Parkgate & Shotwick (19)

A mostly level, partly off-road route on the Wirral peninsula and beside the Dee Estuary.

Parkgate is an interesting village, a former ferry port and resort now isolated from the Dee Estuary by saltmarshes - though it retains something of a seaside feel.

The route starts out along the Wirral Way, following the old West Kirby to Hooton railway, passing Hadlow Road station which has been restored to the appearance it had in its heyday.

Leaving the Wirral Way, quiet lanes lead via pretty Ledsham and a mercifully short stretch of the busy A540 to the lovely village of Shotwick and its fine church. A short section of unsurfaced bridleway beyond the church is the only part of this route where road-bikers may need to dismount.

The section through Deeside Industrial Estate is not the most attractive, but is level and mostly traffic-free on dedicated cycle paths. The return to Parkgate is delightful, again on traffic-free tracks, but now with views over the marshes and reedbeds to the Dee and the Welsh coast beyond.

Reward yourself with an ice-cream on your return to eccentric Parkgate.