Another Penketh Winter Walk.

 It's honestly taken a pandemic and half a lifetime to recognize that I live in a most wonderful part of the British Isles.

Penketh

The word is old English "PEN"...an edge..and "KETH"...a wood.

Burtonwood

Burtonwood was once a forest north of the Mersey.

Probably Penketh before the Romans arrived.

We park by old Marsh Lane...which tells you a little about the geography of the area.....

...it runs alongside a  field where you can view the Ferry Power Station for another few months before demolition.

And then  pass this beautiful ancient willow on the edge of the railway...

..across the line...

and this is the edge where Burton Wood and the internationally known river...

"The Mersey"

meet.

Today again we started our walk at the canal..... the first in England.

We call it The Sankey Canal...though St. Helen's would assume to own it...

...but as it came from Sankey Brook/ Penketh Brook...enough said!

In the distance..Ditchfield Farm....

One of the first mentions of the Penketh family was William de Penketh who was witness to a charter in 1240. In 1280 Gilbert and Robert Penketh became joint lords of the Manor of Penketh.

...then right turn on to the muddy path back to the canal walk...past the Penketh Brook sluice gate 

...and always a shadow pic...

just to say

"We were there"

Back to the canal walk where bikes and dogs rule...

...love a "bokeh" in a pic!!

...the sun is low and the canal water catches  gold on the ripples from  dabbling ducks...