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.

Walk & Wednesday Pub Lunch #15 - Saracens Head, Halsall

Our 4.3952 miles (7.0735 km) route, for Walk & Wednesday Pub Lunch (W&WPL) #15, has been saved and you can take a closer look at...

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6589963

It was to...

The Saracens Head, Halsall

What a contrast from last week; today...

• no coats,
• sun shining
• light breeze.

Not the only change however!
Today we went from Maghull Station...

...to Aughton Park Station...

...where our walk began.

We headed up the ramp and steps...

...and, at the top turned right along Long Lane.
At the end of Long Lane we turned right and crossed the A59 (Liverpool Road) at the pedestrian lights turned right then first left, along a track, towards Gorse Hill Reservoir.
Turning right in-front of the many padlocked gate we could see the spire and tower of Ormskirk Church, ahead of us...

Before the large barn we took a left and followed the path around the Reservoir, keeping the metal fence on our left side...

Emerging into a wider open space...

the path is straight ahead in this photograph

...we veered to the right heading down hill.
This area is part of Gorse Hill Nature Reserve...

We kept the hedge on our right, as we left the Nature Reserve, and passed along the edge of a number of fields with various cabbage plants - some of which were in flower...

We emerged onto Cut Lane where we turned left. Across the field we could see, on the left, what turned out to be a new build...

 The brick building was on the opposite side of the road we were walking along (Cut Lane)
There were quite alot of sheep and lambs in the fields near the two buildings...

 At the road junction, we turned right along Narrow Lane, past Acorn Cattery (love the somewhat battered sign)...

 ...fields of horses...

 and Oilseed Rape coming into flower...

 Where Narrow Lane took a fairly sharp right we carried on across the field ahead, with the ditch on our left. This brought us to the Leeds Liverpool Canal where we crossed the bridge and descended onto the tow-path down steps on the left. passing under the bridge...

 ...we continued to the next canal bridge...

 ...just past the Saracens Head, on the opposite bank...

 Before going to enjoy our pub lunch, we went to look at the sculpture...

 ... and the information about the building of the canal...

 ...that started there...

We enjoyed our pub lunch which you can read about at...

http://maghullfoodie.blogspot.com/2015/04/our-15th-w-walk-wednesday-pub-lunch-was.html

After lunch we left the Saracens Head, re-crossed the canal bridge and headed along Summerwood Lane towards the A5147 (New Street)

Here we caught the 300 Bus...

...back to Maghull - from the bus-stop in-front of the church.

Another enjoyable walk that, if you get the opportunity you should try.