Friday 16 April 2021 - Around Thornton Hough (Wirral)

For our second walk of the day, the six of us re-located en masse to the free car park at Brimstage Hall Craft Centre, before setting off to check out walk number 29 in Jen Darling's 'West Cheshire and Wirral' book.

After admiring Brimstage Hall's peel tower, and trying to imagine frightened villagers in by-gone days pouring boiling water from it over their attackers, we walked a short way along Brimstage Road to reach an old black and white signpost to Thornton Hough (above)'

What a pleasure it was to be able to stroll along firm field paths, completely free of the mud that we have endured in recent weeks, under a strong sun on a perfect day for walking.
 

Some of the field paths were very narrow. It'll be interesting to go back when the crops are high. 

Other paths were wide enough for a coach and horses, and you could even imagine Lord Lever's coach and horses making its way down this beautiful tree lined avenue, towards his residence at Thornton Manor.

Whilst we don't usually bother with such trivia, the presence of Judith, who collects 'stuff', and Keith, who is a 'bagger' of just about anything 'baggable', and the fact that they were both assiduously following our progress on their digital maps and had spied an item of interest just off our route, triggered an excursion to seek out a trig point and 'Flush Bracket'? They took some finding, but Judith and Keith eventually stood next to their target, flushed with success having flushed it out from the undergrowth through which they'd approached it.

A pleasing view across the fields towards Bebington greeted us from the trig point. "I live just over there" announced Judith. This is very much her 'home turf', where she can be seen from time to time tracking down pipelines that are accessed by mysterious gates into pathless fields.

Blackthorn, noted on previous recent walks, remains in full bloom. I couldn't resist a couple of snaps.

Green alkanet is also in flower hereabouts.

I should record Keith's disappointment on reaching Thornton Hough. As previously noted, he's an assiduous 'bagger', but having failed to gain the necessary support, it was with great reluctance that he eschewed a visit to bag the Seven Stars hostelry. We left this landmark sadly unticked, and moved on in the hope of refreshments at the end of the walk.

 

It's an easy walk back to Brimstage from Thornton Hough, en route passing a small but perfectly formed stand of Scots pine trees.

The 'old iron' kissing gates described in Jen's 2007 edition remain in place, unlike many of the wooden stiles on this walk.

Jen's most recent (2007) edition of her book refers to stiles that are reached via sandstone steps. Most of the stiles have now been replaced by wooden or metal kissing gates, or in some cases just by gaps. This next picture shows a stile having been replaced, but the sandstone step remains, now sadly obsolete.

Back at Brimstage Hall Craft Centre, it was a delight to be able to lounge  in the outside courtyard in warm spring weather with coffee and cake. Lots of coffee and cake. Too much in fact. Between us we managed to order seven drinks and seven cakes, so Sue later received a large and very tasty piece of lemon drizzle cake.

Wow, whoever pruned that tree must have been in a fit of aggression!

Here's our 5 km route - a very pleasant short circuit from an excellent tea room.

Thanks for coming, everyone, and it was especially nice to see Judith and Philip. I hope the good weather continues.

Friday 16 April 2021 - Around Burton (Wirral)

On a beautiful spring day in the Wirral, I was joined by Graeme, Keith and Carol, Judith, who lives locally, and Philip, who I last saw nearly twenty years ago and who has been threatening to come on one of these walks ever since he retired a couple of years ago. I'm glad he enjoyed the outing.

We started this route from Jen Darling's 'West Cheshire and Wirral' book (another route that I'm checking for an updated edition) from Station Road in Burton, where you can park beside the Dee estuary and admire the views over to Moel Famau, some twelve miles away in the Clwydian hills.

We strolled along the road to the picturesque village of Burton, passing the RSPB's Burton Point Farm, and pausing at the pretty and well maintained copse (pictured above - click on any image for a better version/slideshow) where an ancient spring was originally called 'Patrick's Well, but by the 19th century it had become known as Hampston's Well, after a family that had lived in Burton since the 16th century. 

The water here possibly served Iron Age settlements, then Anglo-Saxons around 900AD. More recently, records indicate that it was cleaned each year, and able-bodied men were required to help, or be fined sixpence!

There are some lovely cottages in Burton.

We turned left up The Rake to enter Burton Wood, above the village.

Two graves thought to be of Quakers were soon passed. A plaque provided more information. The graves date from a time when Quakers were thought to have 'an active spirit of evil' and were buried in unconsecrated ground. This is a memorial to the courageous attitude of brave men and women in difficult times.

A short diversion enabled us to visit St Nicholas' church, glimmering in the bright sunshine. The doors were locked, but we were able to admire the one-handed clock face, albeit showing the wrong time.

Returning to the path through the 24 acres of mature woodland of Burton Wood, we entered National Trust land through an old iron kissing gate.

Jen's instructions took us via a convoluted route through the wood, exiting eventually into Mill Lane. The property, 'Mill Wood' was soon reached, but we didn't find the remains of an old mill that Jen records as being present in the 1980s.

After this, a kilometre of pavement walking along the fairly busy Neston Road could perhaps be avoided by taking an alternative route through Haddon Wood. We'll have to try that sometime.

Anyway, we soon reached the Wheatsheaf, after a pleasant path across country to Ness, from where we continued down Well Lane to reach a footpath behind houses that soon led to a convenient spot for a coffee and cake break.

Then it was a case of simply meandering down to the Dee estuary and turning left along a busy path shared with other walkers and cyclists, many of whom had stopped at the tearoom of Denhall House Farm. It was busy. Lots of well spaced picnic tables. We were only a short way from the cars, so we decided against a drinks break here, and headed back for lunch at our starting point, with a superb view across the estuary into Wales.

A lizard with a damaged tail scampered through our picnic site.

Here's our route - we covered about 9 km in rather less than three hours.

Then, on this lovely relaxing day out, we moved on to another of Jen's walking routes. I'll describe that in the next posting.

Thursday 1 April 2021 - Around Thurstaston

With Lockdown restrictions having been relaxed this week to permit outdoor gatherings of up to six people, it was a pleasure today for Graeme and me to be joined by Sue and Jenny, and to be allowed to travel a little further from home - Thurstaston, so named by the Vikings.

After a long break, we could continue to carry out a recce for one of Jen Darling's walks in West Cheshire and Wirral. I'd visited the area before, most recently in June 2019 on another of Jen's routes.

This time we chose route 30, starting at the Wirral Way car park (£2) near the visitor centre down Station Road (SJ 239 834). We started walking from the Max Kirby Bridge, heading past the station platform beyond which we would have started from had we taken a left turn to park.

There's an information board that you should be able to read if you click on the image and magnify it. There's lots of information, including the fact that the Parkgate to West Kirby line was operative from 1886 to 1962, and Max Kirby was a past President of Wirral Footpath Society who died in 2014 at the age of 92.

We tried to visit the Visitor Centre, but it was shut. A lone coot provided the foreground to our view across the silted Dee estuary to the hills of North Wales.

We marched off, back to the well used disused railway line, heading towards Heswall.

Dungeon Bridge was soon reached. Jen notes that the brick bridge is good for echoes. She's right.

A left turn past cowslips then took us along a narrow path and up to some woodland that houses some caves and the only natural waterfall in the Wirral.

A bench at the high point of the dell ('Dungeon' means 'dell' in this instance) secures a view to the Point of Ayr lighthouse in Wales - indistinguishable in today's haze.

Here's a view of the dell from the top of the unremarkable waterfall.

Hardly a raging torrent!

We soon turned left towards Thurstaston and headed towards the spire of St Bartholmew's church, still with views over a hawthorn hedge and across the Dee estuary..

After a group photo, we passed the church, the third reincarnation of which was built relatively recently. The original Norman building (10th Century) has long gone, but the tower from a second church, most of which was demolished in the 19th Century, remains in the churchyard, as you can see below.

Just up the road from the church, the Cottage Loaf Inn would in normal times be a source of refreshment. Sadly not today.

Beyond the inn, a good path leads through Thurstaston Common to a trig point.

The path continues past an orientation point on a sandstone pillar. (Click on any of these pictures for a better version/slideshow.)

There are good views from here, towards the landmarks of Liverpool, as well as more local points of interest like the globe-topped column on Caldy Hill. Today the gorse was in full bloom, and we made our way through it accompanied by the scent of coconut.

A gap in a wall signifies progress from Thurstaston Common to Royden Park, where a luxury hotel, Hill Bark, stands. It's surrounded by a high fence, so I should have taken a photo from further away!

The building was constructed on Bidston Hill in 1891 for R W Hudson, a soap magnate. In 1931 it was moved, brick by brick, to its present location, and re-named Hill Bark.

Whilst we didn't see distressing amounts of litter today (not compared with West Sale, anyway), the path around the hotel did reveal some women with a large number of unruly dogs. "They are always here, they think they own the place" commented another lady with an obedient little companion.

We turned left down a forest ride, and before reaching a road, Montgomery Hill, we continued left along the ride, through an area of Scots pine, before reaching the road again and walking along the pavement back to where we had nearly reached the road a few minutes earlier.

Anyway, soon after this we turned left down a private road towards Birch Heys, passing Royden Manor and Birch House on the path towards Caldy.

After descending to Grange Cross Lane on a path I recognised from a previous visit, we took a delightful route through Stapleton Wood, an area of mixed woodland named after Olaf Stapleton, a local philosopher and science fiction author.

This brought us onto Caldy Road, for a short walk along the pavement into Caldy, which Greame surmised might be the 'Alderley Edge' of the Wirral. Apparently the village consisted of a few fishermen's huts and cottages until 1832, when a Manchester businessman, R W Barton, set about improving the village by constructing the red sandstone dwellings with black and white timberwork that you see today.

Primroses grow in the verges in this village.

Graeme, and the rest of us, found the sight of this 'neo-Alderley Edge' grotesque construction somewhat distressing, near another splendid but 'original' mansion where he has other memories.

Having had an elevenses break near the tapping woodpeckers of Royden Park some time earlier, we now re-joined the Wirral Way and broke our stroll along the old railway line, dodging bicycles and prams, by heading into Dawpool Nature Reserve for a lunch break.

Child labour was being deployed here for litter picking, but they seemed to be happy enough.

A short stroll returned us to the car park by Max Kirby Bridge, to conclude a most pleasant outing.

Jen reckons this walk is 11 km, but my GPS recorded 13 km, in a leisurely 4 hours including breaks.

Next week:

Friday 9 April - 10 km in Delamere Forest. Meet at Barnbridge Gates car park - SJ 542 716. Let me know if you plan to come, as the 'group of six' limit will still apply.