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It's refreshing to find the open expanse of water and the sight of the Mersey Estuary after the concentration of miles of railway track on the first section of the route. This section of the ride is Pickering's Pasture Country Park and Nature Reserve - the Mersey Estuary is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and it is food and shelter for large numbers of birds.
The River Mersey was once one of the main trading points in the UK before the canals and railways came along and all came via the Irish Sea into the estuary and then to the Liverpool docks. Cotton, tea and coffee from India, Africa and America, sugar from the Tropics, textiles from Manchester, lime, iron and slate from Wales, salt from Cheshire, and coal from the Lancashire coalmines.
