Sunday 23rd July 2023
Yesterday I was having a conversation with friends about people with peculiar hobbies. They really couldn’t understand the motivation of bird watchers or train spotters but I kept quiet since I can boast my own very strange hobby: that of collecting Veloviewer explorer tiles. Regular readers will know what I’m talking about; others may have to resort to Google. (Don’t worry, you won’t be directed to any unsavoury websites!).
For the next three days I’ll be traversing the areas around Liverpool and Wirral trying to fill in gaps amongst the tiles already covered. I’d planned to go on this 3 day trip last week, but the accommodation was unavailable (probably due to the Open Golf at Hoylake), so I moved it a few days.
Of course, I didn’t account for the dreadful weather today, so this is only the second day in my life when every single mile of the journey was made in the rain.
I had an earworm all afternoon courtesy of the Beautiful South, specifically a track called Manchester. For those unfamiliar with the song, the first lines go:
“From Northenden to Partington it’s rain.
From Altrincham to Chadderton it’s rain.
From Moss Side to Swinton hardly Spain.”
You get the idea.
I’d planned to travel out the long way round via Widnes and Hale but I couldn’t face 65 miles in the rain so I reversed the shorter route I that I’d planned to travel home. The trouble with this solution is that Garmin simply reverses the route precisely without any considerations of the rules of the road. So therefore I was directed the wrong way round roundabouts and the wrong way up one-way streets. I managed though, but I suspect that I’ll have the same issues on Tuesday going back.
Now I’m safely ensconced in the Liverpool Albert Dock Youth Hostel. And I’m not moving until it stops raining. When I arrived, I wanted to store my bike before anything else, but their bike shed was full (!), so my bike is now stored in a heated, carpeted meeting room. It’ll not want to go out again, either.
Being back in Liverpool, had reminded me that I never really said a big thank-you to everyone who donated to the NSPCC after my appeal earlier this month when I did a charity bike ride from Liverpool to Chester through the Mersey tunnel. THANK YOU! You know who you are.
No photographs today, so you’ll have to make do with a few pictures of the hostel.
Monday 24th July 2023
As Dinah Washington noted, what a difference a day makes! After yesterday, I was delighted to awake to bright sunshine and blue skies. After an ‘all you can eat’ breakfast (when will they ever learn?), I went for a short stroll along the Liverpool waterfront before heading straight back to the port on the bike since today’s trip began with a ferry ‘cross the Mersey. (Sorry, if Dinah Washington didn’t manage it, I bet Gerry Marsden got you humming just then.)
When I landed in Seacombe, I followed cycle paths up to New Brighton and then headed towards the West.
Thankfully, the Open Golf competition has finished, but all the signage and ‘no stopping’ cones were all still in place. They even stopped me following a particular cycle path, but I got the impression they meant it when a polite sign announced its closure until Tuesday. I cycled to the end of the road in Hoylake and looked across to Hillbrae island. The tide was low and it looked like I could have walked across today, but after yesterday’s experience with water, I decided against it.
I then weaved and meandered south-ish until I felt a desire for a coffee so I called into a delightful cafe in Eastham village for a fix. After I was suitably refreshed I headed off to collect a tile by an oil refinery and just up from the Vauxhall car plant at Ellesmere Port. This plant used to build the Vauxhall Viva (the first car I owned) and now builds the Citroën Berlingo (and all the other related vehicles).
I was missing a tile from a previous ride, so I was pleased to be able to tick it off just before my planned route directed me back where I’d just come from. I was on a perfectly good cycle track which was heading in the right direction, so I went rogue and followed my nose instead of Garmin. I’d told the software I use to stick to paved tracks, and soon after I’d left the prescribed route, I had to descend two flights of steps, and then climb up the other side! Ah well. That explains why I didn’t get the tile the last time I was here.
I just managed to catch the 3.20 ferry back to Liverpool so I had time to go on a stroll round town to see the cathedrals. I’ve never been in the Anglican cathedral – the last time I tried, there was a concert on, so I couldn’t get in. Today I managed the set.
Just one niggle today. My planning for the ride wasn’t up to scratch and after I’d finished, I found that there are still three tiles unchecked in Wirral! I’ll have to come back again.
Off home tomorrow.
Tuesday 25th July 2023
The early rain had cleared by 9am, so I set off through the Liverpool suburbs in the dry. I meandered East for a while before heading South towards the airport. There is a road which heads South of the airport and seems to have little purpose other than giving plane spotters a good place to camp out at the end of the runway. There wasn’t much air traffic today (let’s face it, there rarely is at Liverpool which is why it’s such a great airport to travel from), but for some reason in about 20 minutes I saw three military transport aircraft yet only two commercial flights.
Afterwards I headed further South from Hale village to seek a Veloviewer explorer tile just across the river from Runcorn. We tile hunters must have upset the management of the Hale Estate since they’d erected a big angry sign forbidding entry to a path alongside their wheat field where the tile lay. I fooled ’em though. Just a quarter of a mile further is the Mersey Way which is a footpath running from Garston along the Mersey shore which is fine for bikes too. I probably shouldn’t have been there on a bike, but there were no signs saying that I couldn’t.
This is when I encountered the first of several showers. I considered that it may have been divine intervention before swiftly discounting the idea. I think most deities would have better things to do than bring down rain on cyclists for abusing footpaths.
The showers didn’t last long, but were heavy enough to demand waterproofs. When the sun came out afterwards, it was far too hot for all my layers. I’d’ve been home half an hour sooner if I could have skipped all the palaver with waterproofs.
My route then skirted north of Widnes almost to Warrington where I came across Fiddler’s Ferry power station. It was decommissioned over three years ago, but still looks like it ever did. It seemed a bit incongruous sitting, as it did, amidst fields of golden wheat.
I bypassed St Helens and then headed straight home but not without getting wet twice more. My bike needs plenty of lubrication after its dousing over the past few days. Can’t be bothered with that just now; that’s a Wednesday job.
