Walking out to Hilbre Island from West Kirby with Kids

This is a walk of around 4 miles (6.5km) over the sand from West Kirby to Hilbre Island and back.  It is only possible when the tide is out and you have to check the tide times carefully as they can come back in quickly!  You can’t do this with a buggy, so if you have babies or toddlers then you’ll need to carry them in sling or carrier when they get tired – and they will.

An ideal time to start the walk, with kids particularly, is just after the tide has passed Little Eye (the first island) as this will give you maximum time to walk out, explore Hilbre Island itself, hopefully see the seals, eat a picnic or snacks, and head back!

It is safest to walk out from West Kirby than try and do the shorter walk from Hoylake as there is sinking sand you can’t see.

You should know, particularly when attempting this with kids that there are no public toilets or amenities on the Island.  If you read otherwise this will be an old article as they have now closed down.

At 5.5 and 6.5 mine just about managed it with bribes of chocolate and the end of the way back was pretty tough going involving lots of songs and games to take their mind off the fact that they were ‘tired’!

Allow an hour for the two mile crossing, or more like 1.5 hours with younger children. So 2-3 hours for the whole walk.

The kids need wellies as there will be some fairly deep puddles on the way out! I always wear wellies too but waterproof shoes may do!

We were so pleased to have finally been able to get them out there though as its one of the first walks we did on moving to West Kirby, lovely to take the kids back!

Just time for a family photo and back!