Was working in Fazakerley in Liverpool today, had to be there by 9.00 am and with it being soooooo cold, and no opportunity for a shower on arrival, then working outside, I didn't want to get too sweaty and then get cold when I stopped moving. I could have got the train all the way there, but decided to have a bit of a ride and got off in Bootle, then cycled a slightly less than direct route through Orrell Park and Walton Vale, which was about 3.8 miles. The traffic along Longmoor Lane, especially past the hospital was hellish, and not much opportunity to filter past it, I probably breathed in 6 months worth of carbon monoxide in half a mile.
However, the ride home during the late afternoon, in contrast, was a sheer joy. Being on the hybrid, I could get off the road a bit, so I got on the Leeds-Liverpool canal by Aintree racecourse and headed towards Maghull, I last cycled this part of the towpath about 20 years ago, it takes you through some great rural scenery just outside suburban Liverpool. The low, bright sun bathed the landscape in a bright yellow light, beautiful, but how cold it was, brrrrr!!!
Leaving the canal at Hall Lane in Maghull, I nipped over the A59 and through a nearby housing estate to pick up the Trans-Pennine Trail, or the old Cheshire Lines track as the stretch between Maghull and Southport is often called. Then I headed up the Cheshire Lines, which apart from the smell of the sewage treatment plant in Downholland, was another absolute pleasure - out in the middle of nowhere with no cars, no sounds other than the wind rushing past my face and the odd bird and, again, marvellous rural scenery on a beautiful winter day, and I only saw 6 people in 7 miles.
If only I had taken some photos, but my current phone's camera isn't that good really.
Back onto the road at Ainsdale, then up to the Coast Road which has a cycle track that is actually quite good, and finishing the ride home about 3 miles later. A 17 mile ride, of which only 4.5 were on the road. I have been almost exclusively road cycling for quite some time now, but this reminded me how therapeutic finding an isolated trail can be, so the MTB might be seeing a bit more daylight soon.
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), through Pymoor, past the rec ground, along O Furlong and home.
with some large corvid - can't say who won, they went off in opposite directions.
first time in what seems like ages . Did my normal 50km loop out to St Bernards Abbey .Wind was a lot stronger an I expected and was cold 
was welcome
