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We took the train to Rock Ferry Station for today’s walk and made our way towards the Mersey. We crossed the Rock Ferry Bypass and joined the Wirral Way leading to the Waterfront and the Royal Mersey Yacht Club, (one of the country’s oldest Yacht Clubs, given its’ Royal Charter by Queen Victoria in 1844). At the waterfront we came to the restaurant at the end of the old slipway. It was once the original refreshment rooms for the cross Mersey ferry in the 1880s. It became the Admiral pub for a time and reopened as a restaurant in June 2012, under its original name “Refreshment Rooms”. A regeneration plan has now been set up to repair the slipway and create a Rock Ferry Maritime Hub. With the Mersey gently lapping its’ edge, we set off along the prom. After about half a mile we had to leave the water’s edge and follow New Ferry Road as housing now backs on to the river here. The houses were built on the site of the former Great Eastern Hotel and a plaque in front of them tells its story. We turned back to the waterfront at Shorefields Nature Park and walked along the cliff tops before coming into woods. A brick column here displays a plaque in memory of the Liverpool Port Authority Isolation Hospital. In the mid 19th century, quarantine ships used to moor in the river off New Ferry, to cater for people with tropical diseases such as cholera, smallpox, chickenpox and leprosy. As a more permanent facility was required, the hospital was built and opened in 1875. It closed in 1963 and had to be burned by the Fire Brigade as Demolition Contractors refused to undertake the work in fear of catching airborne germs. Climbing up and down two flights of steps led us to the path alongside the mud flats known locally as the Sloyne. The tide was too far in for us to see any wading birds searching for Cockles and Mussels. The path then swung around to follow the edge of Port Sunlight River Park to the Heritage Centre. Some of us climbed to the summit of the Park for great views across and down the Mersey, while others took the level walk around it. A zigzag path then took us back down to the far edge of the Park, where Dock Road led towards Port Sunlight Village. Bolton Road East took us across the New Ferry Bypass into the village where the walk ended at the Bridge Inn and Hulme Hall (where Ringo Starr played his first gig with The Beatles). We split here for lunch at some of the eateries of the village.