walk itself is a nice one, it follows the promenade. There have been a few lifeboat stations though with not much to show from any of them, there is a set of stairs that were once used to launch boats behind the houses on Abbots Walk. If you want to go on a slower walk on the sand itself, there are a wide variety of driftwood, seashells, or other things to draw on the beach.
The path itself passes the boat lakes and the golf course.
Other than that it is a straight walk along the promenade to Rossall Point Tower which was designed by Studio Three Architects and opened in 2013. It houses the National Coast Watch Institute of Fleetwood, run by volunteers, keeping eyes out to sea looking across the bay to ensure everyone is safe, and do make calls to the RNLI or Coastguard if anyone needs rescuing.
The building was designed to follow different parts of the landscape and the Architects assigned a purpose for every angle but for us it gives us a good building to draw and a new heritage building for the town, something unique to Fleetwood.