RNLI Wreck Trek

Stand by your beds! It’s back! For many years the RNLI Wreck Trek was a popular annual four mile walk into the bay. Eventually had to end for safety reasons (more about that below). After a gap of NINE YEARS it returned in 2023, and it’s back again this year. If you’re quick enough to get a ticket!

Led by Fleetwood RNLI, the guided walk will take you out to the remains of the Wyre Light. That’s the wooden lighthouse that once guided ships through the River Wyre to dock at Fleetwood.

RNLI Wreck Trek 2026

Fleetwood RNLI invite you to SAVE THE DATE! Sunday 21 June 2026 at 9.30am.

Be quick and get your tickets to take part in the famous ‘Wreck Trek’. Walk the bay to Wyre Light – or what’s left of it!

Numbers are limited to comply with Health & Safety assessments. 1600 people completed the walk in 2025!

Follow the Fleetwood RNLI Facebook for details
BOOK YOUR TICKET HERE

The walk begins from Marine Beach behind the Marine Hall. After a brief stop at the world’s first screw-pile lighthouse ever to be lit, ticket holders will return to shore.

Be warned !! You will get wet, muddy feet!! You will need appropriate footwear. But we will ensure the tide is out! Old trainers, wellies or waders are the dress code – along with a prayer for a fine sunny day…

But wet feet apart, this is a fantastic community event, raising essential funds for the lifeboat station.

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Have you been on the Wreck Trek?

This is the walk out to Wyre Light in 2015. You can see how much it’s leaning over since then. And the very top section has disappeared.

Mike Smith from Fleetwood got in touch to say he’d found a photo from a previous event. Mike says “I was scanning some old photos the other day and came across this one which I took on one of the ‘Wyre light treks’ that used to be such a popular activity before the sands shifted. As far as I can tell it was taken sometime between 1988 and 1990.”

The 2011 Wreck Trek – What an event!

Back in 2011, the Walk attracted over 1600 walkers, despite the weather. At the Wyre Lighthouse and later at the North Euston, the “Captains Crew” shanty choir entertained the walkers.

Morecambe RNLI Crew were kind enough to be on standby with their hovercraft. This time their shout was to a child suffering from cold weather and English Summers! Once again help was provided by Fleetwood Coastguard Team and Fleetwood Nautical College, to make it all possible. The generous trekkers raised a whopping £2000 for the RNLI.

Here’s a clip from the 2009 walk to the Wyre Light –

The End of the Wreck Trek

Unfortunately, for safety reasons, it was decided that the Trek couldn’t safely go ahead in the years afterwards.

The risk of people getting stuck in the unstable sand was too great. You’ll find patches of soft sand from The Venue in Cleveleys, along Rossall beach and at Fleetwood. As the tide goes out some distance at Fleetwood, these areas of ‘soft sand’ can be quite big and give cause for concern, especially along the banks of the Wyre.

The lifeboat crew and Coastguard always carry out a risk assessment before hand, which showed the path to just be too dangerous.

Please don’t attempt the Wreck Trek yourself…

The RNLI and Coastguard advise everyone NOT to attempt to walk to Wyre Light. Conditions are dangerous. Including soft sands, deepwater gullies, and the risk of being cut-off by the extremely fast incoming tide.

See some in trouble at sea or along the coast? Ring 999 and ask for the coastguard.

More about the Wyre Light

Sadly, no one wants to claim ownership of the Wyre Light lighthouse, and the historic structure is slowly sinking into the sand.

• Find out more about Wyre Light here.