I Tried Cycling from Liverpool to Southport… It Didn’t Go to Plan!

I cycled what’s probably the most well-known cycle route in Merseyside – Liverpool to Southport via the Trans Pennine Trail or The Raller as it’s better known in Liverpool.

Surprisingly, I’d never actually done the full route before today. The furthest I’d ever made it was Ainsdale.

The plan was simple: set off at midday, cycle the 25 miles (37 km) of flat (mostly traffic free) trail, and arrive in Southport just in time for tea where I would reward myself with a nice pie dinner on the sea. But things don’t always go to plan!

So, we’re out here in Southport and I’m going to try and do no hands for a little while anyway. Oh, here we go. Oh, [ __ ] hell. Ah. Ah. Abby leg. Ah. Ah. Hello, chaps. And we’re back already. And I said, I’m not going to be making any more videos for a while, but uh well, I’ll go into that in a in a little bit later in this video. I’ve had a change of heart, let’s say. But today, we are here on what’s called the Trans Penion Trail. And this if you’re from the north of England, well not too far north, but if you’re from Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, Rotherham, Doncaster, Hull, then you might be familiar with the Trans Penance Trail. This path, it runs all the way from the west coast here in Muryside, Southport, and it goes all the way to Hull on the east coast and then actually it goes a lot further than that because from Hull you can get the ferry over to Rotterdam and from there it goes all the way to Istanbul. So this path, if you cycle all the way down this path, you will eventually end up in Istanbul. And that’s what we’re doing today. We’re on our way to Istanbul. Now, I know you’re thinking, Carl, you’ve only just got back from cycling from London to Zagreb. I know, but I get bored quickly. So, here we are again back out on the bike and we’re about to attempt the Sans Penine Trail all the way to Istanbul. No one believes me when I tell them that this path goes to Stan. Everyone thinks I’m chatting a load of [ __ ] But it’s true. It does. But today, we’re not going to be attempting that. I was pulling your leg, but we are going. In fact, I’m going in the wrong direction if I wanted to get to Istanbul. We’re heading the other way towards the west coast which will take us to Southport. [Music] So it’s not just German ladies that like foraging in bushes for berries. English ladies also like foraging in bushes for berries. She had loads there. Big carrier bag full. Oh, it’s going to be some pie that. [Music] So, I reckon about 50% of the people that watch my videos are from Liverpool. So, I’ll tell you where we’re heading exactly if you’re not familiar with the Trans Penine Trail or the Rally as it’s better known in Liverpool. Uh, right now we’re here in Broad Green and we’re heading Well, we’re in Notty Ash now in fact. And from Notty Ash we’ll be going into West Derby then into Broadway then Walton entry and from there is sort of when you you leave Liverpool and you enter Septton and we’ll be going through Aale Burdale I believe and then into Southport. And if you’re not from Liverpool, I’m really sorry cuz that must have been boring. But that’s the route. Anyway, here’s a little bit more of the Trans Panine Trail or the Rally. It’s beautiful on a day like today with all these purple flowers. As I said earlier on, if you venture off this path, it soon becomes very urban. Lots of uh busy roads and housing estates, but here it’s just a nice little tranquil path most of the time. And you could be anywhere. You could be anywhere right now. This is reminiscent of some of the cycle paths in Belgium. I think I said that in one of my videos. I was cycling down a path in Belgium and I said it reminds me of the rally back home without the smackheads. Haven’t seen any smacks today actually, but sometimes you do get some undesirabs lurking around. But yeah, nice on a day like today. The weather can’t make its mind up. I’ve put me waterproof on, but right now it doesn’t look like it’s going to rain. What does it say? Look at this. Lovely, isn’t it? And I’ve cycled down this path hundreds of times. No, I was going to say thousands. I don’t think it would. I don’t think it’s quite in its thousands, but I’ve cycled down here hundreds of times since I was a a kid. right through until today. Uh never made it as far as Southport. So hopefully that changes today anyway. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Got you. [Music] I’m sure somewhere around here. Now we’re in Walton Veil. And in the past, this has been closed. There used to be a a fence, a big metal fence, had a sign saying asbestos, warning asbestos. So you you’d have to come off the trans penine trail and head down Walton Veil um and get back on further on up in a but they must have reopened it cuz I can’t remember going through this to I don’t think or can I there’s quite a few of these on the transine trail so I’m not too sure we’ll find out pretty soon anyway. Yeah, they might have reopened it. It was like that for years since I can remember. In fact, it didn’t make the local newspaper anyway that they’d reopened. wouldn’t be my type of headliner. I don’t give a [ __ ] about all the uh encroach shot deals, failed drug deals. Go straight to the transport news. The transpanine trail has reopened from west from Walton to uh entry. It’s more like it, isn’t it? No guns, no drugs. It’s a bit of good news for us cyclists. [Music] So, we’ve just temporarily came off the pen trail now and we’re very close to a race course. It’s just ahead here. You’ll see it in a sec. We’re going down the famous Meling Road. I think there’s a jump, isn’t there? In the Grand National Court, the Meling Road. So, this is Meling Road now. Here we are. Big, isn’t it? Looks a lot bigger than what it does when you’re watching the Grand National on the telly. [Music] All right. Where have you Where have you came from? Uh Lee. Lee. How long does that take you to get here? It’s about taking us longer. About 3 days. 3 days. Well, go get there by I doubt it on this. This is slower than your boat. Well, how fast they go? What? 4 miles per hour or something? 3 mph. Yeah. B. It’s nice and relaxing though. Yeah, it is. All right, mate. See you later. Thank you. So they came from Lee, which is basically St. Helens, and it took them three days to get here. 3 days to get here. You could drive it in less than half an hour. I’m slightly confused here. We are going the right way because, well, Google Maps has tell me I am. But it says leads. I’m guessing this is the Liverpool Leadeds Canal and we’re back on the Sands Penine Trail, but we’re heading towards Southport and Leadeds is in the complete opposite direction to Southport. So, I don’t know. But we’ve got trust in Google Maps. It got us to Croatia sort of that and commute. But I’ve stopped for a break anyway. And uh I’ve got me tea flask there. But we’re not going to have a normal cup of tea. We’re going to try something a little bit different. And some of you may not agree with this. But I’m going to collect some of the berries. I’m turning into a German lady. I’m going to forage for some of these berries. I’m going to put them in me tea. Why not? Something a bit different, isn’t it? Going to fill this up with berries. So, uh, how can I do it whilst holding a camera? There we go. There’s one there. You know what? I think that’ll do. Here we are. Some blackberries. Blackberry tea. Why not? You can get those flavored tea bags. I bet they sell blackberry flavor, but usually you don’t drink them with milk. Our tea’s got milk in it. Anyway, um right. And we’re going to do this then. Let’s put a bit of water in there first to get them just rinse them. That’ll do. So, the water’s been sitting in there for a couple of minutes. We’ll pour it out. That’ll do. I’m not one of those uh people who really cares about, you know, the safety, the hygiene of food. I mean, I’ve been to India and Bangladesh and I ate their food. Look at that. Look at that. Now, it’s like jam. And I’m simply going to pour the tea in to some This may be wrong. Let’s have a look if it works. Hey, it’s a nice color. Look at that. So, let’s give it a go. I can’t say it’s a It’s life changing. In fact, it’s horrible. Should I pour it out and just make a normal cup of tea or should I drink it? Glor. Yeah, [ __ ] it. Not drinking that was vile. Didn’t work. Got to try these things in life though, haven’t you? You got to take risks now and again. Oh, look at that. That’s better, isn’t it? Now that’s the color you want. You’d see three tea bags in there. worked out well. So, cheers chaps. So, here I am. I’m back already after saying just last week that I weren’t going to be making any more videos. So, why have I changed my mind already? Well, maybe this has something to do with it. I really enjoyed making that last series, the tour the car and um the the feedback, the comments that I was getting on the videos. People seemed to really enjoy it as well. Uh even more so than than my other videos. I don’t get many views, but I was definitely getting more comments on the tour the car, people saying they’re enjoying following my journey, my adventure through through Europe. Um, I enjoyed making it as well. They’re much easier to make than other types of videos that I’ve made in the past. And I’d say more enjoyable as well. Um, not not all the time, but most of it I’d say it’s more enjoyable. So the the the intentions were when I planned to go on the tour the car the big bike ride across Europe that was always going to be I suppose me me final swan song with YouTube the the the intentions were to retire me channel once I’d finished and came back to the UK even whilst I was doing it that was me intentions Um, but as it went on and and the more feedback and comments I was getting, people texting me, people that I know text me saying, “I’ve been watching you your cycle through Europe. I’m enjoying it or whatever.” It sort of spared me on to think, you know what, I don’t think I’m I’m ready to to call it quits just yet on YouTube. Uh, but but I think we’re going to take it in a different direction. So, we’re back on and we’ve got an hour and 25 minutes until we reach Southport. So, we’re going to do it. It says we should arrive by about 4:00. So, it must be about half 2 now. Uh, moving forward. Where’s the channel going? Well, I’m not too sure because I’ve only just decided to keep it going really. Got back a week ago and in that week I’ve been contemplating whether to retire the channel or keep it going. And well, as you can see, I’ve decided to keep it going. Um, it’s definitely going to become more bike orientated. Don’t worry, it’s not going to be boring videos about bike gear. Far from it’s going to be bike rides and food, most of it. I didn’t realize that people would be entertained so much just by watching me ride a bike and make sandwiches outside supermarkets. But uh apparently that’s what you’d like and I enjoy making them as well. So it’s a it’s win-win isn’t it for both of us. Um so most of our videos will still take place abroad hopefully. I’m going to Greece next month. So we’re going to make a series in Greece cycling around the island of Zanti. Jirro de Giros it’s going to be called. Do you like that? I do. I was proud of that when I came up with that. Gino the go. Look, ducks love me now. Ever since I saved that duck’s life in Thailand, they now they can sense something. Not scared of me. [Music] So, we’re about 12 miles away from Southport. I think we’ve most probably cycled I’d say 15 to 20 miles. We’re over halfway. We’ve got just 12 left. And I’m sure this is the part now where it becomes much more scenic, more open fields. And the plan is once we get to Southport, we’re going to go and get something to eat. I’m really hungry now. So, we’ve still got 12 miles. I’ll be even hungrier in 12 miles time. What? What shall we get? Hang on a minute. This couple’s letting me get past. Thanks, mate. Cheers. Thank you. Yeah. What shall we get now? I’d love a full English breakfast. Hey, not a bad idea. Bikes and breakfasts with to the car. That’s not not a bad idea off the top of me head. Anyway, we’ll think about that one. But well, the problem with that would be I’d have to start a lot earlier because most places stop serving breakfast, don’t they? Full English breakfasts around midday. And we’re not going to arrive until 4:00 p.m. So, it may be tricky finding somewhere that does full English breakfast at 400 p.m. It’s quite confusing that, isn’t it? They call it an all day breakfast. And I’ve never been able to understand why. Is it because if you have an all day breakfast in the morning, it’ll do your all day until tea time. Or is it called an all day breakfast because even though it’s it’s in the name breakfast, it’s an all day breakfast which means you can have it any time of day. Not too sure. Either way, I would love a full English with some brown sauce. Now, it’s sort of like a stereotype that the UK has the worst food in the world. Well, I’ve done me first year at traveling and I’ve never found a country that does a better breakfast than good old Great Britain. a full English or a British breakfast, a Scottish, Welsh, Irish breakfast, you can’t beat it. You know, go to France or anywhere in mainland Europe for that matter, and for breakfast, you’re getting a few pastries, few pieces of cheese, bit of ham, and that’s it. That’s everywhere. France, Germany, Spain, Italy, all the same. Go to India, you get a curry for breakfast. No word of a lie. Eat curry for breakfast. I mean, in the in Southeast Asia, in China, they have noodles for breakfast. I mean, I most probably prefer noodles and curry to pastries. But I’m digressing. Full English breakfast. You can’t beat it. and brown sauce. Well, you can’t get that anywhere, can you? Apart from in Great Britain. I mean, some places imported in, but that’s just for the British in like tourist destinations. The locals wouldn’t know it if it slapped them in the face. They don’t know what they’re missing out on. Anyway, all this talk of food, it’s making me making me even more hungry. So, let’s get ourselves to Southport. And what I’ll do is I’ll look on me phone for some popular establishments. See what the very best is in Southport. I’ll be back with you once we’re a little bit further down the road. [Music] Oh no, Carl’s about to fall off his bike. Remember to hit subscribe and like. So, we’re out here in Southport and I’m going to try and do no hands for a little while anyway. Oh, here we go. [ __ ] it up. Ah. Ah. Ah. Me leg. Ah. Ah. [ __ ] Oh, no. Ah. Thought me an ambulance. Ah, I’m going to need an ambulance. Oh, the cars are coming to me rescue. Look, how was that? I want to get a job in Hollywood. That was bad, wasn’t it? I can’t wait to watch that back. Anyway, if you’re still watching because you thought I’d hurt myself from the start of the video, how stupid are you? Saves you right. don’t reward clickbait in future. Anyway, let’s get to Southport. And if you’re new to the channel, then uh go and subscribe cuz that’s the type of [ __ ] you’re going to be seeing. How exciting. [Music] Oh no. Car’s about to fall off his bike. Just look how many blackberries are in this bush. Look at that. Tell you what, you could make dozens of blackberry pies with all those. Wow. If there’s any German ladies watching, get yourself here to Aale. Wow. Have a field day in there. There’s good old Pontton’s here. Pton Southport. New Pton Southport. Well, it’s no longer open. I went there many times as a kid. I was going to say on holiday, but it wasn’t really a holiday. Maybe for some people it was. But it was a [ __ ] hole. Not going to lie, it was a [ __ ] hole. And there was [ __ ] all to do there. It was a It was on it. It was on its last legs when I was gone as a teenager 20 years ago and more. And it was terrible then. And it’s been closed now for a a couple of years, few years I think. I think it was made into like a a refugee hotel at one point. I could be wrong, but I don’t know what the plans are for it going forward. Maybe someone knows and can let me know in the comments. I’d like to know that. And the old Sands the Old Sands pub that was most probably affected as well once Pton’s closed down. People could pop over and get a Sunday dinner. But now Derek Times have changed. People don’t go on holiday to pontton anymore. And also [Applause] also it wasn’t cheap. It was cheap to get there and you know you get a shalley for next offer. But the money they take in from those arcades and the gift shops and the bars wasn’t cheap. You get, you know, that’s where they get you because the kids that bad can have another pound for the arcade or whatever and it soon adds up. Before you know it, you’ve spent more going to Pottton for the week than what you would have spent in an all-inclusive embedded. I know where I’d rather go. Anyway, let’s get to Southport. [Music] Southport’s less than four miles away. Almost there. 6 minutes. Getting to my favorite time of day. I fell off my bike and I sure did go tumbling, but I’m back on the road. So, here we are. We’ve done it. We’ve arrived here in Southport. We started in Belleville in the south of Liverpool and we’re now here no longer the Mury side actually. This is Lanasher. Okay, not quite the London to Zagreb. We can’t do that every time. And this landmark here just spinning round slowly. This marks the end of the transpanine trail on the west coast. I don’t know whether you can make that out in the distance. There’s Blackpool there. You can see the tower and the is it called the Pepsi wax the big one. And here’s just a map of the Sans Pen sale. And this is what we’ve cycled here. Chill wall from around here to Southport. As you can see, it’s much longer and goes all the way to Hull Horny. And from here you can get the ferry across to the Netherlands, Rotterdam. And from there you can cycle down one of the European cycle routes all the way to Istanbul. And I’ll prove that one day. I’ll get round to it. But yeah, we’re here now in Southport. There’s the fair over there. And uh here’s our bike. How’s Nelly doing? Has Nelly enjoyed the ride? Just a short one today. Well, anyway, let’s get into Southport and get something to eat. Southport, please wait for me. I wonder what we’re going to have for tea. [Music] Oh, a nice calico. But what’s in the bag? I wonder. Well, what do we go for being so close to the seaside here in Southport? You you’d think I would have gone for fish and chips and that was the plan. We found a nice shippy on me phone, but they did steak pie, homemade steak pie, and the reviews, they were all saying, “Get the steak pie. It’s unbelievable.” So, that’s what we’ve gone for. Let’s get it out. And you get loads of chips as well, but I’m not a massive fan of chips. So, I said to her, I don’t want loads of chips, just cuz a few. the the customers in front of me, they were getting big piles and this was for two drinks and this it was uh £1080 I think. But just to let you know now, this is not a food review. I don’t do food reviews, okay? We’ll be eating lots of nice food hopefully on this channel, but I’m not here to review to review restaurants or shippies. So, can’t even remember what that place was called. Doesn’t matter. Obviously, I’m going to say whether it’s nice or not, but the aim isn’t to give, you know, establishments a good name or a bad name. It’s just a side of food really. Here it is. Here’s our steak pie. Can you see that? Let’s have a better shot. Look at that. Wow. There it is. There. Okay, let’s give it a try. It’s um it’s the shortbread pastry rather than puff pastry. There we go. Bit of peas as well. It didn’t touch the size. That’s too hot. That’s [ __ ] chips are nice, but for me, chips are chips. You see these food reviewers reviewing fishing chips or whatever, and they’re going, “Oh, the chip. It’s so crispy on the outside and in the middle it’s nice and fluffy. Oh, it’s like heaven on the inside.” It’s a [ __ ] ship. I know you can get good ones and bad ones, but for me, there’s no not much difference. Anyway, I’ll put the camera back over here and we’ll enjoy. So, we’ve done about I think about 25 30 miles from Bellevale in well actually from Heen. We started the video in Bellevale from Bellevale in Liverpool, south of Liverpool all the way to up here in Southport. As I might have said, we can’t unfortunately we can’t go from one end of Europe to the other end of Europe every time. Some videos will be in this country. I’ll try and come up with some good ideas though to keep it fresh. some um bike riding food videos, other challenge videos, but mainly I’m looking forward to the the the traveling, going abroad, making videos abroad in the future, and that’s most probably what I’d imagine you’ll enjoy yourselves. Our next one, Jro, we’re going to Greece. In a few weeks from now, I’m going to hire a bike for a few days. I’m going to go and explore the island of Zanti, take in the sights, try some peculiar foods. Last time I was in Zanti, I tried um snails. Not Zanti, I was in Greece. It was in Cit. Tried snails. Never again. Well, didn’t like them. I’d never buy them again, but I tried them as a challenge. Maybe something like that. This pie chips, peas. Nice. bit of a plate of slot. I don’t have many viewers from um different countries or maybe I do, I don’t know. But um if you are from a different country, what do you think on that pie chips, peas, and gravy? Is it appealing? It’s nice. Not going to lie. I much prefer a Chinese or Indian or something like that. But it’s not bad. I’m just going by the comments and got a Ferrari, have we? I’m just going by the feedback I got from the tour the car that last series. And apparently this is what people like to see, me riding the bike and uh eating food. That’s that’s what what entertains them more so than the other vlogs. And um as I said earlier, I enjoy making them. Oh, let’s go in that direction. Hopefully, we’ll still explore some fascinating places by bike. Who knows where we’ll go in the future? As I say, the next one is in Zanti. I’d like to go back to Vietnam on a bike. I know you can do bike tours from the south to the north of Vietnam by bike. So that would be good. The possibilities are endless. You know where you can go on a bike, go anywhere. There’s one country [Music] that I would really like to go to. Um and it’s the only country in the whole world where cycling is the national sport, the number one sport. Any guesses? You’d never get it. It’s Eritraa in Africa. So hopefully one day in the near future, we’ll take this travel to better. We’ll take some planning. Anyway, I might as well go now. Finish the rest of this. I’m going to get the train back. It was a piece of piss cycle in here. So flat. Uh but I’ll get the train back. Take about an hour to get back. Most probably back to Lime Street then to heighten. Sorry. So anyway, thanks for watching and I’ll see you all in the next one.