When the Queen visited Cumbria last week, it was her encounter with a small girl that stole the headlines – 10-year-old Fay Bately got Her Majesty to admit she was not bothered whether William and Kate had a boy or a girl, as long as the baby hurried up. But later that the day, the Queen made time to meet with one of her most loyal servants: Cedric Robinson, MBE, who for the past 50 years has been the Queen's Guide to the Kent Sands of Morecambe Bay.
Since 1536, the ruling monarch has appointed an official guide to the treacherous sands that divide Lancashire and Cumbria, taking people on walks nine miles across the quicksand-plagued bay. Robinson, also known as the Sand Pilot, has now guided more than 500,000 people – including, on one memorable occasion, Prince Philip, who crossed in a horse-drawn carriage.
Even now, aged 80, he manages two public crossings most weekends from April to September. In doing so, this amicable shrimp and flounder fisherman has transformed what was becoming an archaic piece of history into a modern-day recreational institution. The views from the bay, across the Lake District fells, are stunningly beautiful.
With his broad Cumbrian accent, jeans rolled up to his knees and big strong hands as brown as conkers, Robinson is the sort of man who immediately instils confidence. He takes his job very seriously, carrying out recces the Friday before a crossing to check the sands. "Guiding hundreds of people across the bay safely is a big responsibility," he says, a few hours after taking a group of children from Chernobyl out onto the sands.
Robinson draws no salary apart from an annual cheque for £15, but is allowed to live rent-free in a cottage near Grange-over-Sands with his equally indefatigable wife Olive, 88, a former Miss Yorkshire. The hardy pair still have no central heating and in the early years they had no electricity either.
He is unhappy about the johnny-come-latelies who have started charging walkers to cross the bay, starting from the village of Hest Bank, near Morecambe. "They must be making a packet out of it, but the bay is for everyone to enjoy for free," he says.
He is still haunted by the events of 5 February 2004, when 23 Chinese cockle pickers died after getting stuck in the sands of the bay. "I could foresee that happening with so many people out on the sands who haven't spent their whole lives there like me," he says.
Half a century into the job, he has no plans to retire or take it easy – despite claiming not to have had a holiday in 50 years. The way he sees it, "if you give up, you've had it. I shall carry on as long as me legs will carry me."
Cedric Robinson's latest book, Time and Tide, is published by Great Northern, price £14.99. To order a copy for £11.99 with free UK p&p, call 0330 333 6846, or visit guardianbookshop.co.uk.
