Maghull Meanders: August 2015

Thursday, August 27, 2015

The Hightown - for our 28th Walk and Wednesday Pub Lunch

Let's start with a Question!
What happened last week?
My better half was at Thomas Land with our two UK Grandchildren while I was entertaining visitors from Sunny Suffolk - so we had a break.
This week, our 3.838 miles (6.1767 km) route from Formby Merseyrail Station to Hightown Station, via The Hightown for lunch, has been saved and is available at...

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6698916

You can see what the "Pub Lunch" experience was like at...

http://maghullfoodie.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/the-hightown-hightown-our-28th-wandwpl.html

Let's just say it's =2nd for the Beers and Service League

From Maghull Station...

...we took the train...

...via Sandhills to Formby Station.
Initially the walk was along relatively quiet roads but soon joins the Sefton Coastal Path.
We saw a rabbit in the church yard...

... and soon were walking along unadopted roads...

...along which we saw Cinnabar Moth Caterpillars...

Entering more open footpaths...

...we passed Cabin Hill National Nature Reserve (well worth a visit)...

... saw a Cinnabar Moth...

...and the cattle, used along side the sheep...

...to control the vegetation on the dunes.
We continued towards the MOD Ranges (the Coastal path skirting the high fences)...

... where we saw lots of Wall Brown butterflies...

Lasiommata megera, the Wall Brown butterfly gets its name from the characteristic behaviour of resting with wings two-thirds open on any bare surface, including bare ground and, of course, walls!
Many walkers come across this butterfly on footpaths, especially in coastal areas, where the butterfly flies up when disturbed, before setting again a few metres ahead.
The rest of the walk was a mixture of walking through wooded patches...

...and along the edge of the MOD Range and/or the edge of the Liverpool-Southport Railway line...

We also saw a dead rat on the path...

... probably an ex-resident of the River Alt (which we crossed).
Eventually we reached Hightown and passed the entrance to the MOD Range.

A short distance from there, past the new houses being built, we reached our lunch venue...

After a couple of pints and lunch, it was a short walk to Hightown Station...

...and a couple of trains and a bus home.

Another enjoyable Wednesday!

Sunday's Meander (a little late posting it, sorry)

Our 7.7 miles (12.5 Km) route, from Sunday 23rd August 2015, has been saved and can be seen at...

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6697880

As you can see, this was longer than most of our walks and, take it from me, my legs made me aware of that extra distance.

Quite a lot of of the early part of the walk is along fairly quiet roads; the rest along clear footpaths including the Cheshire lines.

What did we see?

Well the highlights were...

Damsons/Bullace,
Tyria jacobaeae, Cinnabar moth, catterpillars,
Blackberries (tasty),
Pygmy Goats,
Cinnabar moth,
Sheep,
Partridges,
Dragonflies, and more...

...and these collages, made with an app on my phone called Diptic, provide an overview...

...or take a look at...

or visit https://sharalike.com/s/f7Hr if the embedded clip fails to play.
I'm sure that when the USA Dalziels are visiting we will be carving some of those pumpkins...

...for Halloween; they'll be much bigger by then!

Another enjoyable Sunday walk.

P.S. it rained briefly, not long after we got home

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

The Alt Park, Maghull, for our 27th Wednesday Pub Lunch

Our 2.9417 miles (4.7343 km) route to the Alt Park...

...has been saved. The URL for this route is

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6685841

Again, I don't think I need to provide step by step directions as the path is fairly clear and the map will provide greater detail.

The walk starts in the car park behind Costa, in Maghull and the first part of the walk takes you to the Leeds Liverpool Canal, where you head towards Liverpool.
We had one of our Granddaughters with us...

...which explains why the walk was shorter than usual.

Emily enjoyed feeding the ducks (seeds not bread) and spotting Moorhens, fish etc...

...including water lilies...

We were also lucky to arrive at Shop Lane Swing Bridge, to see two barges pass through.
Soon tired, it was into the buggy and by 12:30, sound asleep...

As usual we saw lots of flowers...

...picked a lot of blackberries and enjoyed the walk in the sun.
Emily was still asleep when we arrived at the Alt Park and, if you are interested, you can take a look at how we rated our lunch at...

http://maghullfoodie.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/the-alt-park-maghull-our-27th-w.html

After lunch it was a short walk across the road to catch the bus back...

Albeit a short meander, it was an enjoyable one, in the welcome sunshine!

Take a look at the video clip I've created from the photographs I took, at...

https://sharalike.com/s/fKfn

and/or use the embedded clip below...

Wednesday, August 05, 2015

The Scarisbrick Arms for our 26th Wednesday Pub Lunch

Our 5.0393 miles (8.11 km) route, to the Scarisbrick Arms for lunch, has been saved. The URL for this route is...

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6679297

Again, I don't think I need to provide step by step directions as the path is fairly clear and the map will provide greater detail.

The walk starts in the car park behind Costa, in Maghull and the first part of the walk follows the steps we took two weeks ago.
Although the Scarisbrick Arms is next to the Leeds Liverpool Canal, we took a route across country, along lanes...