Cheshire and Lancashire 19 - 30 Oct 25

After a dismal performance by Cambridge against London Scottish on Sat 18th, we set off early the following day to be in position for our next match against Caldy on the 25th. After an uneventful 3.5 hour drive, we arrived at the C&CC site at Delamere Forest, near Chester. It was raining when we arrived and it hardly stopped for the rest of the day, so we just chilled in the van.

Access to the forest from the campsite

We thought a forest site miles from anywhere would be lovely and quiet. We soon found out that our pitch backed onto the Railway line and we were on the climb out path for Liverpool airport. Quiet it ain't! Being in the North West we geared up for rain and, as we hadn't been for many, many years, decided to set out on the train to explore Manchester. With a short walk to the pretty Delamere Station, and once we worked out how to get tickets, we boarded the two carriage diesel bus on rails for the 70min journey to Manchester. We got of the train at the massive Piccadilly station and wandered around Manchester for a while, thinking that there wasn't really much to see there. The Catholic church in Cambridge is more impressive than the Cathedral, the town hall was covered in scaffolding and the rest of the place looked rather tatty. There is a remarkable selection of shops in Manchester though. After a splendid lunch in Mowgli, we started to think about what we should do next when the heavens opened. It is Manchester after all. It chucked it down! We sought shelter and judged that when the deluge eased to just monsoon levels we would wade back to Piccadilly and get the train back to Delaware. I don't think that we will be rushing back to Manchester.

The pretty Delamere station

Statues at Manchester Piccadilly

Manchester Cathedral - not overly impressed

Tram swimming through the torrents

Manchester Town Hall - covered in scaffolding!

Chinatown

On Tuesday we caught the train in the other direction for the very short ride into Chester. Ahh, this was much better. We mooched around this very pretty city, had lunch in the fantastic food hall of Chester Market, walked around the city walls, got wet and retired to the pub for a few pints. Chester is a great place to visit with a lot going for it. So much nicer than Manchester.

The forecast for Wednesday was slightly better (by North West standards that is) so we decided to walk around the forest. We climbed Pale Heights (176m) for some stunning views over 7 counties, back to the visitor centre for a cup of tea and then on around Blackmere Moss and back to the van. A very pretty forest but the car parking is hideously expensive. Glad we walked! We didn't even get wet.

On Thursday it was off to the Cackyvan and Motorhome Club site at Wirral Country Park, a site we know quite well from previous visits, to watch Cambridge v Caldy. We did, however, have a quick stop at Costco for some provisions and the usual things that catch your eye! Arriving at the Wirral Country park at exactly 1300hrs we found a lovely pitch overlooking the Dee Estuary and settled in, albeit the warden had to lend us an extension lead for the mains hook up as the post was so far away. The weather forecast for the afternoon was very squally with showers, so we just stayed put, rocked around buffeted by the wind, and admired the view.

Friday's forecast was sunny intervals and showers. The plan was originally to unload the bikes and go for a long ride along the Wirral way, but given the forecast we decided to pack waterproofs and go for a walk instead. We had a mooch around West Kirby and settled into the West Kirby Tap for a beer and some lunch, but as they weren't opening the kitchen until 3pm(??) we just had one beer and headed off again. It's a shame, because the West Kirby Tap is an excellent bar with a great atmosphere and good beer. Just a shame they don't do lunch for hungry walkers. Onwards until we found another pub, The Ring O'Bells. What a find this was! A large, spotlessly clean and smart place with beautiful gardens and very friendly and attentive staff. We sat down for some delicious fish chowder, had a pint and then, reluctantly, continued our walk back to the van.

On Saturday the forecast was showers and gusty winds and it was the day of our match with Caldy at their very exposed ground. We had a delicious breakfast at Flissy's then walked to the ground. Cambridge lost again, but it was a good day and it only rained the once. The walk back to the van in the pitch black after a number of pints wasn't good. We didn't sleep well that night.

Sunday we awoke tired and a bit hungover. We had a lazy morning before setting out for Southport C&MC site. It was a slow, tortuous journey and the crossing under the Mersey was interesting. The toll booth lane was about 2 cm wider than our wing mirrors and the card reader placed at car window height - about 2' below our window! I couldn't reach it - and there was no room to open the door! Debs had to get out the back door, scan the card and leap back in when the barriers opened. It was mad! We arrived at the site in the pouring rain and had to set out in the deluge as we were meeting Katie and Oli in Liverpool. We walked the 1.4 miles to Southport  station but found a protest in our way. I asked a policeman if there was a route to the station that avoided the protesters and the police blockade. He wasn't sure, but we eventually found our way there just in time to see our train pull out. Luckily the service is frequent so we only had to wait 15 mins until the next one and then we realised that the next stop was actually closer to the caravan site. Doh!. Anyway, we had a great afternoon in a buzzing city centre, had a pizza and headed for home, where once again we got little sleep in the 55mph gales. We were starting to get exhausted so a relaxing day was needed, especially as I had managed to catch a cold.

Monday was meant to be our relaxing and recovery day so we went for a "short(ha)"  long walk to see if we could see the sea. We couldn't. Southport does not have an impressive beach despite being a seaside town. In fact, I'm not sure it has a beach at all, but I may be wrong. We bought some grub in M and S and headed back with my cold making life a bit miserable.

Tuesday we went into Liverpool by Metro, stopping en-route to see Anthony Gormley's Another Place on Crosby beach. I liked this artwork. Each statue is cast iron and weighs 640kg. They are quite spooky, just standing there, spaced out on the wide beach, staring out to the horizon (or, more likely, the offshore wind farm). There are plenty of warnings about the dangers of the beach and, being so close to the docks, it's probably not a nice place to venture into the water, but it is impressive all the same. We got back onto the metro and had another mooch around Liverpool, mainly for me to buy a new waterproof, but we had a nice lunch (she had scouse) in the Old Bank, walked to the river and decided that it was too blowy (again), had a quick look at the very impressive central library and then headed for home before it rained again.

"Another Place"

Scouse

Choppy Mersey

Hillsborough Memorial

View from the Central Library

Library

On Wednesday we had a walk around Southport, mainly to look at the crochet spitfire outside the Town Hall, then a beer in the tap room (with a very miserable barman) a walk around the market and then another beer in what they describe as the smallest pub in Britain. 

Crochet Spitfire, which has to be moved before Remembrance Sunday to make room for a stupid Christmas Tree

Southport Market

The smallest pub in Britain?

On Thursday we headed for home, making the 194 miles trip in one hit, but the laybys and services were packed with HGVs so it was hard to find a place to stop and rest. This made for an exhausting journey. We must get our timing sorted out.

In summary - quite a tiring trip. the weather was pretty bad with lots of strong winds and plenty of rain, but we were in the North West after all. We liked all the places we stayed in and particularly enjoyed the proximity of Delamere Forest to Chester and all that city has to offer.  Southport was interesting - obviously once a very nice place but a bit tired now. The metro around Southport/Liverpool is excellent. Clean, reasonably priced and frequent. When you compare it to what we have around home then we really are the poor relations.