We haven’t been lucky with the weather this year, and to top it all, this week we had snow when it isn’t even December! To be fair, it was only a light dusting of sleet in the aftermath of Storm Arwen, but it was really cold with it. We had a long bus ride from Liverpool, almost an hour and a half through Crosby, Formby, Ainsdale and Southport, seeing several trees down along the way.
The sleet started as the bus passed through Birkdale and persisted for a couple of hours, later turning into an almost-freezing drizzle. We trudged to the Botanic Gardens, which was putting on its Christmas “Lavender Fayre”. The few stalls that were braving the weather did very poor business, I’m afraid, as very few locals wanted to come out while the sleet was dusting the paths and bare flowerbeds.
We headed straight to the nice warm Fernery for lunch.
They grow lovely ferns and many tropical plants in there, including “Christmas Cactus”, unseasonal orchids and this lovely thing, no idea what it is, whose flowers are only about an inch long.
Outside, a few hardy souls were walking their dogs while the Black-headed Gulls huddled miserably on the bridge railing.
Below the other bridge were the remains of a Mute Swan nest, with a sign from earlier in the year asking visitors not to disturb it.
And then enough was enough, and we headed home.
Public transport details: Bus 47 from Queen Square at 10.15, arriving Cambridge Road / Marshside Road at 11.40. Returned on the 47 from the opposite stop at 1.45, due in Liverpool about 3.15, although I was home earlier.