W&WPL #14 The Bootle Arms, Melling

Our 14th W&WPL (Walk 6.1182 miles (9.8463 km) & Wednesday Pub Lunch) route, to the Bootle Arms, Melling... 

...has been saved and can be viewed at... 

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6583151

Starting at the car park behind Costa, in Maghull...

...we headed through to Westway, turning left along the A59 (Northway) towards Ormskirk, then right along Dodds Lane, keeping left at Northway School.

Taking the first right, Brock Avenue, we crossed the park and continued to the T-junction at the end of Calder Drive.

Left, then first right along Mersey Avenue, we then kept our eyes open for a path,between houses on our right, to take us through to Deyes Lane, which we crossed and followed the original road over the railway line.

We then turned right along a signposted path, initially through a farm, over fields, towards the M58...

 Just before the M58 the footpath splits...

 ...we continued straight on...

 ...over the M58...

 ...then left towards Giddygate Lane...

 Just before the entrance to a farm yard we kept to the left down a narrow path...

 ...where we saw the first bluebells of 2015...

 At the end of the path we turned right along the lane to another sign-post...

 ...where we turned right through an enclosed area with fishing facilities...

 Past the pond, we crossed a stile...

...and, keeping the ditch on our right, headed along the edge of the fields. the hedgerow had a large amount of Petasites...

Butterbur (Petasites hybridus)

 Straight across Moss Nook Lane, we continued to the Waterworks, along an enclosed path...

 ...to emerge onto Leatherbarrows Lane.
left then right along Sandy Lane. 
At the next junction, in front of the old school we veered left along School Lane and, at the end of the short lane, turned right and almost immediately left across a field... 

 When we reached the edge of the field we turned right, along another path, to emerge at the junction of Rock Lane and Tithebarn Lane. The Bootle Arms was straight ahead of us...

We stopped here for the Pub Lunch part of our W&WPL which you can read about at...

http://maghullfoodie.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/the-bootle-arms-melling-14.html

After lunch we came out of the Bootle Arms, turned left and headed down towards Brewery Lane. Chris went into "The Delph" to take a look at the Cowslips (Primula veris) - or as we called them in Suffolk, Peggles...

At Brewery Lane we turned left and, after crossing the Leeds Liverpool Canal, we took the path down onto the tow-path and turned left, away from the bridge...

 We continued along the tow-path, under the M58, the railway line, past the foot bridge...

 Over Hall Lane, next to the Swing-bridge and past the playing fields. Here we say lots more bluebells, pinkbells and whitebells...

 On the far bank of the canal we could see Saint Andrew's Church just before passing under the A59...

 A little further on we saw our first ducklings of 2015...

 Continuing under Liverpool Road South we reached the swing-bridge at Shop Lane. Here we crossed the bridge, crossed Liverpool Road North and cut through the small wooded area to our right. Here we saw even more bluebells, pinkbells and whitebells...

 We decided to pop into Costa...

...before returning to our starting point.

In spite of the cold wind and the misty rain, an enjoyable walk and pub lunch at the Bootle Arms...

It just seemed so wrong!

If you have travelled on Merseyrail, from Maghull towards Liverpool, you'll know what I mean.
The plan was to park at Maghull Station, catch a train to Aintree and walk back to Maghull.
Doesn't sound that great until you realise it includes walking along the Liverpool Loop Line, skirting Aintree Racecourse (the Canal Turn and other jumps), along the tow-path of the Leeds Liverpool Canal and up through Melling, past the Bootle Arms (sadly not open, we were too early) and back to Maghull Station.
The URL for this 4.3938 miles route is available at http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6171506
So what was wrong?
Well the train from Maghull left from Platform 2 (the one nearest the carpark) not Platform 1, it's usual departure platform.
Why?
A bus replacement from Maghull to Ormskirk and, I assume, someone thought it would be nice to save people the walk over the footbridge. How nice and considerate I hear you thinking.
The impact?
For those who read the Rail Matrix some confusion but for others - well they walked over the footbridge and then back again once they realised their error.
And yes it did feel so wrong as we pulled off towards Aintree and the start of our walk.
Although cold it didn't take long to get warm as we made our way towards the Loop Line. 
The Pellican Crossing on the A59 seemed to have taken Sunday off as we ended up, after two complete changes of lights for traffic, crossing when there was a gap in traffic flow.
Can quite see why people don't wait for the "Green Man"!
Lots of birds flitted in and out of the trees bushes etc., as we walked along the LoopLine

and blossom was evident on some plants.

 

The jumps on Anitree Racecourse don't seem as impressive in their Winter format but a number of people were taking advantage of the footpath to exercise their dogs and/or wear out their children.

Ducks, Moorhens and Coots were expecting food but, I don't know why, we never seem to remember to take food for them.
Anyhow,if the Wetland Trust are correct, they shouldn't be fed with bread.
Leaving the tow-path we headed up towards Melling along probably the only muddy, wet stretch of the walk.

Past the closed Bootle Arms, very sad, it was all downhill to Maghull Station and then off to Costa for Lunch.

Started to rain just before the M58 but we were lucky with the weather and it was an enjoyable walk.