Bootle to Melling

Bootle has always been seperate from its neighbour Liverpool. As the docks of Liverpool expanded along the banks of the Mersey rich people like dock engineer Jesse Hartley moved from their riverside villas to new houses in Bootle. Bootle's most notable landmark is the Triad building, a tall office building which over looks the area. Below the Triad is the Strand Shopping Centre. The high street looks a bit run down these days but there are new buildings going up around the Strand and the bus and railway stations have been refurbished. The area around the canal was regenerated in the 1980s.

There is access to the towpath at bridge #2A, Bootle The Strand Station is within walking distance.

In the 1907 book "Liverpool" Dixon Scott describes Litherland and the canal. "...across a frail little swing bridge; and whilst one end of the bridge is immersed in that bad-tempered outburst of industrialism, the other shares an atmosphere of positively Quakerish demureness. Mild old Georgian residences, placidly sunning themselves among their groves and lawns, are respectfully waited upon by an irresistable village street of shops and inns and a post office. [...] It is that highley prosaic thing, the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, that has apparently served to keep this idyll unspotted by the world. It curves like a defensive moat between the birdsong and the harsh imbroglio a biscuits-throw beyond, and upon the frail structure tha crosses it not the mostreckless electric car in the world would ever dream of venturing. It is the weakness of that bridge that has proved the place's strength."

Seaforth and Litherland Station is within walking distance of the Litherland bridges 2I and 2J

Aintree is famous for its Grand National Steeplechase and was once home to the British Grand Prix in Forumla One motor racing. On race days you can hear the horses and commentary from the towpath. As the canal leaves Aintree it leaves the urban and enters a more rural setting with suburbas and wasteland alongside the canal.

Old Roan Station is a short walk from Old Roan Bridge #7D

The 15th Century church at Melling is built from locally quarried stone. Melling remians a village and is much smaller than its rival Maghull. The name Melling suggests the village dates back to the early Anglo-Saxon invasions. A field near the border with Maghull called "Six Butts" is likely the place that the menof Melling went to practice the longbow as required by law. Today the most noticeable feature from the towpath is Melling Stone Bridge, a fine red sandstone bridge in the Leeds and Liverpool Canal style. Melling had its own pottery industry and stone jars were made here and taken along the canal to Hartleys Jam Works at Aintree. Scottish potters came to Melling to work. The potery works were destroyed by fire in 1928.