This section of the walk is 10 miles in length – and is packed with interest as it crosses many parks and heaths. The route through these is inevitably detailed, so the description extensive. It is divided into 3 parts – Hoylake to West Kirby, West Kirby to Thurstaston, and Thurstaston to Heswall.
- START OF SECTION: The roundabout in the centre of Hoylake (///fake.procured.remedy)
- TRANSPORT: Trains run from Birkenhead and Liverpool. Bus 38 and bus 407 runs from West Kirby
- REFRESHMENT: Several cafes and pubs in Hoylake
Part 1 Hoylake to West Kirby
This 2.5 mile section is the only coastal section of the route – with views out to the windfarms of the Irish Sea and the CWTs only coastal nature reserve as its main features.
1. The roundabout in the centre of Hoylake is within 100 yards of both the railway station and the bus stop. Before you set off, note the rather attractive sculptures of seagulls by David Annand on the roundabout and in front of the shops (see below). Also note iron ‘rope work’ design for benches.
2. Walk along The Kings Gap road, going past the First Church of Christian Scientist on your left, and continuing till the road reaches the coast by a blue footpath sign showing ‘Wirral Circular Trail’ pointing back the way you came, and ‘Alternative Beach Route’ pointing left.
- POINT OF INTEREST: Wind Farms are visible at sea; you may also see ships leaving Liverpool.
3. ONLY IF THE TIDE IS WELL OUT turn left to walk along the beach following the blue “Alternative Beach Route’ sign, and going round the Red Rocks headland to the end of Stanley Road.
OTHERWISE (OR IF IN ANY DOUBT) return along Kings Gap Road then turn right into Stanley Road (following ‘Wirral Circular Trail pedestrian route to West Kirby’); go past the ‘fake lighthouse’ to rejoin the other route at the beach where you turn left.
- POINT OF INTEREST: Hilbre Island is In the Dee Estuary in line with the end of Stanley Road. The island can be accessed from West Kirby when the tides are right – but take local advice before attempting it as otherwise you could become cut off.
4. At the end of Stanley Road follow the blue sign to West Kirby going east along the coastal path keeping close to the bushes on your left, to reach a CWT interpretation board announcing you have arrived at Red Rocks Nature Reserve.
- WILDLIFE NOTE: The Red Rocks Nature Reserve is the only coastal reserve managed by the Cheshire Wildlife Trust. It is sandwiched between the beach and the golf course and comprises several habitats including sand dunes, ponds and reed-beds. Plants include Mackays horsetail, early marsh orchid, northern marsh orchid, birds-foot trefoil, sticky stork’s bill and fairly flax. The very rare Natterjack Toad can be found in brackish ponds, and sometimes migratory birds including redstarts, ring ouzels and wheatears. (Info from CWT website).
5. WALKING RED ROCKS RESERVE: The reserve extends from here to the fringes of West Kirby. The main path you are on runs the length of the reserve. It can be busy, but passes a couple of areas fenced off for Natterjack Toads. There are several alternative roughly-parallel routes running between the main path and the golf course, and these are accessed by taking the path to the left of the interpretation board. Choose any route.
6. Continue beyond the reserve towards West Kirby. Pass the first few houses then ascend the steps directly in front of you onto a promenade. Follow this to the next junction, then turn left into Dee Lane and go past Morrisons supermarket. At the main road T-junction, turn right onto the main street of West Kirby. This section ends by the Dee Hotel (///nylon.octopus.mammal)
- REFRESHMENT: West Kirby town centre offers a range of cafes, and pubs.
- TRANSPORT: Bus 38 and bus 407 and trains go back to Hoylake. Bus 22 goes forward to Irby (near Thurstaston), Heswall and beyond.
Part 2: West Kirby to Thurstaston
This 4.2 mile section includes open heath and woodland, so can be tricky to navigate. It offers some outstanding viewpoints. Regular buses are in Irby, 1/2 mile from the endpoint – so if possible combine this section with the following one to reach Heswall.
7. From the Dee Hotel (a Wetherspoons Inn) follow Grange Road, walking away from the station for about 200 yards, then, next to pedestrian crossing, there is a sign pointing right showing both a footpath and a bridleway for The Wirral Country Park (following the line of the old West Kirby to Hooton railway). Take this track for about 300 yards, then turn right to go under a large wooden sign into Ashton Park.
- POINT OF INTEREST: Ashton Park is a beautiful traditional municipal park, with duck ponds, children’s play areas, flower borders, trees, etc.
8. In the park, turn immediately left so you are walking parallel to the Wirral Way and follow the track up a short rise to go over a footbridge. After crossing the bridge, bear diagonally right on a tree-lined path across the park to emerge onto a road opposite St Bridget’s Church. Turn slightly left and follow the road uphill, then take the signposted footpath on the left just before a “Give Way, 50 Yards” sign (WARNING: taking care crossing the road as this is a blind bend). Continue uphill and cross over another road before ascending a series of steps cut into the rock, arriving at the top of the hill by a large column.
- POINT OF INTEREST: The Mariners Column was built in 1841 by the Trustees of the Liverpool Docks as a navigation beacon, to replace an old windmill, which was missed by mariners after it was destroyed by a gale in 1839. The old millwheel is still at the base of the column.
- WILDLIFE NOTE: The area from here is Caldy Hill, and is a wooded heathland which is of regional significance with a variety of heathers including Ling, Cross-leaved and Bell Heather. The Gorse and Bracken with Birch and Oak scrub provide good cover for birds and small mammals. Butterflies include the Common Blue and Small Copper. (info from Wirral Council).
9. WALKING CALDY HILL: Navigation can be tricky as there are no signposts and few landmarks to guide you:
- From the top of the steps by the column, turn right (south), and follow the signed footpath. Pass a pair of old sandstone gateposts (one on your left beside the path, while the other is further left almost hidden by vegetation).
- About 30 yards further on, cross another significant path on sandstone bedrock, then 100 yards beyond this, the path rises over a small rocky outcrop and almost immediately afterwards, splits (///affords.sunblock.kidney). Take the left fork, which gently ascends, partly on bedrock, with a wall visible to your left.
- At the top of the rise emerge by a stepped square stone plinth – a memorial to Alfred Vaughn Paton with toposcope (///smiles.wept.horseshoe). This affords fine views over the Dee estuary and back towards Hilbre Island.
- Leave the memorial, taking the path on the opposite side (in line with ‘Chester’ on the toposcope). After some distance the gorse gives way to more open woodland. Then pass a bench on your right overlooking some ‘managed heathland’ (where taller vegetation has been cut back). Continue across other paths, then under a patch of large rhododendrons to finally emerge on a walled track.
- Turn right on the track then almost immediately left. Here there are 2 footpaths. Take the left one and follow this for some distance, as it continues through woodland, close to houses on your left, until it emerges onto a short unsurfaced road called Kings Drive North (///museum.post.lingering). Walk this to the A540.
10. At the A540 turn right, going downhill. Cross the main road by the centre island, then turn left into Grange Cross Lane. Turn right after two houses, and follow the footpath, initially narrow between gardens, then crossing Newton Brook and rising gently to the trees ahead. The path turns right, then joins a residential lane, which you follow to emerge onto the B5140. Go right here for about 200 yards to a sign ‘Public Footpath to Thurstaston’ pointing across the road. Follow this along a wide straight tree-lined track into Royden Country Park. Cross the tarmac access road by a fingerboard and follow the ‘finger’ pointing to the Toilets and Info Centre to reach the Visitor Centre straight ahead (///quote.broth.springing) .
- WILDLIFE NOTE: Royden Country Park is owned by Wirral Council. Nearby is a walled garden which houses several community projects worth seeing, including a Laburnum Tunnel to rival that at Bodnant! Also in the park (but not visible from our route) is a huge mock-Elizabethan mansion called Hill Bark House, (///encloses.drank.research) which was moved here from Birkenhead in 1930 and is now a hotel (if you want to view it, select a route from the park interpretation boards).
- REFRESHMENT: The Visitor Centre includes a café (currently closed and seeking new management), as well as toilets.
11. Go right, from the visitor centre, and walk diagonally across the surfaced main car park to a gate in the far corner. Signs for both the Green Woodpecker Trail and the Common Lizard Trail are on a post just beyond the gate. Follow the Common Lizard sign, keeping the green open space to your left and wood to your right. Pass a stone wall on your left with another Common Lizard Trail sign. Continue straight on, and as you re-enter the woods, you are passing from Royden Park into Thurstaston Common. Ahead is a large green National Trust interpretation board.
- WILDLIFE NOTE: Thurstaston Common is an area of heathland and open woodland owned by the National Trust. Habitat varies from mixed woodland dominated by birches, oak, sycamore and rowan to wet and dry heath. Locally rare plants such as marsh gentian, oblong-leaved sundew and round-leaved sundew are found on the common. Animals include common lizard, and birds such as yellowhammer and meadow pipit feed and nest in the heather. (Info from Cheshire Now).
12. WALKING THURSTASTON COMMON: Our objective is to continue in roughly a southerly direction to the end of the common, while taking in a couple of major features.
- Continue along the main path, passing the large green National Trust sign on your right, then after some distance, go through a gate.
- After approximately a further 200 yards (///apples.carpentry.river) take the smaller path to the right going slightly down hill. Go past a small marshy area on your left, then through another gate in a wall.
- Go straight on from this gate for 200 yds to reach Thor’s Stone. This is a huge sandstone outcrop and well worth seeing. Go anticlockwise half way around Thor’s Stone (///pampering.soldiers.beast) then take the path to your right (starting between two damp areas) going uphill.
- At the top (///debating.resurgent.shorthand) , join another path at a T-junction with a large distinctive sandstone slab crossing the path to your left, and a view opening up ahead. Turn left, climbing over the slab and continue uphill along the path (often over bare rock) to the top of Thurstaston Hill (///fabricate.mopped.tickets). To your right s a short column (which used to hold another Toposcope – now missing) with magnificent 360o views embracing Liverpool, Crosby, The Great Orm, the Clwydian Mountains, the Dee Estuary and Queensferry Bridge.
- Continue along the path which soon drops downhill to a red brick building looking like a Victorian school (///riverside.transcribes.passport) . Turn right in front of the building so it is on your left; go past the more modern school, and finally emerge on the A540 Telegraph Road.
13. Follow the A540 road to theend of section at Thurstaston roundabout (///patching.formal.frogs)
- REFRESHMENT: Just before the roundabout is the Cottage Loaf Pub.
- TRANSPORT: If breaking the walk here, don’t use the bus stop just left at the roundabout as the service is very infrequent. Instead, walk to Irwell for the bus 22 by taking the footpath immediately behind that bus stop and following it uphill to emerge on South Drive. Walk along South Drive, then turn right on Thurstaston Road to the bus stop by the Anchor Inn.
PART 3: Thurstaston to Heswall
This 3.3 mile section of the walk offers two examples of lowland heath in Cleaver Heath and The Dales, and a pleasant woodland viewpoint in The Dungeon. Heswall provides good transport links.
(If starting from the Thingwall Road bus stop in Irby, take the footpath from the junction of Thurstaston Rd and Thingwall Rd, and follow it to emerge at the junction of South Drive and Dawlish Rd. Take the track to your left between houses. This becomes a footpath to Thurstaston Road near the A540 roundabout.)
14. Cross Thurstaston Roundabout (taking care with the traffic) to follow the A540 Telegraph Road east for about 150 yards, then turn right into Church Lane. This passes Church Farm before coming to St Bartholomew’s church.
- FACILITIES: Church Farm offers some shops
15. With the Church in front of you, turn left into a farm track signposted “Footpath to Dungeon Wood”. After a short distance go through the wider of two gates where the next footpath sign now states “Footpath to Heswall”. Continue on this path for some distance, passing the Forget-me-not natural burial ground and a dog training field, till The Dungeon is signposted to your right.
- VIEWPOINT: Although you will be returning to this point, I recommend you follow the sign, entering the beautiful and dramatic gully known as The Dungeon. Follow the path, descending the cleft by a small waterfall to a bench with a view across the estuary (///welcome.havens.ridiculed). Having contemplated the view, return to the path to Heswell.
16. Continue along the path towards Heswall and after passing Oldfield Farm, you come to a cross roads. Cleaver Heath reserve is in front to your right, with entrances both immediately to your right, and 200 yards along Oldfield Road.
- WILDLIFE NOTE: Cleaver Heath is managed by the Cheshire Wildlife Trust. This is an important heathland on the Wirral offering a carpet of purple shades of heather and bright yellow gorse in summer. Common lizards enjoy basking on the sandy paths, whilst butterflies and a range of birds can be discovered in the surrounding woodlands. (info from CWT).
17. WALKING CLEAVER HEATH: You can either enter the reserve to your right, then turn right to follow CWT signs for a route around, or visit the reserve from the entrance on Oldfield Road (with a CWT interpretation board).
18. Continue along Oldfield Road past Oldfield Gardens on your right, then come to a small lane on your right with a diminutive footpath sign facing you but a huge ‘Dale Farm’ sign facing the other way.
- WILDLIFE NOTE: This is the entrance to The Dales heathland and again there are many ways to explore this area. Heswall Dales and Cleaver Heath were part of a single SSSI-designated area of Lowland Heath, but the two parts have become separated by the intervening residences. It includes wet and dry heath with birch, gorse and oak scrub, deciduous woodland and some plants (heather, bell heather, bilberry and western gorse). This environment supports a wide variety of insects, reptiles, mammals and birds, including dragonflies, butterflies and moths, common lizards, voles, shrews and mice, foxes and badgers, buzzards, kestrels, goldcrests, jays and many more. (Info from Friends of Heswell Dales).
19. WALKING THE DALES: Follow the track downhill to a sharp left bend. Go round this continuing on the track (ignoring the footpath straight on) to reach Dale Farm Trust. As you approach the farm, a bridleway branches off to the left with a Public Footpath sign. Follow this, passing a notice board and flagpole on your right. As you proceed along a wide fenced path with good views over the heath and the estuary, ignore paths signposted Oldfield Road and Pipers Lane. Then, as you approach views of a garden with greenhouse ahead, take the path signposted Feather Lane pointing left (///liner.moving.wiped). This goes uphill and eventually emerges in a narrow section between two gardens the onto Thurstaston Lane (///public.origin.select).
19. Cross this road and follow Feather Lane (signed ‘Public Footpath 14’). After 50 yards, at the bollards (///long.held.buck) turn right on the unsurfaced footpath (ignoring the surfaced path straight on) and continue with iron railings on your left. At the end, by the litter bin (///frogs.soap.cups) turn right into an unsurfaced lane (also called Feather Lane) and follow this along to emerge on a bend in a road called The Mount.
20. Turn left and walk along The Mount towards Heswall Town Centre. Turn right at the traffic lights, and the bus station is about 100 yards on your left.
- END OF SECTION: Heswall bus station (///putty.sugar.codes)
- REFRESHMENT: Many shops and cafes in Heswall.
- TRANSPORT: Bus 22 goes back to West Kirby or onward to Parkgate and Chester. Other buses go to Liverpool and Birkenhead
- NEXT SECTION: Heswall to Chester
Eric Thurston Wildlife Way 