On a grey, overcast morning, twenty two Stramblers met at Aughton Park Station to follow the Yellowhammer Route Walk. We started along Long Lane, crossing Prescot Road and Holborn Hill. Twenty yards or so down Holborn Hill we turned on to a path past a small housing estate, then through a field. This took us to a pumping station at a reservoir (with a boxer on guard).

We crossed a field with horses on our right. A notice had warned us not to feed the horses but didn’t mention the giraffes we saw. A Superlambanana was having a lie down nearby. A short walk along Holly lane took us to Gorse Hill Nature Reserve and the Yellowhammer Route. We didn’t spot any yellowhammers although a couple of possibles flew by – but too quick for identification. Leaving the reserve, we crossed a wooden footbridge on to a footpath through an open field which led to Booths Lane. After a short walk along the lane we took a footpath through fields to Fir Tree Lane where a large group of cyclists passed us with cheery waves. Turning along Small Lane, we reached Clieves Hill Lane and made our way to the top of the hill where we stopped for a lunch break. With a brighter day we would have had good views towards Southport and Liverpool Bay, but the sky was a bit murky. After lunch we carried on along Clieves Hill Lane and came to another stretch of Fir Tree Lane. Shortly we reached Narrow Lane and took a footpath at the side of some houses. We were soon under a canopy of trees before emerging into open ploughed fields. A path through the fields took us to Cut Lane and after a few hundred yards we turned on to another footpath. This took us first through fields with chard growing and then along an uphill stretch through a small wood. We then found ourselves walking through trees with a reservoir fenced off to our right. This led us back to the pumping station we’d passed earlier. We then made our way towards Aughton’s Christ Church across a field with a good view of Ormskirk Parish Church to our left. We reached the A59 and crossed it to take Long Lane back to Aughton Park Station. An interesting walk with new ground for some. We’d had only brief spells of sunshine, but everyone was happy we’d had no rain.

Thanks to Anne and Bob for organising.