Weather: Fine and cold.
Distance:
25 km (15.5 miles) Total Distance: 3504 miles
This,
I am hoping, is the start of my last years coastal path walking, which at the same time is
disappointing in a big way too. With my
eye on a new hobby, I had started trig point bagging and stopped on the way to
the start of this walk to bag one in the early winter summer sunshine at
Holmeswood.
I
parked the car on the Crossens housing estate rather than leave it in the
isolated lay-by where I had finished walking last time. This meant I had to climb over a fence at the
end of a cul-de sac before even starting this walk and onto the riverbank. There was a long stretch at the beginning of
this walk along a road but as it was a Sunday morning it wasn't too busy. I deviated for a while onto the muddy
riverbank to get around a building and then back onto the road. This turned into promenade as I past
Southport. I didn’t see too much of
Southport by going this route as it is quite far back from the seafront. All I seemed to pass was a large new shopping
development and the ever present McDonald's both of which I avoided at all cost.
Once
out of the town the road went inland a bit and I took to the beach, stopping
soon afterwards for a drink and snack out of my rucksack.
I
thought of stopping at Ainsdale holiday centre for a coffee but although it was
crowded with people enjoying an unusually sunny Sunday there was nowhere open.
Back
to the beach again and onwards towards Liverpool. I saw streams of people coming out of the
dunes near Formby and down to the sea as if released from their winter
hibernation holes. Past Formby I started
to hear the sound of rifle shots and then the red flags appeared. I had seen the range marked on the map so was
already expecting to be forced inland here.
I
walked up towards Formby but still had some energy left so carried on till
Hightown taking a narrow footpath that followed the railway all the way. I was very lucky on arrival at Hightown to
get a train back to Southport almost straight away. The scouse girls on the train all looked like they were out of Letter to Brezhnev. Southport itself was busy with Sunday
shoppers – eating ice-cream in the sun!
I then
got a bus back to the estate where I had parked – again, from a very friendly
bus driver.
Time
for two more trig points before heading home – one at the back of a garden centre in
a field with a caged magpie and dead rabbit for food and one on top of a
reservoir.
No comments:
Post a Comment