Day 20: Wirral, the muddy seaside and Port Sunlight~

I really would have been very disappointed with this day trip if it didnt turn out to be a little more enjoyable at the end.. Luckily, it didn't leave me too exhausted to enjoy Manchester the next day~ Woke up 6am to catch the early bus to Wirral, the township across the river, lured by my classmates who said there's a very pretty seaside village and lots of stuff to see.. Only slept about 5 hours the previous night, so I was a little not in the mood..

The bus dumped us at a stop just after crossing the tunnel linking Liverpool and Wirral, somewhere called Conway Park:

Group picture..

We were a bit thrown cos we were expecting to see the sea as soon as we arrived, and turned out we were in the middle of nowhere.. After asking for directions, we were shown where the nearest train station is.. To get to West Kirby (seaside), we had to take a train ride costing ard 3.50 return or 4.50 for a day pass.. At first everyone thought it was too expensive, and we decided to walk on to see what sights we could find, while aiming for the next train station, called Birkenhead Park..

Well, we reached Birkenhead Park (after walking abt an hour!) and everyone agreed it would make more sense to take the train straight to where we wanted to go.. BUT, the day pass could only be used beginning at 9.30am.. so with abt an hour to spare, we went to the nearby park to while away the time.. >.< What a waste of perfectly good sleeping time~

Finally 9.30am at Birkenhead Park station

The RM27 day pass O.o...
(everybody regretted scratching out the date at the end, cos nobody bothered to check our tickets anyway.. could have used it another day.. wasted... )

Its a bit like our very own KTM.. haha..

In the train~

Arriving at West Kirby..
In a better mood after the train ride through the countryside..
(I have biceps O.o...)

And then, after walking from the station to the beach, the sight that greeted us was this:

*gasp* who calls this a beach?! Macam kena tipu pula..

So okay, I wasn't the most disappointed person, since I wasnt planning to swim, or to sunbathe or make sandcastles anyway.. but actually thats the interesting part abt the place, that the tide is low enough for so long that people can walk across the seabed to the 3 islands in the area, which are called Little Eye, Little Hilbre Island and Hilbre Island..

So against my better judgement (a local told us that it was a little late to start walking over) and really just wanting to do something since I was already there, I followed my classmates and we started walking over to the first island, Little Eye.. Cant say that it wasn't interesting, tho it wasn't pleasant either.. Just a load of mud, mud and more mud~ we walked about half an hour across the mud, until we were joking that our feet better be smoother afterwards cos of the mud mask..

No going back..

People following behind us.. check out the distance from the shore..

Finally with both feet on Little Eye.. just a little outcropping of rocks.. Gah!

The view from Little Eye, can actually see Wales from there..

I dunno when this was taken, but I like this pic a lot :)
I look like I'm having fun but in actual fact I was tired and disappointed, all that walking for some rocks!

Super tiny island

Must capture the moment~

My classmates taking a group pic.. so candid~

Ok, i'll admit, I feel a little uneasy when Im in the middle of the sea and its unknown when the tide will suddenly come in.. besides, i'd had enough of walking in the mud, so I abandoned the whole group and walked back to the mainland by myself, some of them continued to the second island (another long long walk) while some of them stayed for a picnic on the little island.. I'm a scaredy cat! I was so afraid that the tide would come in suddenly while i was on the way back, luckily that didnt happen or I wouldnt be here now *overly dramatic*

A ladybird, cute~

Luckily Adelynne caught up with me, and we went off exploring without the others.. We had planned to stop at every station to check out the sights.. but plan scrapped in the end due to exhaustion, haha.. too much walking with nothing really worth it to see.. Anyways we still stopped at the next station down the line- Hoylake.. The pictures below will show you how marvelous the architecture is in UK.. I wish I had a house like any of the ones below.. :) Drool people!

Even terrace houses look so nice!






Check this out, this is someone's backyard! Can you believe it?!

Proof that it is indeed someone's backyard! The view.. Sigh..

A church

This is actually someone's house!

Red Rocks, its actually a point on the map we were following.. Turns out number 78 is a nursing home, and we actually trepassed inside the grounds.. haha..

the real Red Rocks

Can you spot the sea yet?

There.. and another hike for us.. what an exhausting day!

Dog prints in the sand..

After walking so much, I was quite disheartened already.. I'd had enough of the muddy seaside and the hot sun~ we decided to skip the following stops and go straight to Port Sunlight that was touted as the most beautiful industrial village... I actually thought it was named cos it was very sunny there but its actually cos the tycoon who built it owned a soap factory, and the brand of the soap was 'Sunlight'~

First glimpse of Port Sunlight..

Me spoiling the view as usual..

Mmm.. pretty..

Yep, those are flowers..



We were searching for the Lady Lever Art Gallery, when actually we had already passed it once..

Finally found it.. Free entry again :)

First room we entered.. Another "wow", talk in hushed voices place..

Click to enlarge, pretty interesting stuff.. Tells the story of the room..

3 Old chairs.. each with their own history..

Tapestry showing figures representing Africa, America, Asia and Europe..
Can you figure out which is which??

Pictures below all show some of the stuff on display, some are pretty/ interesting/ pretty + interesting.. :D

This picture is a little eerie cos of the woman's eyes, click to enlarge.. I swear she looks alive..

Old fireplace..




The main gallery..




Man, this guy is old.. check out his anatomy.. hehe..


Delicate wedgewood (porcelain) plaques



everyone looks ghostly in this photo..



There's even a bust of The Goddess of Mercy..

A portrait of Lord Leverhulme, who owned the whole collection... Super rich guy, based on the amount of antiques he had amassed.. I'm only showing you a very tiny portion of his entire collection! The gallery was named after his wife, Lady Lever.. He was the tycoon who built the whole village of Port Sunlight for the workers of at his soap factory..

After the gallery, we were too tired to go anywhere else, but before taking the train back, we ended up grocery shopping at a place called Adli where the things are cheaper than in liverpool, ended up carrying carton boxes full of groceries back cos they didnt use plastic bags.. :S All I know is that we wasted 1.70 for the bus tickets to and fro, since the rail pass could bring us right back to where we stay.. Grr... Do not bring me to a beach anytime soon please~