Day 65 - Bootle to Southport

Three minor admin hiccups this morning. First, Gary sleeps through his alarm, but fortunately the early morning tubes arrive promptly and he boards the 6:43 from Euston (finding Ben already in situ) with three minutes to spare. Secondly, John forgets his 60+ rail card but, after several failed attempts, Helen sends a scanned copy to his smartphone - which isn't then required by less than diligent ticket inspectors (or whatever they're now called). And finally, our plan to effect a potentially snappy train connection to Merseyrail at Liverpool South Parkway rather than continuing to Lime Street and walking to Liverpool Central comes a cropper due to a 10 minute delay on London Midland's train from New Street and the distance between platforms at LS Parkway being almost as long as the walk between stations in Liverpool. Net result - as we come down the steps to the Merseyrail platform, the train we're hoping to catch to Oriel Road is just leaving. Still, it's only a 15 minute wait for the next train, which gives time for sandwich buying, and a comfort break for the oldest member of the party. So we finally arrive at Oriel Road around 10:50, and are back on the canal towpath by 11:00. However, further hiccup within the first half hour or so when, having ignored (in customary fashion) a no entry sign by a canal bridge, we find at another bridge half a mile further on that works are being carried out to an extent which leads even John to acknowledge that we can't continue along the towpath and need to retrace our steps to the no entry sign! The only comfort to be derived from this is that M-A-D Johnny will have encountered the same problem. In fact, the subsequent walk through the streets of Seaforth isn't too bad and, in less than an hour, we're walking round the marine lake at Crosby and approaching "Another Place" - i.e. the Gormley Statues which extend for almost two miles along the beach. At times, it's difficult to work out whether figures in the distance are people or statues, and our route along the sands means that we can't assess the attractions of the West Lancs Golf Club. Approaching Hightown, we veer slightly away from the coast to follow a short stretch of the Liverpool to Southport railway line, but we soon return towards the sands and spend around 20 minutes attempting to navigate our way through some dunes near Formby. Our efforts end when Ben suggests that we try to get through to the beach and see if that provides an easier route north. This proves to be a "Which Best Buy" of suggestions. When we emerge from the dunes, the tide is out, the sand is firm and extends practically unoccupied, in clear bright weather, as far as the eye can see. These glorious conditions last for around 90 minutes until, late in the afternoon, the wind whips up (fortunately from behind) creating what can best be described as a protracted series of sand waves blowing in front of us. As we enter our 19th mile of the day, we finally overtake M-A-D Johnny who isn't going to have a pleasant night because the wind is now accompanied by some squally showers. We can make out Southport pier in the distance, but it isn't now clear how far we can continue walking along the beach. A car park beside the coast road is visible and we decide to walk over to it - albeit across what proves to be a rather boggy stretch of grass. Eventually, with night falling and 21 miles under our belts, we come to the end of today's coast walk by Southport's marine lake and trudge a bit wearily into the town and our overnight stop, the Bold Hotel on Lord Street. The customary couple of ciders are consumed on arrival before going to our rooms (John finds the modus operandi  of the key card to his room unusually confusing), showering/bathing and returning to the bar for supper. Good food, and two (or was it three??) bottles of red, and - again as has become customary - we're back in our rooms for the night by 9 o'clock.