Mince pie and a coffee

The photographs that I took on today's 6.0659 miles (9.7622 km) route can be seen below...  

...or at https://sharalike.com/s/kzyB and the route we took can be seen at
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6767562 
We set off earlier than usual as it was supposed to rain by midday.
As you can see from the map, our walk included the...

• Cheshire lines - a disused railway line that was built by the Cheshire Lines Committee, extending the North Liverpool Extension Line to Southport in 1884,
• Jubilee Wood - a former landfill site which has been planted in...♦ Scots pine, ♦ Corsican pine,
  ♦ larch,
  ♦ ash,
  ♦ rowan,
  ♦ willow,
  ♦ birch,
  ♦ hawthorn,
  ♦ guelder rose and
  ♦ dog rose and
• Leeds Liverpool Canal - the longest canal in Northern England at 127 miles long. 

Plants continue to be confused by the mild weather with many in flower and catkins also observed - the third lot in a week.
During the walk we saw...

• Two men practising Falconry - the hunting of wild quarry in its natural state and habitat by means of a trained bird of prey; in this case a Hobby;
• Buzzards - now the commonest and most widespread UK bird of prey; 
• a Grebe;
• Moorhens;
• Coots and
• Mallards;

...along with the usual hedgerow and field wild birds.
We ended our Meander at Costa, in Maghull, with a coffee and mince pie - a fruit-based mincemeat sweet pie of British origin that is traditionally served during the Christmas season.

The Cricketers Ormskirk - our 41st walk for a Wednesday Pub Lunch

It was nice to get out and about today for our 41st Walk and Wednesday Pub Lunch.
The 3.6706 miles (5.9072 km) route has been saved and can be seen at...

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6766081

Today we...

• caught the bus to Maghull Railway Station, 
• caught the train to Aughton Park then we 
• completed the walk for our pub lunch...

To return home we caught a bus back to Maghull.
There were quite a lot heading into Liverpool...

 ... but very few going to Ormskirk...

 From Aughton Park Station we turned right and headed along Long Lane, crossing the A59 at the end and then across the field towards the reservoir...

 There were patches of blue sky...

 ...albeit small (Fisherman's Jackets).
Gorse was in flower and looking back at the bright yellow flowers, we could see Christ Church, Aughton, that we had passed earlier...

 Looking back in the direction we were heading, we could see more flowers and, in the distance Ormskirk Parish Church...

 As we would expect at this time of year, here in the North West of England, a smallish flock of geese flew over...

 The only other plants of interest were teasels...

 ...and, after we had passed under the railway line...

 ...past the trees, whose trunks were covered in moss...

 ...we saw 'catkins'...

 ...for the second time this week.
We made our way through the Bus Station, to check times for our bus home, and, as always, took a look at the Wall painting at the end of a row of terrace houses facing Moor Street in Ormskirk....

 ...not one of Banksy's although probably inspired by him!
Time for lunch! Find out more about our experience at...
http://maghullfoodie.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/the-cricketers-ormskirk-our-41st-wandwpl.html

After our lunch, we headed a short distance down the road to catch our bus.

Another enjoyable walk in West Lancashire.

Fisherman's Path

Hardly politically correct and probably a name that wouldn't be allocated to any new paths but, today we walked along this path to the Sefton Coast where we looked over Liverpool Bay and the Irish Sea, with Blackpool on the Northern Horizon.
The slide show, embedded below, is made up of the images that I took with my iPhone.

Our 3.8129 miles (6.1362 km) route has been saved and is available at...

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6761687

The National Trust Car Park was closed - For Public Safety Reasons - There had been high winds and some trees, observed on our walk, had been up-rooted.
So we went and parked at the railway station.
It was nice to see the Gorse in flower as we made our way to the railway crossing.

 The bright yellow flowers brightening up a fairly overcast day.

 There were some "Fishermen's Jackets" (at term used for small patches of blue sky) as we crossed the Liverpool - Southport Railway line. Next to the path over the Golf Course, we saw lots of fungi...

 ...of different types....

 ...and sizes...

 The bright green of the conifers also brightened the day...

... as most of the deciduous trees have lost their leaves.
The sign post on the other side of the golf course didn't mention the name of the path we were following...

 ...mustn't upset anyone!

 The Sea Buckthorn berries (also referred to as sandthorn, sallowthorn, or seaberry) were observed throughout the walk

 As we neared the dunes, we saw a new bench that had mosaics of sand lizards embedded on three sides... 

 ...a nice addition to the benches and seating within the reserve.

 The Sea Buckthorn's presence increased as we got closer to the dunes.

 When we reached the dunes and the beach, the tide was way out...

 Looking to the north we could see Blackpool Pleasure Beach, on the horizon...

 After a windy walk along the beach, towards Liverpool, we headed back in land via the dunes. then back into the forest...

 I caught some glimpses of Red Squirrels but unable to photograph them...

As we reached almost the end of our walk, just before walking along Victoria Road, we did see four very active Red Squirrels that made our day!

The Racquet Club, Liverpool - our 39th walk for a Wednesday Pub Lunch

Our 2.6151 Mile (4.2086 km) route (shorter than normal) has been saved and is available at... 

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6760116

Today, we started from Moorfield Station, Liverpool, and left via the Old Hall Street Exit.
We headed past Melanie's work, past our final destination, The Racquet Club, and headed down to the River Mersey.
The route taken can be clearly seen on the map provided.
The "Three Graces" are always worth a visit, if you go to Liverpool, as this photograph shows...

 Heading in-land (Turned left), we past the Museum of Liverpool, complete with some of the "Lamb-Bananas" - http://www.superlambanana.eu/history.html...

 Then on towards the Albert Dock with views of the old Pump-house, the Maritime Museum and some old sailing vessels...

 The "Love Locks"  were all along this section of the walk, plus the occasional gull...

 Throughout the walk there are so many things to see, celebrating Liverpool's past and present...

 The River Mersey itself is becoming increasingly busy and you're never sure what you will see...

 On our walk today, it was windy, the tide was coming in and, we're pleased to say, no rain.

 The views are quite stunning...

 and you're never sure what you will see! A crocodile...

 ...no just some netting.
We soon reached Brunswick Station...

 ...where we caught a train back to Moorfields...

 The plan was to meet our elder daughter, when she finished work at 12:30. as we were a little early, we popped into Costa...

 ...where Chris had enough points for us to have FREE DRINKS...

 We then completed our Meander, picking Melanie up on the way to our Lunch destination...

You can see how we rated our 39th Wednesday Pub Lunch at...

http://maghullfoodie.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/the-racquet-club-liverpool-our-39th.html

Another enjoyable Wednesday Walk in a beautiful City.
P.S. I went home while Chris and Melanie went Christmas Shopping.

The Hayfield, Ormskirk - our 38th Walk and Pub Lunch

Today's 5.0143 miles (8.0698 km) route to The Hayfield in Ormskirk...

...has been saved and is available at...

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6755867 

Our walk started at Maghull Railway Station, where Chris asked me, while we were waiting for the Train,

"What do you think the minimum charge is to make a phone call from a public phone box?"

I was  way out - take a look at the picture below to see how close you are...

 At the time I was looking at the paintings that fill a number of the windows...

 I try to walk different routes, each time we go for a meander but, it gets increasingly difficult. Today I tried to get the worse bit out of the way first. 
So quite a lot of road walking at the start...

 ...as we headed from Aughton Park Station towards Ruff Wood...

 We had our fingers crossed that the rain would hold off, at least until we reached The Hayfield, where we planned to have lunch. We were encouraged by breaks in the cloud...

 Apart from the usual farmland birds, 

• rooks, 
• wood pigeons, 
• crows, 
• jackdaws, 
• magpies,
• sparrows, 
• skylarks etc. 

...we didn't spot anything unusual. It was nice however to see gorse in flower... 

 I'm not sure that I've noticed the "Welcome to Lathom" sign before either...

 ...another advantage of walking over driving.
The new Edge Hill University Sport's fields were looking well established, considering how relatively new they are...

 In Ruff Wood, we looked out for the carvings we hadn't seen. We saw the Owl again and, very close but missed on our last visit, we spotted the squirrel...

 We spotted quite a few real Grey Squirrels as well.

 We also spotted the wood pecker but were not in a good position to capture as a photograph. 
We were approached by two university students and took part in an interview about Ruff Wood, I hope it was useful to them. 
From Ruff Wood we headed across the field and then along Lady's Walk...

 ...which was a tad muddy...

 ...and nice to get back on the paths again...

 At the old Smithy, on Dark Lane we saw Winter Flowering Jasmine...

Just over the railway bridge we descended down onto the old railway track, to follow "The Smith Way"...

 At the signposted intersection, we took the path to the right, towards Burscough Road...

 ...passing under the railway line...

 From there it was back to road walking that took us to lunch...

You can see how The Hayfield rated at...

http://maghullfoodie.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/the-hayfield-ormskirk-our-38th-wandwpl.html

After lunch, we made our way to Ormskirk Bus Station and caught the bus home.

Another enjoyable walk in the Lancashire Countryside.