D199: FLINT to HOYLAKE
Friday 3rd April 2026
Today miles: 19.5 Total miles: 3288.1
The start of today’s walk is along a short promenade close to the remains of Flint Castle. Within a few minutes the cement path turns onto a wooden deck running alongside the River Dee and then after a few hundred metres the path turns inland onto the pavement along the side of the A548. The last three miles of the official Wales Coastal Path takes walkers onto the less busy B5129 and finally onto the outskirts of the city of Chester. Instead I continued along the A548 for a further two miles and crossed the River Dee via a road bridge. There was no easy exit off the road so I clambered down the side of another road bridge and dropped down an 8ft embankment onto a minor road on the edge of a small civilian rifle range. Around half a mile later the route meets up with the English Coastal Path just short of the town of Neston. There’s a great path/cycle route running along the edge of the river and it’s fairly busy with pedestrians and cyclists in equal numbers.
On reaching Denhall House Farm I stopped for a drink, a slice of malt loaf and then I made use of the public toilets. The route continued for another three miles along the rivers edge until I reached ‘The Old Baths’ near the Wirral Country Park. I have noticed with the exception of the South and South East coast all of these old Lido style bathhouses have been abandoned, including this one near Neston. I’ll bet the pool was very popular before it closed down in the 1950.
The excellent path continued without any incidents and an hour after leaving ‘The Old Baths’ I arrived at The Whistle Cafe. I’d made excellent progress today and stopped again this time grabbing a cold can of fizzy pop. There’s a cycle hire shop nearby and plenty of people were picking up and dropping off their bikes. Made me wonder whether me using a cycle along the coastal path would be classed as cheating, it would definitely be quicker.
Two miles later at West Kirby I left the cycle route and turned towards the coastal path which now runs adjacent to the Marine Lake. As I approached the lake which is a kilometre long and several hundred metres wide it appeared like an optical illusion. You can’t see the path and it looked as if the people walking between the Marine Lake and Liverpool Bay were actually walking on water. Shortly before arriving in Hoylake I visited the Morrisons superstore and grabbed food for the next couple of days. A really good day with great views across the River Dee and Liverpool Bay.
