Appley Bridge, the station succeeding Gathurst, is the nearest for that glorious eminence, Ashurst Hill, the prospect from which is once again all that heart can desire, let only the day be fair. Now, too, we have something quite different, the great flat, looking southwards, being that which reaches to the estuary of the Mersey, the eye resting upon the distant trees of Knowsley Park, and detecting even Liverpool; while to the west, almost underneath, is Lathom, Ormskirk beyond, and exquisitely upon the horizon, the lucid sea, and the mountains that talk quietly of the Vale of Llangollen. A similar view is obtainable from the summit of Billinge, half-way between Wigan and St. Helens, but access thereto is not so easy, nor is there the same sweet sense of remote and airy solitude, green as the early spring, which, unless the visit happens to be most unfortunately timed, always awaits the pilgrim to Ashurst. The beacon upon the summit, a stone tower with pyramidal spire, was erected in the time of the French Revolutionary wars, taking the place of one established on the identical spot in the memorable August of 1588,--the year, as Charles Kingsley says, of Britain's Salamis. From Appley Bridge there is also a grand walk to the summits upon the _right-hand_ side of the rails, the chief of them, Horrocks Hill, lying about two miles away to the north, and at a spot called Higher Barn, attaining an elevation superior even to Ashurst. But it is not so well adapted for a signalling station, and hence, instead of a beacon, is marked only by a tree. The view from the top is singularly fine, embracing the whole country up to the Lune, with the towers of Lancaster city, Blackpool, Rufford (where there is a very interesting old hall, black and white), the Ribble, and the entire course of the Douglas, embouchure included. For variety, the return walk may be made _viâ_ Standish. Lathom Park implies, upon the Newborough side, a delicious walk through the intricacies of what in this part would be better called Lathom Wood. The trees are lofty; the shade is dense; the path, gently undulated, crosses about the middle a swiftly-running stream called the Sawd. This, like the water in Dean Wood, is a tributary of the Douglas. Just outside the park there is another, now called the Slate Brook, and of special historical interest, being that one which in the records of the memorable siege of Lathom House is called the Golforden.