Twenty two strollers met at Maghull (South) Station for a long awaited group walk. It was lovely to meet old friends and have a good catch up. Before we started the walk, we all signed to say we’d read the risk assessment and Brenda ran us through the latest Covid related advice/regulations. We split up into three groups and set off along Melling Lane towards Balls Wood, in dry, cloudy weather. Entering Balls Wood, we walked through an avenue of trees eventually leaving the wood to cross Poverty Lane and continue down a footpath close to the M58. The path was very close to the motorway, but as traffic was light, we could still hold a conversation. After about five hundred yards, the path went through trees to steps which took us up to a footbridge over the motorway and then down through more trees to another footpath. This path took us along the other side of the motorway with views across fields to our right. At the end of the path we walked along the edge of a field before passing through trees and reaching Giddygate Lane. We turned right along Giddygate Lane and followed the lane round until we turned right into Moss Nook Lane. After about a hundred and fifty yards we turned left on to a footpath through fields. The motorway was now on our right in the distance and the path continued through trees and across a wooden footbridge across a brook to emerge on Leatherbarrows Lane. A few walkers went right here to take a shorter route back, while the rest went left and then turned into Sandy Lane. We followed Sandy Lane into Tithebarn Lane passing the old Tithebarn – part of life in Melling since the mid 18th century. At the top of Tithebarn Lane we turned right along Rock lane, the highest point in Sefton, and passed the Bootle Arms and St Thomas Parish Church. Rock Lane took us down towards Melling Lane and where the two meet, we saw some “yarn bombs” – a teapot and cakes on a post box and (my favourite) a tree hugger! We then passed under the M58 back into Maghull. On a house to our left was a plaque commemorating Samuel Franklin Cody who “ended the first heavier than air flight in Merseyside” in a field nearby in 1909. He won first prize in the 1912 British Military Aeroplane Competition and his story is well worth a read in Wikipaedia. At Balls Wood we retraced the beginning of our walk passing a “yarn bombed” post box in Willow Hey before arriving back at Maghull Station before the rain started!

A huge thanks to Brenda for organising the walk and to all the leaders who worked on the the risk assessments. See you all next time.

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