I spend three nights in Liverpool exploring the city, visiting the wonderful Catholic Cathedral, wandering around art galleries and staying up to watch the general election results.
Liverpool - Election Night - 2017
After a night of some drinks in Albert Dock with my pal Laura I'm off.
It's tipping it down when I set off and I clamber into all of my waterproofs but happily after twenty minutes the rain stops. I'm following the path along the Mersey - past the Albert Dock and the Echo area and along a long promenade at Otterspool.
After a good morning's walk, and with a couple of small diversions away from the Mersey, I arrive at the Speke Hall. This Tudor manor house is hidden away right next to the airport. i wander round the gardens for a while and then go to follow the path which runs between the airport and the water. However after a couple of hundred yards the path is blocked and I turn around to go back to Speke Hall and plot a new route.
After some deliberation I decide to go north of the airport and through the Speke housing estate, childhood home of Paul McCartney and George Harrison. Speke was built as a new town in 1936 for people from the slums of the south end of Liverpool. However Speke turned out to be a bit of a failure - soulless and cut off from the rest Liverpool by a large induatrial estate and the airport. By the year 2000 it was the second most deprived ward in England and Wales (out of 8414)
Leaving Speke I come to the village of Hale. The contrast within a few hundred yards is astonishing. From the near-identical red brick houses of Speke to the comfortable houses of Hale sitting behind their large gates. Wandering onto the village I stumble across the annual Hale Village Carnival. Having paid my £2 I have a mooch around.
Hale was home to the legendary John Middleton (1578–1623) who is reputed to have grown to 9ft 3in tall. The village seems rather fond of their giant ancestor, with a "life-sized" statue and railings around his grave in the churchyard.
After Hale i cut back onto the coast, joining part of the Trans-Pennine trail. I find evidence that another End-to-Ender has taken this path before.
I reach the town of Widnes and cross the old bridge to take me into Runcorn. The end of a long, grey but enjoyable days walking.
