Running in Liverpool

Stanley Park sits in the Anfield area of north Liverpool, wedged between Liverpool FC's Anfield stadium and the historic Goodison Park ground, two of English football's most famous addresses. Laid out between 1868 and 1870 by landscape architect Edward Kemp, who had earlier worked with Joseph Paxton at Birkenhead Park, the roughly 100 acre park is a listed Victorian green space and one of Liverpool's grandest. Three interlinked lakes, crossed by restored sandstone bridges, wind through the lower half of the park, while a more formal terrace with the restored Isla Gladstone Conservatory sits on higher ground. It is a very different kind of running environment from the open Mersey waterfront, shaded, historic, and structured around water rather than river views.

Runners use the paths circling the lakes and the wider perimeter of the park for loops of varying length, and the terraces add a bit of elevation change that is otherwise hard to find in this part of the city. Because it sits away from the main waterfront crowds, Stanley Park stays noticeably quieter than Sefton Park, even though it is just as historic and, for football fans, considerably more famous. On matchdays at Anfield it is worth avoiding the immediate approach roads, but the park itself remains a pleasant, self contained loop regardless of kick off times. For runners based in the north end of the city, it offers a green, low traffic alternative without the need to travel south to Sefton Park or down to the river.

The Liverpool Loop Line follows a railway that closed in 1964 and sat derelict until Sustrans and local partners converted it into a walking and cycling route, with the final section to Aintree completing in 2000. Now part of National Cycle Route 62 and the Trans Pennine Trail, the flat, well surfaced path runs from Aintree, near the famous racecourse, down through West Derby, Knotty Ash, and Gateacre to Halewood in the south east of the city. Because it follows an old rail bed, gradients are gentle throughout, making it one of the few genuinely long, uninterrupted flat routes available inside the city limits. Wooded sections along the way turn especially scenic in spring, when bluebells line the old cutting.

Runners can join or leave the Loop Line at several points using nearby stations, including Rice Lane, Broad Green, Hunts Cross, and Halewood, which makes it easy to build a route of almost any length or to turn a long run into a one way trip home by train. It is a useful complement to the Mersey waterfront and the Leeds-Liverpool Canal towpath already popular with the city's runners, giving those based in the eastern and southern suburbs a flat, traffic free option without a trip into the centre. The surface suits everything from an easy long run to interval sessions on the straighter stretches. Because it stays inland and shielded by trees for much of its length, it also holds up better than the exposed waterfront on windy days off the Mersey.