Initially, we were walking on the apron of the beaches but as the tide receded further, as we neared the mouth of the river the wonderful expanse of the Dee sand banks opened up to us. There is a glory to the wide open beach and sky here as you approach the Dee Estuary and a bustle of activity in the shallow waters from the many kite-surfers who skite at great speed across the waters. As well, off the mouth of the river there are four or five huge windfarms out to sea, with windmills in all directions.
There is a choice of paths here at varying levels to the sea, from the concrete promenade, a gravel bank on top of the sea wall or, the earth path at the back of the seawall. On the latter the views of the sea are limited. We chose the middle option just to avoid the heat on the feet from concrete walking. The dominant feature of the horizon as you walk here is the industrial architecture that towers over the docks of Liverpool and Birkenhead. As you walk from Hoylake the Leasowe Lighthouse (home to the park rangers) starts out a small speck on the horizon, growing ever larger the nearer you get. Built in 1763, it is the oldest lighthouse built from bricks in the United Kingdom. The lighthouse was closed in 1908 and has been used for various, general community purposes since. Just beyond the lighthouse, we unexpectedly enjoyed another stretch of sand and went back to the water's edge for a short stretch.
The music of Liverpool in the sixties drew me to the city, the reality of homelessness in its streets pushed me on to the slightly better-off Wirral. It was an adventurous and at time difficult and dangerous period for me until the police picked me up one night catching some sleep in the crazy golf course in New Brighton. How apt, I can hear some of you say!
Social services became involved and they put me in to the YMCA in Whetstone Lane, Birkenhead. There I stayed under their guidance until I obtained gainful employment with accommodation. The area is much changed after fifty years but the homeless were still visible. Although I looked, I could not find the crazy golf course, probably long gone. Oh! The stories I could tell about my stay with the Scousers. But that is a story for my second book!
There was such a vibe. It was as though an electric charge ran through the city. I remember first hearing The Cream play there and was jumping out of my skin. But it was not only the famous groups that made the place, hundreds of local bands played in pubs and clubs and if you walked in to a cafe, sooner or later there would be an impromptu music session. Music was everywhere. The picture now is so much cleaner and brighter, albeit some of the superstructure of the industries are still visible but I didn't feel the same vibe. Maybe being fifty years older makes a difference?
There was only one way to finish off a day of nostalgia and that was with a ferry ride over the Mersey with Gerry Dorsey's sultry tones reminding us of 'this land I love'. On the dockside, there was a busker by the bronze cast of the Beatles and we stopped in the afternoon sunshine to listen to some of his 'Fab Four' tunes. A nice end to a good day's walking.