This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Seventeen strollers (and dog, Keith) met at St Michaels Station on a beautiful sunny day. We made our way along Southwood Road and Dalmeny Street to Aigburth Road. After crossing the road, we joined the popular, bohemian styled Lark Lane. Although still not 11 in the morning, the cafés, bars and bistros were well supported with most pavement tables occupied. Some even had queues outside. An old Police Station there, is now used as a Community Centre. At the end of the lane we crossed Aigburth Drive and entered Sefton Park taking the path towards the “Oasis In The Park” Café. We passed the Mersey Bowmen Lawn Tennis Club (founded in 1871 – older than Wimbledon). We then took a break at the café for ice creams. Brenda had been testing us with quiz questions on the history of the parks up till this point and the answers were quite interesting. After our break, we walked the long drive to the park exit at the obelisk. After carefully crossing Aigburth Drive we followed Windermere Terrace into Princes Park. Here we walked around the serpentine lake with the remains of the boathouse visible on the far bank. Once used for boating, the lake is now used for fishing. At the end of the lake we paused to look at the grave of Judy the Donkey who died in 1926. Loved by the children she gave rides to, she was alleged to have saved fifteen teenagers from an overturned boat on the park’s lake. Other tall tales of her exploits abound. We left the park at the magnificent Sunburst Gates where a plaque notes that the park opened in 1842 and was designed by Sir Joseph Paxton. We crossed into Princes Boulevard where many plaques along the path give information on the history and development of the area. As we passed High Park Street, we could see the mural of Ringo Starr at the end of Admiral Grove. Here, part of the path is designated as an “L8 Garden” with an L8 sculpture at its edge. Originally just the “8” with the links representing the chain connecting a ship to its anchor. The granite “L” was added later with maps of 1800s Liverpool etched on to it, as were the granite blocks with maritime phrases. A number of churches and places of worship are visible from the path and a plaque gives details of nine of them. Leaving the boulevard, we came to Parliament Street and walked down to St James Gardens below Liverpool’s Anglican Cathedral. Originally a quarry, it became a cemetery after the quarry was exhausted and includes the grave and monument to William Huskisson. The cemetery closed in 1936 and was turned into a park in 1972 by clearing the graves and using the headstones to line the walls and paths. In he gardens is the Chalybeate Spring, the only natural spring in Liverpool. Alongside the spring is a rectangular pond and Keith took a dip in it to cool off. We saw the grave of Kitty Wilkinson, who established the first public wash house in 1832, and the gravestones of the children of the infant, female and boys orphan asylums. We left the park through the tunnel up to the entrance to the Cathedral and saw Tracey Emin’s “Roman Standard” sculpture outside the Oratory building. Nicknamed “Bird On A Stick” by Scousers. A most enjoyable walk ended here and the group split with some going for lunch and some going for the train home.

Thanks to Brenda for organising and leading the walk.