For today’s walk, we took the train to Bromborough Rake Station. The weather was sunny with just a little breeze, and fourteen of us set off along the road which gave the station its name – The Rake. (Rake being an old Norse word for lane or track.) We soon came to The Cross, one of the few surviving market crosses in the country. The base and steps are probably late 13th century and the top was added in 1874. A little further on, we took Bromborough Village Road past an old disused Police Station to the busy A41. After crossing at the lights, we walked along the road for about two hundred and fifty yards to reach a footpath to Eastham Ferry and Eastham Country Park. The path led past the Leverhulme Sports Ground and Port Sunlight Rugby Club. About a mile further on, we entered Eastham Country Park and were soon scrunching our way through the leaves shed by the trees on either side. Just before the path reached the banks of the Mersey, we came to the Mimosa Café decked out in an impressive display of Halloween decorations. We took a break here for a snack before moving down to the river’s edge. To our right was the entrance to the Manchester Ship Canal and we had good views across the river. There were vessels in Garston Docks and impressive white houses on Grassendale Esplanade. The path took us through trees and joined the Wirral Circular Trail. An Industrial Park meant we had to move inland with views of the river blocked by warehouses. This was ironically on the inappropriately named, Riverview Road! We passed by the warehouses and industrial units to reach a disused railway path through a deep sandstone cutting. This was an old railway line, used to transport products to and from Port Sunlight Soap Works and the river. This path took us under the A41 road and eventually led to Bromborough Road and in turn, Brotherton Park and Dibbinsdale Local Nature Reserve. We had a brief look at St Patrick’s Well – Legend says that the well was blessed by St. Patrick during a visit to the area in 432 AD and it is reputed that the water has healing properties for the eyes. Putting this theory to the test however, is not recommended! The undulating path meandered along the bank of the Dibbin River across a number of wooden bridges before coming to a long straight tunnel with the river at our side. Through the tunnel, the path continued to meander and we came to a very steep climb up to the Railway Bridge back at Bromborough Rake Station. As there were no suitable eating places here, we took the train one stop to Bromborough Station where the Mere Brook pub is alongside. We had our well earned lunch here before catching the train back to Maghull.
Thanks to Anne, Shirley and Bob for organising, recce-ing and leading the walk. Hope to see you all on the next one.