Lancashire and Cheshire coast

The road outside the CL has a “No Through Road” sign within a couple of hundred yards but you can walk through to the adjoining area of Thornton. That’s where we saw the fencing sign in the photo. There are what appear to be smallholdings near the CL and there were some unusual looking sheep in a nearby field.

We’ve only been to Blackpool once before so today was intended to be a look around the area. We headed in the direction of Fleetwood with the intention of then going on to Blackpool.

Our offside Mirror Guard had been smashed on our previous trip and I’d ordered a new pair which arrived the day before we left for this trip. I fitted the new ones this morning – not a difficult job even for someone as practically useless as me. Mirror Guards cost around £100 – Peugeot mirrors cost (I’m told) around £400. No brainer, really.

I didn’t have the satnav set so we were following signs and our instinct to get to the coast. That didn’t quite work at one point when we took an exit off a roundabout and ended up in a Morrisons car park!

We got to Cleveleys and had a drive down the prom. We got onto one section that should have rung bells because it was quite narrow but appeared to have a turning circle at the end. We had to stop to let one car come the opposite and that car had to drive on the pavement to get past us. Unfortunately, the closer we got to the end, the more that we realised that it didn’t look as if there was anywhere to turn.

Then another car wanted to come out and so we pulled in to give him room but he still would have had to go on the pavement. But he just sat there obviously not prepared to do that. In the end, realising that there would be nowhere to turn anyway, I decided to reverse the few hundred yards to get out of the narrow bit. Though I say so myself, I made a good job of it. Gradually, we picked up more cars so it must have looked strange seeing a reversing MoHo followed by a number of cars.

We then drove into Fleetwood which I had always imagined was a port rather than a resort but there was more of the latter than the former.

We stopped for a cup of tea after which I took Ellie for a walk to the beach area. I had shorts on – working on the basis that once you start to wear shorts, you don’t stop until October. So with my shorts and short-sleeved t-shirt, we went walking. Everyone else appeared to have coats and scarves on and it was actually a bit cool and windy but you have to make a stand on these things.

We decided to head for Blackpool but ended up taking the wrong roads because of the one-way system around the tramlines. I chickened out and set the satnav for Blackpool. As we got near the area of the campsite, we decided to opt out of Blackpool for today on the basis that we could do it tomorrow.

The campsite is on what is now a minor road but which must at one point have been major because there is an old road sign at the end for Fleetwood. There are a couple of garden centres down there so part of it is quite busy which meant that I had to be careful walking Ellie.

We were heading for the Wirral and decided to go the scenic route via Blackpool so set off and got to the North end of Blackpool prom and drove south. Some of it looks exciting but large parts of it look quite run down and has seen better days.

We drove past the Imperial Hotel where they occasionally hold the party political conferences. I stayed there once when doing the Diploma in Management Studies. One of the nights, we were in the bar and this big bloke who looked vaguely familiar started chatting to me. He was a bit full of himself but was quite funny. He made a big point of telling me that he was earning more than Maggie Thatcher who was Prime Minister at the time. I realised after I sat down that it was heavyweight boxer, Paul Sykes whom I’d seen on the boxing that used to be on the tv at the time. Seems that he’s had a bit of an up and down time since then.

We carried on driving down the coast through Lytham. At one point, we started to see groups of blokes in suits walking down the road. I realised that we were driving through Wharton and it was lunchtime so I suspect that these were BAe Systems employees taking their lunch break and getting some time out from building bombs and drones and things like that.

We then headed towards Preston so that we could get on the M6 and get some mileage in. We’d been looking for somewhere to stop for breakfast but couldn’t see anywhere so we stopped at the first services on the M6 – Charnock Richard Services. We ended up parking in the HGV section and found a nice quiet spot. As ever with us, it wasn’t long before another MoHo decided to park right alongside in spite of the fact that there was still plenty of empty space. That sparked off a couple of lorries who also decided to park near us so what started as a quiet spot soon got busy as you can see in the photo.

I wanted to drive through Widnes because I hadn’t been there for years. My sister used to live there because my brother-in-law started his career in the police force there. The only part of Widnes that I really remember is the bridge over the River Mersey and the Manchester Ship Canal. That was an essential part of the route and we drove over it. It brought to mind the photo we have of Rose, Tom and Sally with the bridge in the background.

We then headed back toward the motorways and ended up on the M56 – unfortunately heading in the opposite direction to where wanted to be – but we soon had the opportunity to come off and get back on in the correct direction.

The journey to the CMC site took us past Ellesmere Port on the M53. We drove past the exit for Eastham Refinery (same exit as the Vauxhall factory). That refinery played a big part in my life – and the need to support our software 24 x 7 was a life-changer for me.

When we got to the site and were signing in, the commandant said to me “Happy new van”. The Bailey is now two and a half years old so I was a bit puzzled but the personalised number has a 17 in it – which is the current reg number. I’d not realised that before so we are having our second spell of driving round in what people think is a new MoHo.

It was great weather again (still shorts and t-shirt) so Ellie and I turned left out of the site to explore what was down that road.

The Club site is in the Wirral Country Park which is south side of the Wirral and so on the banks of the Dee. There are some pitches on the site which overlook the Dee and have great views of the estuary and of North Wales. I suspect you have to be up early in the morning to get one of those pitches. You are quite high above the river on top of cliffs – more sandy rather than rock cliffs.

The road was going down so I assumed that we would end up closer to the river and that is the case. At the end of the road is a yacht club and there’s another path down to the beach. It’s not like Cleethorpes with miles of sand but there is some sand and lots of rocks.

I let Ellie off the lead and she was like a caged lion being released. She shot off at high speed and just kept running. It was like release of frustration after days of being in the MoHo and being kept on the lead in our walks. Eventually, she stopped and looked back to make sure I was still there and then she was off again. It’s an Airedale thing.

We walked for quite a while. She met another dog and played chase and being chased with it. I eventually got hold of her and got her back on the lead and we climbed some steps that led back to an area of the Country Park that we’d seen previously.

After breakfast, we set off for a drive round the Wirral. In spite of the amount of time I’ve spent working at Ellesmere Port, I’ve never been round the Wirral and neither has Dud. We headed for West Kirby and had a drive down the prom. Then on to Hoylake passing the Royal Liverpool Golf Club where the Open is sometimes held.

There is clearly a lot of money about in this area. Lots of nice houses and lots of Range Rover Sports with personalised number plates.

We headed towards Wallasey and stopped near the town of Leasowe for some lunch. Ellie and I went for a walk to the beach – which overlooks the Irish Sea.

We then headed towards Birkenhead and stopped at the Tesco Extra to top up supplies.

This part of the Wirral is clearly not as affluent as the southern area.

The intention was to drive through Ellesmere Port and then loop back to the campsite but we’d had enough so we took the direct route back to the site. The weather was still really good so we all went for a walk through parts of the country park. It was still nice when we got back so we spent an hour or so sat outside the MoHo soaking up the rays.

When Ellie and I went for a walk first thing, we again went to the country park. We’d noticed when we first got to the site that alongside the road outside the site was what appeared to be a track and then through some trees to what looked like a cycle path. When we were near the visitor centre for the country park this morning, we could see access to these other tracks and it then became obvious that what I thought was a cycle path was a former train track. The other track was alongside it and is for horses – which explained why the bit that we saw previously was all muddy and dug up. It’s the Wirral Way and is a good facility.

We set off reasonably early – 10:00 ish – having decided to have breakfast on the road – which I prefer. I’m getting quite efficient at getting the van roadworthy (modest!). I get the electric cable in well before we set off and do stuff like emptying the toilet before Sue is even awake.

We drove towards Chester passing through some pleasant areas and then got on to the M56. We stopped at the Chester Motorway Services that I’ve stopped at many times as it’s the first one that you come to when driving away from Ellesmere Port.

We drove round Manchester on the M60 and took the M67 which leads to the Woodhead pass. Last time we went over there, there was snow on the ground but this time it was sunny and warm. We stopped for a sandwich just after coming over the highest point.

We started the day with the range readout on the Peugeot telling us that it had around 120 miles worth of fuel and the satnav was telling us that it was a 140 mile trip so we knew that we would need to stop for fuel but we kept changing the route and also the range readout kept going up and down and at one point we had more fuel than the remaining mileage. But the climb up the Pennines put paid to that and once we got on the M1 near Sheffield, the range had dropped to 40 miles with still around 70 to do so we pulled off the motorway into Rotherham and filled up.

We took the motorways for the rest of the way back. Sometimes, we pull off at the end of the M180 and take the old road back through Scunthorpe but Sue said that the novelty of that was wearing off so we didn’t do it today.

Got back to Laceby and it was noticeably colder. Wind was NE so coming off the North Sea. We’d been in the right place to get the warmest part of the weather for the last few days. I still kept my shorts and t-shirt on, though.

Good, enjoyable trip and I look forward to more like that once I retire in just 6 months time.