With 
Christmas being pretty much a social write-off thanks to our head of department (once again) bringing in a variation of influenza – which obviously I caught, it was imperative that I got out of the house for a couple of hours. I’d already done a couple of half-hour walks on Christmas and Boxing day (was it boxing day, they all kind of merge around this time of year)? I needed to stretch the legs and maintain mental well-being. A few years ago, when we lived at the old place there was a local walk that I did which gave me that much needed open-air feeling whilst being close enough to home to get back sharpish should the weather take a massive change. So off to Pitts House Covert it was then!
I left at around 9.30 fearing that the weather might still be somewhat tempestuous as storm Gerrit(?) had let loose with an outstanding display of pyrotechnics and near-sideward rain just twelve hours earlier. As could be expected, there was litter aplenty on our street from where the hopefuls had left out their ‘brown bins’ in hope of them being emptied but apparently Sefton council had fucked up the schedule once more – they don’t seem to get much right. By the time I got to the emerging quagmire where there should be a path linking Maplebeck Drive and Blowick Moss Lane, I was relived to say farewell to the copious sheets of discarded wrapping paper and other litter. I headed to Tesco as I had not consumed any food and thought a couple of boiled eggs might suffice if eaten at some point on route, also I discovered I hadn’t brought along any painkillers or handkerchiefs and on a winter walk such as this that was just a recipe for discomfort!
Once away from a refreshingly tranquil Tesco (wow, was it like, y’know, Christmas or something?) I carefully made my way over the A570, at first with the intention of walking past the new Sainsbury’s development (still not yet finished) but was positively deterred by the sight of the huge puddles slowing the traffic down at New Foul Lane, I scoffed that drivers seemed to be panic-stricken by the prospect of having to aquaplane through a puddle which would not come halfway up the side of your average mallard, motorists huh! This meant that I was bound for Foul Lane – possibly one of our beloved town’s less attractive roads? I love it! There is evidence of a deal having been reached to develop the monumental flop which was the Meols Cop Park and Ride project into a housing estate perhaps? I don’t know but there have been Facebook group forum posts to this effect quite recently although the council remain somewhat tight-lipped around the subject – perhaps they exert no control over this development, bit like what happened to our bin emptying schedule huh? I love the near-silence here, the sounds of different bird species countering the distant hum of traffic noise as one source fades another gently increases. In my world I would leave the place exactly how it is, to hell with future developments, let nature continue its reclamation and all of the uprooted and usurped fauna and flora return – but keep the roads open for walkers such as me of course! In practicality and reality this is wildly unfeasible. The new developments, both residential and commercial in this area demand much more in terms of highway infrastructure and only a fool of the highest magnitude of naiveté would argue to the contra, it’s a shame to change a thing here now but as I stated in a previous gambit – this is not one of our towns outstanding beauty-spots!
I turned right onto Crowland Street, another arena of contesting opinions. A wart on the end of one’s nose serves no purpose, it is what it is and its removal is justified, only improvement may follow. Crowland Street is no wart. By no means is this the poster boy for ‘Visit Southport’. Again, I love it. This is the last bastion of Southport’s industrial sector, this is where things get mucky, leading to agricultural and less refined, the road even gives up being tarmac toward the end instead reverting to a surface more fitting for a horse and cart. If you don’t like the look of the landscape on Crowland Street – stay away because for now that is eminently achievable, its existence barely affects anyone, on a conscious level perhaps? Again, just as a dozen heavy goods vehicles per hour pass along this outpost of industry, change maybe about to thunder through this vicinity. Once again it has come to the fore that this road may well be subject to the whims of the highway planners and all of their (seemingly) Machiavellian endeavour! If Foul Lane is opened up to ease the traffic calamity adjacent to the new Sainsbury development then ultimately it will be funnelled here and to the streets connected to here, it could be devastating to the environment and to the local economy, do we want to kill off our remaining industry? Already a swathe of turf appears to have been removed from the eastern side of the road, for what purpose do we presume? Interestingly enough, the rather large derelict and dilapidated building (Infotec Office Equipment?) which I first noticed standing here in 2019 has now been torn down and replaced with a premises known as Carpa which returns no (useable) results from a google search (remember those ancient, golden halcyon days when google used to give you results which were not trying to flog you all manner of crap?) – funny how “Stand Up for Southport” seems to have neglected to tell us of this change, hey-ho!
At the end of Crowland Street one is left with the options of turning around and going to find more paving to stomp upon or climbing over the metal and stonework, not falling into the normally stagnant “Fine Jane’s Brook (Three Pools waterway)” and taking a much more rural trek. I chose the latter. I don’t know what used to occupy this area but there are traces of brick wall underfoot, one for the true Sandgrounders to reveal I guess, all the same the path is far less wet than I could have hoped so it’s all good.
Soon enough I am at a rural crossroads where I opt to turn left passing a field of scrumptious-smelling leeks. I’ve had flu over Christmas as some selfish cunt took it upon themselves to come into work and infect us all – think of the 80’s and 90’s “lunch is for wimps” kind of complete arsehole and you’ll be on the right idiot-oriented track (tosspot!) and as such the smell is intense, almost overpowering! I notice with some trepidation that the nice, dry, rural but not really hazardous path which I would normally take to bypass the Covert is a complete cattle wade! This I can guess is the work of some articulated vehicles in the vicinity and a psychotic farmer / operator, I’ll have to go through the wood / covert as the path does not look very path-y any more! The going is not bad in the wood until I spot that a tree has been felled, whether recently or not I’m unable to tell as I’ve not been in this environ for at least two years. Fortunately, as I near the fallen leviathan I notice that there is just about room for me to shimmy on by, another great result. I re-join the path and head for Wyke Road and then onto Moss Lane – I’m at the apex of the walk and feeling good about it!
Moss Lane is one of my favourite streets in Southport, yes it does start off quietly at the bridge and then louder and louder as one nears the roundabout, but the views and general feel of the place are just unparalleled, in Southport at least. In addition there are paddocks containing horses aplenty which always adds quality to a walk. My inverse snobbery loathes the golf club but then given the town and its average age, well what else can the pensioners do other than play at knocking little balls around in the rain? Before long I’m back in the traffic as I take a left then a right and head first down the rather bland and featureless Chester Road and then its sister street – Chester Avenue, really not much to report here save for seeing a couple of flowering Cherries in flower! Norwood Road is not quite as busy as I would have expected, but all the same it’s best not to loiter as the sky is looking a little bit dark again so I take a turn-off down Hart Street and then onto Popular Street, Dodsworth Avenue and then Haig Avenue where I happened to notice a pretty girl with an African Grey Parrot on her right shoulder – you have to remember this is Southport, where odd is the norm!
I crossed Scarisbrick Road and onto Everard Road and turned left on to Town Lane / Southbank Road (don’t get me started!) before thinking that I’d like one more off piste section before going home, so I veered off into Kew Woods for half a mile or so before leaving the wildlife, taking the ped-x at Town Lane Kew and crossing (via the car park) and onto Wight Moss Way. This street has similarity to Crowland Street in that it’s semi rural and in this case semi commercial as there are a growing number of empty office blocks. To be fair the road here never fades to a dirt-track type of affair although there is one almighty divot as the name and surface changes as Bluebell Close – when it then changes name again to be one of three portion of road all named Blowick Moss Lane – I wonder how much crack cocaine the planners had ingested before starting off the naming convention on this estate! A left then a right had me striding down Redwood Way – there are no Redwoods at all – the nearest ones being the Dawn Redwoods just over two miles to the north at Hesketh Park. Finally I crossed on to Woodhouse Close and the newly bonded path which leads down to Langford Drive and home.
Summary
Good lord did I ever need this walk after Christmas’s near isolation. Even though there was rain about this never impacted on me and if anything added a certain cleansing aspect to the yomp. Both Crowland Street and Wight Moss Way will always remain somewhat off-beat, weird, maverick to me and I don’t see my love affair with Moss Lane ending any time soon!
Walk type: Urban / Rural (through a very small forest no less!).
Suitable for couples: Yes.
Families: I don’t see why not although the crossing of Fine Jane’s Brook is not for the faint of heart and technically Pitts House Covert is private land.
Dogs: Mostly yes, but you will have to pick up your pooch at Fine Jane’s Brook – unless it’s a clever dog, and well, they’re not generally that bright now are they?
Time to complete: around three hours for a reasonably fit person with time for a photo or ten – I took over fifty!
And so that’s that! I did want to achieve a little more for the year, more walks, tick-off all of the Winter Hill child summits and to have a wander up to the Lakes with Sue and Karl, hopefully I should be able to do this in 2024. If nothing else, October – December’s headlong charge at the 1000 miles target, saw me beat 22’s meagre effort and for that I am very grateful – yaaay me! Stay tuned folks, I might one day do a post without swearing!