Day 31 – Liverpool to Waverton
Actual distance 44.45Km or 27.62miles (or 13.72 the length of the Queensway tunnel)
Total Ascent 169m (or the height of 5633.33 damsons)
Staying at Hadlow Fields GirlGuiding Campsite
After packing up and saying our goodbyes to the team at 15th Fairfield we set off for the Queensway tunnel under the Mersey. We had planned to catch the ferry but realised we’d still need to get the vehicles over so driving made sense. We parked up next to the ferry port in Birkenhead and set off on our bikes following the Wirral Circular Trail towards Hooton.
The Wirral Circular Trail isn’t marked on OS maps, and we had found out about it whilst researching cycle paths in this area. We had attempted to map it on our daily route, but were aware our route was not exactly following the trail. We were therefore reliant on signposts to navigate by. Luckily the trail was really well signposted and easy to follow, until we reached the start of Port Sunlight River Park were the signs pointed us down a set of stairs then vanished. The park provided fantastic views over the Mersey at the Liverpool docks, but we quickly discovered it is also an enclosed park that doesn’t flow as expected back into the Wirral Circular Trail. We made the most of a park bench and visitor centre to stop for lunch and to review the maps and were quickly back on track.
We reached the Eastham Country Park in good time, then continued along the cycle path on the A41 through Hooton, and on to the cycle route 70 which eventually joined the Shropshire Union Canal. The canal path was lovely – fairly wide, and generally tarmac or fairly smooth gravel. There were a few areas with more pot holes than path, but compared to our previous stretches on tow paths the section today was lovely.
It was going well, and we had even suggested that we should finish at a reasonable time, then Hattie got a puncture. We stopped to change the inner tube, but found all the tubes we were carrying were too big for her bike. We therefore set about trying to mend the puncture.
Whilst we were fiddling with the bike tyre Ollie decided to try skimming stones on the canal. Jennie asked him to step away from the canal edge so he wouldn’t fall in and he announced there was no possibility of him doing that. A few seconds later there was a loud splash and the inevitable had happened. Ollie was in the canal (which was luckily quite shallow)! He was quickly pulled out and given a hug (whilst we tried to stifle laughter).
With an incredibly soggy boy and a tyre that was proving a challenge to fix we called Dan to collect us, thinking we’d have to stop early, with the plan of partially sacrificing our rest day tomorrow to finish off todays route. However, the sun was shining, and whilst waiting for Dan to arrive Ollie dried off a fair bit. We loaded the kids bikes on to the car, then Ollie announced that he’d like to continue, so the 5 of us (leaving Hattie with Dan) headed back to the tow path to continue.
The path continued to be a pleasure to cycle through Chester and on to Waverton, our finishing point for today. We finished next to a playground, so Ollie had to have a quick go on the aerial runway there before we left.
We are being hosted this evening at Hadlow Fields GirlGuiding Campsite. The amazing team here greeted us with a pot of tea and their pizza oven fired up ready to go. There was a fantastic spread of pizza dough, gluten free pizza bases and toppings so we could each create delicious personalised wood fired pizzas. The even gave us badges, pens and some very tasty homemade damson port and gin! We are so incredibly grateful!
We also had a visit this evening from ‘The Old Wolf’ who happened to be up in Merseyside at the moment which was really lovely. Malcolm and Hilary brought us some Kendal Mint Cake to keep us going over the coming weeks which is very much appreciated!
Tomorrow we are having a rest day as it’s Hattie’s birthday. We’re not entirely sure what she wants to do with her day yet, but we’ll update you tomorrow!
