W&WPL #7 - The Ship Inn Haskayne

The 5.364 miles (8.6325 km) Walk part of W&WPL...

...has been saved and the URL for the route is at... 

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6538316

NOTE: We caught the 300 bus back to Maghull.
The Ship Inn at Haskayne...

...was the target for the Wednesday Pub Lunch (WPL) part of W&WPL; you can see our evaluation of The Ship via our Maghull Foodie Blog at...

http://maghullfoodie.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/the-ship-inn-haskayne.html 

As usual the Walk starts and ends in the car park behind Costa in Maghull.

Starting from the car park, we headed round the front of the shops, turning left and walking parallel to the A59 towards Ormskirk.
We crossed the A59 and along Dodd's Lane, bearing left when we reached Northway School.
Straight across Kenyons Lane and along Millbank Lane.
Turn left through a signposted gap in the hedge (if you reach a junction with a road coming in from the right, you've gone too far).
Keep the hedge on your right and, when you get to the end of the field, pass through the hedge and turn left.
After a short distance, follow the path round to the right and head up to and through Hartley's Nursery and down to Robin's Island.
Bearing left we then crossed the A59, turning right and following the footpath round to the left into Liverpool Road.
Crossing over Liverpool Road, we took the first right into Moss Lane then, a bit further along, right into Pygon's Hill Lane.
Along here we saw our first Dandelions of 2015...

...and some crocus...

Continuing along Pygon's Hill Lane, ignoring Sudell Lane on the right, until we reached the Leeds Liverpool Canal.
The steps down onto the footpath are on the left-hand side of the road.
We descended the steps onto the Tow-path and turned left under Bridge 19...

Bridge 19

We stayed on the Tow-path until we reached The Ship Inn passing a Swing Bridge...

...a family group heading for the winding-hole; they passed the pub, on their return journey, while we were eating...

... another Swing Bridge, which in its current state I doubt would work...

...and The Pride of Sefton 2, a short-boat...

When we reached The Ship Inn, we left the Tow-path, crossing the grassy area with picnic-benches into the car-park. 
From here we went into The Ship Inn for lunch and a pint or two.

After our Wednesday Pub Lunch we went back out through the car-park onto Rosemary Lane. 
We continued until we reached the A5147, Wanishar Lane, where we turned left continuing to the Bus Stop.

At the time of writing this, the 300 Bus leaves this bus stop at...

• 20min or 
• 50min 

...past each hour.
Another enjoyable walk which, as it follows the canal, is fairly level.

The Blue Bell, Haskayne

This week our walk was even closer to home as Chris decided on our start and end pub. The walk, planned on the Lancashire A-Z Street Atlas was as near to 7 miles as you could get. The 'vast skys' and distant views of North Wales and the trough of Bowland adding to what was a pleasant, flat, walk along lanes, farm tracks, across fields and along the Leeds Liverpool Canal.
A map of the walk can be found at http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1646936.
The initial part of the walk took us into a cutting where the frog, in the newspaper below, was spotted. Chris and I assumed that this was a branch line from the Cheshire Lines which had been turned into a nature/wildlife area.

Make a free ecard - it's easy!

It was too wet and flooded to continue along the cutting so we returned to the road and walked above the cutting until we could rejoin the old 'track' near the lakes. A number of fishermen we evident as they were later along the canal past another of our haunts, The Ship Inn.
"A jerk on one end of a line waiting for a jerk on the other!" Apparently Chis hadn't heard this description before.
One dog, with an owner who had no control, was the only down side to the walk and the sandwich at the end was one of, if not the best we have had on our walks. Well done the Blue Bell!

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Haskayne, Clieves Hill (Ormskirk) and the Canal

Back to normal! Today we walked 6.2 miles close to home.

Clieves Hill, just outside Ormskirk, is one of a line of low hills that look west across the Lancashire Plain and have much more distant views than you would expect. The Welsh Hills are frequently in sight, as are the Lake District, Trough of Bowland and Winter Hill. The walk was about one-third arable field-paths, one-third quiet lanes and one-third canal towpath. The walk starts near the Ship Inn at Haskayne, which is easily accessible and has a very attractive setting. Chris and I have frequented this establishment on a number of Wednesday nights after shopping. Good food and local beer. Highlights of the walk, those that made me get out the camera, included a 17th Century House, three horses who were expecting mints, apples or carrots (none of which we had) a minature set of standing stones and the first snowdrops!
All of which I've included in the collage below.

Nature seems confused to say the least, rooks are starting to nest and spring flowers out before the end of the year.
Further research tells me that Haskayne (origin, the village where hazel trees grow) has several cruck-framed thatched cottages, a post office-cum-store and a furniture manufacturer, plus its two pubs. Of these, the Ship is reputed to be the oldest on the Leeds-Liverpool Canal, since this section was the first to be constructed in 1770. It is the longest canal in Britain at 127 miles and remains the only navigable canal across the Pennines.

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