A Postcard from New Brighton

When you look at a map of the U.K. the Wirral peninsula looks tiny, but it's packed with lovely places to visit. 

Over the past year we've been making an effort to stay local and get to those last few places that we've never been to.  

So, today, we finally got to New Brighton. We've lived on the Wirral for about 30 years and have never been ... shameful. 

The tide was high, so there wasn't a lot of sand to see .... but this beach doesn't have sea views, because it's on the River Mersey!

The huge container port at Seaforth is directly opposite.

.... and in the distance you can see the Liverpool waterfront.

Here's a closer look ... can you see the Liver Buildings and the Anglican Cathedral?

When we were children we used to come 'over the water' on the Mersey Ferry to spend an afternoon in New Brighton .... sadly the ferry no longer exists 

... nor does the Tower that used to occupy the hill in this park. Built in 1900 and demolished in 1919, it was taller than Blackpool Tower. While we never saw the tower, we both have fond memories of the fairground that used to be here in the Sixties.

Fort Perch Rock was constructed during the Napoleonic wars to protect the port of Liverpool ... but was never needed. The story goes that the guns were only fired in anger at the start of WWI when a Norwegian vessel failed to obey orders not to proceed any further .... the ensuing cannonball was fired so high that it missed the boat, and the whole of the Mersey and landed on Crosby beach ( now home to the iron men) narrowly missing a house!!!!

We were intrigued to see a tractor drive into the river

The RNLI were doing a training session which involved the inflatable dinghy docking into the trailer...

We stood for a good while watching, but this was as close as they seemed to get, each time they tried. In the end we gave up as it was far too bracing to linger too long.

We took a brisk walk past Fort Perch Lighthouse and the marine lake and hurried back to the car before the rain started.

New Brighton has suffered long years of neglect since the demise of the ferries, and with people being able to travel further for days out, but at long last there are signs of regeneration. There's a huge amount of building going on at the waterfront .... for leisure and retail .... so it's future is looking much brighter!