Revisit Croxteth but different walk.

Bank Holiday Monday and we revisited Croxteth Hall and Country Park. This was, in the main new to us!

Let me explain; we've been to Croxteth many times but never visited The West Derby End.
It's at that end where you can visit the Parish Church of St Mary.

But I'm already ahead of my self. 

The walk was only 3.6713 miles in total and can be viewed at http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6058977 

Starting from the first car park, as you enter the Country Park from Croxteth Hall Lane, we headed back towards the entrance and then left through a gap in the trees, that we could see ahead.

A sunny day but damp underfoot, we saw a number of slugs, sliding over the wet grass.

Through the gap we were met by a view of the driveway, to our left and along the edge of the woodland patches of wild flowers and plants. We strolled past these "collections" stopping regularly to view butterflies, hover-flies, bees, and a whole range of insects...

...on an equally wide range of plants...

Tempted by footpaths into the woods we did a number of small detours that sometimes led to exits/entrances from/to the park.

Lots of blackberries, some raspberries, lots of Rowan berries, the list goes on...

After three-quarters of a mile we reached the West Derby Entrance and St Mary's Parish Church. with a very interesting gate.

So I've now caught-up with my introduction.

Crossing to the other side of the main drive, we headed back towards Croxteth Hall and turned right into woods. Upon emerging from the woods we headed along the right-hand path and along the wooded edge of the park. We passed a number of ponds, surrounded by trees and continued to admire the plants,insects etc.

In the wood land we saw cuckoo-pint...

...and Speckled Wood butterflies...

Domesticated animals grazed the fenced areas including horses, donkeys...

...and Highland Cattle...

All in all a very enjoyable,albeit rather short, walk. 

Stonebridge Park

If at first...
This is where I'd planned to go on the Croxteth Hall & Country Park walk. If you remember the route was blocked by Alley Gates.

All turned out well, as it did today on this walk.

The map for this 6.7366 miles route is available at http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6039492.

Again I wasn't confident but it turned out well with some interesting highlights.

As too-earlies we caught the train to Walton, using our senior travel passes. 

From the station we made our way to Rice Lane Recreation Ground and onto the Liverpool Loop Line. 
After walking about a mile (from the start) we left the LoopLine and walked down Liver Industrial Estate, past Taskers.
At Long Lane (B5187) we turned left then right into Everton Cemetery. 

Now that was a total surprise.
What do I mean?
For starters we were asked by the "Flower seller" what we were looking for. 

Odd we both thought. 

We told him we were just on a Sunday stroll but, had noticed the sign informing readers of the presence of "Commonwealth Graves". 

We continued walking into the Cemetery.

I don't think I can put into words what we saw. If you can, go and look yourself. 

The map provided an indication of what to expect, but not the impact it has.

Go on,if you're local take a look. I'll come back to this later.

The route wasn't that obvious from the Cemetery to the playing field alongside Lower Lane. By following the tracks of vehicles we ended up on good paths. Also disturbed a couple of rabbits.

At Lower Lane we turned right, towards the A580 and, just before the Traffic lights entered Stonebridge Park.

Yes, second attempt and we had made it to, what turned out to be, a well maintained park with lots of wildlife; coots, moor-hens, ducks, heron, butterflies, wild flowers etc.

A couple of "fishermen" had camped overnight and were enjoying the sun between a couple of showers.

At Stonebridge Lane we turned left and walked along the road up to the footpath alongside the River Alt; 

...the path taking us via Fazakerley Hall Recreation Ground and onto Lower Lane. 

University Hospital Aintree (still called Fazakerley Hospital by locals) can be seen on the opposite side of the road, and to the right. 

We turned left then, almost immediately, right into Brookfield Drive.
Passing HM Prison Altcourse, we turned left, down Higher Lane, and re-entered Everton Cemetery via The Lodge.

This side of the Cemetery had very clear areas for those who once supported specific local Teams (Red area and Blue Area). Even in death...

On leaving the Cemetery, the "Flower Man" had to stop us and explain why he had questioned us, when entering earlier.

He thought we were looking for Brian Epstein's Grave. (http://www.brianepstein.com/) It was in the adjacent Jewish Cemetery, closed on a Sunday, although, apparently, many entered Everton Cemetery and climbed over the wall.

The rest of the walk was retracing our steps to Walton Station, with a slight change across Rice Lane Recreation Ground.

Croxteth Hall and Country Park

Croxteth Hall

4.2879 miles around Croxteth Hall and Country Park today. 

The route can be see in full at...

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6030345 

It wasn't exactly as planned, but only because of an alley gate that blocked our route.

That said the route walked was very enjoyable, a lot of which was through woodland. (Dam and Craven Woods)

Good paths, shaded from the heat of the sun we saw lots of evidence of squirrel feeding. Lots of wild flowers and,near the motorway, M57, the views over the scrub-land,  as we walked along the stream, were very pretty.

Cutting up,away from the stream we passed a number of ponds; the bull rushes were particularly impressive.

Back at the Hall, we enjoyed refreshments, in the form of coffee, in the old stable courtyard, before heading home.

A really nice walk. 
Note: There are many things to do at Croxteth Hall & Country Park, that I've not mentioned in this post. e.g. when we went there were donkey rides. No I didn't!