On a bright sunny day, nineteen walkers took the train to Moreton for the first Stramblers walk of 2023. We walked along Pasture Road from the station towards the front, crossing the “River” Birket to reach the Green Hut Café. Here, a short rise led to the promenade where we assessed the wind direction to decide whether to go towards Hoylake or New Brighton. The wind said Hoylake. It was only a light wind, but better behind us. We set off along the prom passing Leasowe Lighthouse. In the bay passing the wind farms were the P&O Norbay ferry from Liverpool to Dublin and the Stena Edda ferry from Birkenhead to Belfast. There were many cyclists and walkers enjoying the good weather. As we walked, a hovercraft from the Hoylake Coastguard Station was carrying out exercises on a sandbank opposite. This reminded me of the World’s first commercial hovercraft service between Moreton and Rhyl in 1962. The service was run by British United Airways and started on 20th July 1962, carrying twenty four passengers on a Vickers-Armstrong VA3 hovercraft. It ran twelve trips a day (although strong winds caused some cancellations). Its last trip was on 14th September 1962. En route to Rhyl from Moreton beach, both lift engines failed and after limping on to Rhyl beach it was withdrawn from service. If you type “Hovercfaft First Ferry” into YouTube, you can watch a short film of a crossing. We carried on along the prom stopping for a break by a boat which had been washed high up on the concrete embankment. Any further and it would have been on the prom! There were many wading birds in the pools left by the tide – redshanks, oystercatchers, dunlins, sanderlings and gulls. We passed the old Hoylake Coastguard Station building and stopped for refreshments at a mobile café. With a vast array of wind turbines in the bay, we walked along Meols Parade and the “Waders Walk” series of paintings – the display having been opened on 21st August 2021, by Montse Benitez, wife of Rafa. Soon, we reached Hoylake Lifeboat Station where an ornate water fountain stood outside. It was installed in 1901 to commemorate Queen Victoria’s Jubilee and is Grade II listed. It had sufffered vandalism and rust in the past, but was restored in 2008 in its original colours. At this point, the group split with some walking on to West Kirby and the others making their way to The Hoylake Lights pub for lunch.
A good day out and we couldn’t have asked for better weather. Looking forward to the next one.