Roll up for the magical mystery tour...
After seeing the weather forecast for Sundays magical
mystery tour I half expected to be on my own at the station; but Ray was already
there and we were soon joined by eight other hardy souls.
After a pleasant
train journey we left James Street station in Liverpool to cycle along the
waterfront into a lively little breeze??!! to have a quick look at the old
garden festival site which has now been refurbished but on a much smaller scale
than the original.
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big pink cow/buffalo/hippo thing
- votes please! |
After turning into the breeze??again, we carried on along
Otterspool prom and then went inland by the big pink cow/buffalo/hippo thing (you decide) and into Allerton.
After a brief stop at the Robin Hood Stone that
I had completely forgotten about until
Bob reminded me, we visited Paul McCartney’s childhood home in Forthlyn Road, then
after a bit of off road, the house in Menlove Avenue where John Lennon lived
with his Aunt Mimi, both houses now preserved by the National Trust.
We then
went through Calderstones Park and saw the stones that the park takes its name
from and then headed towards Penny Lane and our breakfast stop.
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| Spot the hump |
On leaving the
park we went down a cycle contraflow system similar to the one in Northgate
Street but with stupidly large traffic calming humps which were hidden by
mounds of fallen leaves, Geoff, from Wrexham Rievers unfortunately didn’t spot
the first one and took a spill, but luckily was not badly hurt and was able to
carry on, but it was a timely reminder to take care in the conditions at this
time of year. [I hear you had to be told about this, as you carried on ahead, unaware and therefore talking to yourself?! - you did notice and come back apparently - Sue]
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: Omry's pickelhaube
has the biggest spike ever !!! |
After our mega breakfasts and almost losing Bob to the model
railway shop opposite we somehow managed to climb back on the bikes and pedal
on to our next port of call Strawberry field; it was then on through Gateacre
village and onto the Loopline Cycleway (similar to our Greenway).
After a few miles of Loopline we took a
slight detour to go through Springfield Park, where Kath used to play as a girl
when she stayed with her aunt during the summer holidays. The park is now only
half its original size, as Alder Hey children's hospital have built a huge new extension on the rest of it.
A lap of the hospital and another short stretch of
Loopline later we found ourselves crossing Queens Drive and entering Bankfield
Road, the look on Kaths face was a picture as she realised where she was, she
was born in this road and lived there until her family moved to Wales a year or
so later.
From her it was through West Derby, Childwall (past Elvis Costello’s
mums house) back down Penny Lane, past Greenbank Park and through Sefton Park
to The Lodge on Lark Lane, where cycle parking was actually in the bar, for more food and
drink. However, most just opted for a drink because they were still
stuffed from breakfast.
We had by now lost the light so decided to cut the route
short and after a lap of Sefton Park following the 2014 tour of Britain route
went through Aigburth and back onto the waterfront to retrace our way back to
the station, the wind had now turned 180 degrees, so what should have been the nice tailwind we
had all been looking forward to was now the same headwind we had battled against
on the way out earlier that morning, except that this time it came with a good
dose of heavy rain.
Lesser cyclists may
have been disheartened by this but we just had a good old sing song, a few
chorus’s of “Oh I do like to be beside the seaside” and “In my Liverpool home”
and we were soon on the train again heading back to Chester.
Thanks Stu for leading and for the write up; thanks to Ray for photos ('borrowed' from facebook)
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| Official photographer posing by Strawberry Fields |
