Local Life - St Helens - September 2019

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right hand side of the brook, keep to the lower left
hand path and you’ll finally come to steps leading
to a stile.
Cross the stile and head straight across two open
fields. Carry on in the same direction gently
downhill, and you’ll end up on a narrow path
towards Gillibrand House. Fifty yards after the
house, take a left turn downhill, crossing the railway
bridge and ending up at the Leeds and Liverpool
Canal.
Cross bridge 40 and turn right down the canal
towpath until you reach bridge 39. Cross the bridge
and then carefully navigate the railway crossing
shortly afterwards. Now the uphill trek begins in
earnest as you climb Chapel Lane to the T-junction
with Wood Lane. Turn right, then immediate left
up the path towards the spire of Parbold’s Christ
Church.
Turn left and follow the jagged path around the
perimeter of the woods. Just as the path turns into
the woods, you take a 90 degree left turn towards an
open field. Cross the stile and make your way round
the left hand perimeter to the far corner of the field,
cross the stile and you’re now by the A5209.
Climb the path up to the main A5209, turn left and
when you see a bus stop on the right, cross over
and take the path next to the bus stop, heading
down into a wooden area. Cross Alder Lane Brook
and then head uphill on a path running parallel to
the brook and its woodland surrounds, crossing a
Turn right, cross over, then take the first left into
Fairy Glen, taking the footpath on the immediate
left leading down into this ancient woodland. For
all its waterfalls and sandstone cliffs, Fairy Glen is a
beautiful oasis of calm and tranquillity, much loved
by everyone who visits. You’ll criss-cross Sprodley
Brook but keep heading gently downhill through
Fairy Glen until you reach a raised wooden bridge
by some concrete steps. Cross the bridge to the