Saturday, February 2, 2008

A walk on Caldy Hill

Gorse on Caldy Hill
Gorse along path on the hill
I fell in love with this tree!
The Mariners Beacon
Looking over the Dee Estuary.This was
actually the last photo I took.Notice the change
in the light.

The Dee Estuary
Another tree which I just had to photograph.
A view of West Kirby and the Marine Lake
West Kirby from Caldy Hill
Yes, another tree!

Caldy Hill is an area of heath and woodland on a sandstone outcrop on the Wirral Peninsula. The land was by bought by Hoylake District Council between 1897 and 1974. The village of Caldy is nearby.

Including Stapledon Woods, the whole area covers 250 acres of which 13 acres are owned by the National Trust. The hill rises to 260 ft where there is a view-finder. From here there are fine views over the estuary of the River Dee to Hilbre Island and the Irish Sea. More distant views range to Snowdonia in the west and Blackpool and the Pennines in the east, more rarely as far as the Lake District to the north, and extremely rarely to the Isle of Man in the north-west.

The Mariners Beacon stands nearby on the site of an old windmill, which was missed by mariners after it was destroyed by a gale in 1839. Consequently, the Trustees of the Liverpool Docks erected the Mariners Beacon in 1841.

I went for a walk today on Caldy Hill.It was a lovely day,cold but bracing with wonderful views from the hill of the Dee Estuary.It's a bit of a scramble to get up on the hill and I was glad I had taken my Leki pole with me. One of the things that I love about living here on the Wirral Peninsula is the amount of open countryside we have for a comparatively small peninsula.Besides Caldy Hill, there is also Thursaston Common with the famous Thors Stone. Bidston Hill with it's observatory and windmill, now long out of use but still a familiar landmark.However,I digress so let's go back to Caldy Hill and the views I enjoyed today.

6 comments:

Lilli & Nevada said...

Great set of photos, and I too love that tree has lots of character

Michael Serafin-St. John said...

I loved the sunset picture---I have a definite weakness for that sort of thing!

Tom said...

Another great set of pictures... Yes I agree I should check this beautiful area out sometime... you asked about the Kestral posing.. it seems that no matter when I go to this quiet road with views all the way to Wales on a clear day that this male Kestral will appear at the side of me. I think it's hoping that something small will be scare by the noise of my old land rover... it is hovering level with the road, but the fields slope away there. I have many pictures of this bird.. none yet to match my others in the posts below.

Paulie said...

Very beautiful tour -- I think I would enjoy walking there! I recently found a unique tree and took a photo but it kinda got lost in the rest of the snow photos, I guess.

Yolanda said...

I like all of these shots.Thanks for sharing your part of the world.

Willard said...

Good series of pictures and commentary!