Crosby Beach, from Waterloo to Hall Road

Richard had joined me in Liverpool yesterday at the end of the 2025 ViCEPHEC Conference, and we’d had a lovely meal at La Famiglia and a good night at the Liverpool (Moorfields) Premier Inn – and it was my birthday! We had hoped to do some walking this weekend, but a week ago the weather forecast had been dire. However, the sun was shining this morning and the forecast seemed reasonable for the morning, so we headed out promptly, most impressed by the fact that there are modern, clean Merseyrail trains every 15 minutes from Moorfields Station (a short walk from the Premier Inn) up the coast to Southport. We boarded the train underground, but we were soon above ground, with views to the docks, which extend nearly to Waterloo, where we got off the train.

A short walk brought us to Waterloo Gardens, created in the 1930s, thus giving work to local unemployed men.  “Marine Lake” is now an expanse of open water, with a path across, which we took., with views back to the docks to our left and to a low bank of sand dunes ahead of us., while on the lake to our right, the ducks appeared to have lined up to greet us. Most of the other people about were dog walkers.  The path led over the dunes and here the path was sand-covered, so quite difficult walking, and when we got down to the promenade, along which the England Coast Path is signposted, that was sand-covered too, so at the earliest opportunity we headed down onto the beach. 

Crosby Beach has become well known as the now permanent home of Antony Gormley's art installation "Another Place", and we could see the life-size cast-iron figures as soon as we reached the beach. The idea - lots of identical life-sized figures buried to a different extent - is the same as the Antony Gormley installation "Time Horizon" that we saw at Houghton Hall in Norfolk last year, but for some reason I very much preferred Another Place.  There are - we're told (I didn't count!) - 100 figures spread along the beach, all looking out to sea. The figures were apparently based on Antony Gormley's own body, so they're just a bit taller than us. Some were part buried in the sand, others were on plinths, and many of them are submerged by the sea at high tide. However, it was low tide now, so that wasn't a problem. However, I do wonder if people try to reach the figures at the far extremity of the beach, down by the sea, and then get cut off by the tide. From a distance, it's quite difficult to distinguish the sculptures from real people, so it would be easy to think "someone else is there, so it must be OK". You're advised not to stay within 50 metres of the promenade, and not to attempt to swim here because of deep mud and strong tides.

If we looked back from our direction of walking, the views back to the docks persisted and I think the land we were looking towards across the sea was probably North Wales, perhaps around the Great Orme, where we hope to be walking in October. Later, the Burbo Bank offshore wind farm dominated. There were a few ships about, one of which appeared to be travelling at quite some speed, and came between us and the wind farm. We identified this as the Isle of Man ferry hips visible out to sea, one of which was travelling at what appeared to be a rapid speed, and came between us and the windfarm, and we identified this as the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company's ferry, heading to Liverpool from Douglas on the Isle of Man.

We did what most people seem to do and photographed each other standing next to one of the figures, but after a couple of miles the figures came to an end and we headed up to the promenade, past an RNLI Lifeguard Station. We then walked up Hall Road West to Hall Road Merseyrail Station for our return trip to the centre of Liverpool. 

We'd hoped to go on the Mersey Ferry to Birkenhead and back, but the ferry was out of action. However, the waterfront and docks were buzzing with activity and we spotted signs telling us that today was Liverpool's "Last Day of Summer" festival on the waterfront. There were various free activities including, bizarrely, an Elton John lookalike with a mobile white piano; apparently he's called "Elton Wrong". Then we spotted boat tours of the docks (not free but not expensive) so that was what we did - fascinating. This was followed by a visit to Liverpool's Anglican Cathedral and in the evening we had a very pleasant meal at Browns Restaurant.