Thursday 21st November
Burscough isn't far from Wigan so we were able to start the walk earlier than our recent ones in Yorkshire. We caught the 9.05am train from Wigan and 12 minutes later we arrived in Burscough. We joined the canal at Burscough Bridge at around 9.30am and were rearing to go.
We only walked a few yards before we were in open countryside. The landscape for the whole walk was very flat, pretty much as far as the eye could see with farmland in every direction. It was another scenic walk and the canal towpath looked as though we were going to have much of the 12 miles to ourselves.
I took 3 photos of a massive new marina that was being constructed at Scarisbrick. The photos don't do the site justice, it really was a huge development. I will have to go back when it opens to have a look, it certainly looks like it's going to be impressive.
Seven miles or so later it was lunchtime. We called at the Ship Inn, Haskayne, which was on the towpath. A super pub with a selection of fine ales and good food. It was surprisingly quiet, although the pub was in a rural area and it was only 12 noon. I can imagine this place being busy in summer as the beer garden was on the towpath. We enjoyed it here and would recommend it to anyone else passing.
After lunch we proceeded towards Maghull. It was quiet though, we hardly saw a soul! There were a few bikers and dog-walkers much further on as we got closer to our destination.
We left the canal at around 3.30pm having walked a slow 12 miles. Maghull was a nice place with nice locals, we had to ask several people for directions. Uncertain as to whether we caught a bus or train, we decided to go for the train following advice from a local couple. The trains at Maghull Station to Liverpool ran every 15 minutes and were much better than our local Northern Rail equivalents.
We were heading to Liverpool Central on the train and I was certain that trains for Wigan left from Liverpool Lime Street. We heard an announcement on the train about changing for Lime Street so we left at Moorfields station. I was surprised, we were in an underground network, it was like being on the London Underground! I never knew these stations underground existed. We caught another train to Lime Street and again we were underground. After ascending several escalators we were at ground level and our shabby Northern Rail 2 carriage train destined for Wigan was already waiting for us. As is the norm with Northern Rail, their train was old, dirty and over crowded.
I was aching a bit as 12 miles plus distances to/from stations was taking its toll. My lad was OK though! Hopefully we can do the last stretch soon and in one go to complete our mini-adventure. It's been fun.
