Merseyside
Introduction
Located just to the north of Cheshire, south of Lancashire and just to the east of Manchester, the county of Merseyside is dominated by Liverpool and the River Mersey but a short distance south-west of the city, across the river is the Wirral Peninsula with small villages and beaches.
Wirral Peninsula
Though largely used as a transport corridor along the M53 to Liverpool via the Kingsway and Queensway tunnels at Birkenhead the Wirral Peninsula has a number of small villages full of what are no doubt commuter homes and countryside including several, mostly rocky, beaches such as Caldy Beach between West Kirby and Thurstaston, and Thurstaston Beach near the “Wirral Country Park”.
Of course, the view of the refineries on the south of the River Dee estuary is not so pretty and the ocean view to the north is somewhat marred, though this depends on your political leaning, by a large wind farm north of Hoylake.
Wirral Country Park
A small country park including several small ice cream stands, views over the River Dee estuary and walks including access to the “Wirral Circular Trail” which is a walking, biking and horse riding trail around the peninsula but here follows the path of an old train line which includes the old station platform.
Note that parking here is quite a challenge particularly in good weather. The main pay and display (in effect 24 hours) car park at Thurstaston Beach is often extremely busy with drivers resorting to parking some distance away and walking.
Hilbre Island
One of the attractions on the peninsula is the walk across to the tiny Hilbre Island from West Kirby (via the West Kirby slipway, Little Eye and Little Hibre). This walk has to be done at low tide with copious warnings about making sure you do not get trapped on the small island which has no accommodation, no places to eat and only a couple of public toilets. See Hilbre Islands for details on how to visit the island and what to expect there.
The island is home to a colony of seals and copious sea birds along with walking trails.
Further Information
For further information, please see:
- Visit Wirral (Tourism site from Wirral Council)