Coastwalk

Parkgate → Flint

Distance: 10.1 miles
Ascent: 23 metres
Duration: 3 hours 8 minutes

Into Wales
« West Kirby | Prestatyn »

I entered Wales today, but didn't notice the border as I crossed it; there was no sign or other marker that I could see. It wasn't until after two crossing two fences (one wooden, one barbed wire), and walking for half a mile on the edge of an active railway that I realised I was once again in God's own country. For reasons that will become clear today's write-up will be entirely advice for walkers hoping to embark on a similar route in the future.

Immediately south of Parkgate the seawall ends and the path drops down to the marsh edge. Without Alan from yesterday to encourage me inland I squelched through the mud and water. Just before Little Neston the path improved considerably.

The big challenge for the coast walker on this stretch is determining how to navigate the head of the Dee estuary. Tempted by and RSPB sign near Burton Marsh Farm I followed a track south towards Sea Camp firing range. At Burton Point the military signs were ambiguous so I took the most favourable interpretation. (Does "keep out when flags are flying" imply that you may pass if there are no red flags?) This was a mistake. Either side of the building at SJ 306727 the way ahead was blocked by an eight-foot steel fence. The only alternative to straying into the Danger Area was scrambling up to the railway line. Thankfully the wide railway track bed meant there was no need to get close to the active line. Unfortunately returning to the public highway was tricky. I followed the railway spur towards the mill and scrambled up the steep bridge parapet to the A548.

This road - a main route into North Wales - isn't a very pleasant walk, but turning a blind eye to the No Pedestrians signs on the opposite carriageway gives access to the most downstream crossing of the River Dee, a spectacular cable stayed affair.

Future walkers would probably be better avoiding the firing range and instead walking from Burton Marsh Farm through Burton, Puddington and Shotwick to the A494 before turning south briefly, then picking up the Sustrans route 5 cycle path to cross the Dee at Hawarden Bridge.

Nearing Flint I attempted to get nearer to the riverside again by taking the footpath by the sewage treatment works but was turned back once more by the badly flooded marsh. The better place to rejoin the river turned out to be beside Flint football club where a good path leads to Flint castle.

Coastwalk

West Kirby → Parkgate

Distance: 8.08 miles
Ascent: 21 metres
Duration: 2 hours 45 minutes

The Dee
« Birkenhead | Flint »

I slipped out of the Greenbelt meeting just as it drew to a close and took a taxi to West Kirby hoping to sneak a bonus walk into the weekend. The driver promised me a very different Wirral to that which I saw on Friday. He was absolutely right. The West Wirral coast is far more natural, with grassy cliffs and outcrops of red sandstone fringing the salt marshes of the Dee Estuary.

This must be one of the all-time classic estuary walks. Although not marked as a path on the map I was able to walk almost the entire stretch on the beach. The one time I diverted inland was when a particularly boggy section led me to pause a while to consider the state of my shoes. It was there that I met Alan, and eighty-something year-old local and keen walker. "Come with me," he said as he gestured towards the Wirral Way, a recreational path that follows the route of a disused railway a few hundred metres inland.

Alan told me of how instead of marsh the estuary was a continuous expanse of sand when he moved to the area fifty plus years ago. It's hard to imagine, since the salt marsh seems so well established now with starlings gathering in murmurations as the afternoon drew on.

Alan and I shook hands and bade each other farewell at College Lane, where he headed home and I turned towards the coast once more. Between here and Parkgate there was no more mud. Indeed the path followed the top of an old sea wall that had the feeling of a tragically unused quayside. Suddenly the implications of the silting of the Dee became all too apparent. In another world the villages along the West Wirral coast would have hosted the ports and docks that line the Mersey.

Coastwalk

Birkenhead → West Kirby

Distance: 13.1 miles
Ascent: 27 metres
Duration: 3 hours 32 minutes

Round the Wirral
« Liverpool | Parkgate »

I'd agreed to attend this year's Greenbelt PrOps (Programming/Operations) weekend before I found out where it was. Once I learnt its location was the heart of Wirral and that my work schedule had conspired to give me a day off before and another straight after I knew I'd made the right decision.

The first part of the walk, between the Woodside and Seacombe ferry terminals was the least pleasant part of the day. Here the industrial past of Birkenhead hasn't yet quite made way for flashy riverside boutique living, so the wharves are overgrown and slightly forbidding. Next to each ferry terminal the shafts of the two road tunnels loom large. The brickwork on the Queensway shaft is exquisite, and shames Kingsway's concrete rocket launcher.

Most of the rest of the walk was along a superb prom, making for easy and fast going. A good thing too with an early winter sunset threatening to curtail my day.

Off the Wallasey Embankment, out in the receding tide maybe two hundred cockle pickers were hard at work. I'd never seen so many in one group and judging by conversations I had with locals gathered on the sea wall to watch, it was an unusual sight for them too.

On the far side of Hoylake where the road bends inland I watched the sun set behind the Welsh hills and took the decision to walk the remaining couple of miles on the beach. It was an exhilarating finish to the day as the golden sunset transformed into a purple dusk. Across the River Dee pinpricks of light revealed villages high up in the Clwydian Range while below my feet the sand squished pleasingly. After turning the corner at Red Rocks I joined the board walk across the marsh to reach West Kirby just before all light was lost. A fantastic close to the day. Now off to my meeting!