Albert Dock Running Route, Liverpool (3.6 km)

Albert Dock is the reason to run this stretch of the Liverpool Docks: a flat 3.6 km out-and-back from Pier Head, south past the warehouses to Coburg Dock, then back on itself. Seven metres is the most it ever climbs above the Mersey. For a greener Liverpool run, Sefton Park is inland and sheltered; the far bank is the Wirral, where the Wallasey to West Kirby walk covers the opposite shore.

The Albert Dock run, Liverpool

Albert Dock and everything either side of it is paved and level, so the numbers matter more than the navigation.

• Start and finish: by the Royal Liver Building and the Beatles statue
• Distance: About 3.6 km (2.2 miles)
• Terrain: Paved promenade with a short length of dock setts at Albert Dock; flat throughout

Pier Head to Albert Dock

Pier Head sits in front of the Three Graces — the Port of Liverpool Building of 1907, the Royal Liver Building of 1911 and the Cunard Building of 1916. The path heads south from there past the Museum of Liverpool and across the Canning Dock river gates, and reaches the northern corner of Albert Dock at about 400 metres, where the paving turns to setts. The warehouses opened in 1846 and are Grade I listed, the largest single collection of Grade I listed buildings in the country. Albert Dock returns you to smooth ground a couple of hundred metres later.

Albert Dock to Coburg Dock

Beyond Albert Dock the promenade widens into Kings Parade and runs on past the arena and exhibition centre, then past Queens Dock. The turn is at Coburg Wharf, 1.85 km out, where Coburg Dock is one of the two basins Liverpool Marina moors in. What follows is the outward leg reversed, with Albert Dock and the Three Graces building up ahead of you rather than behind.

Running it

The whole of it doubles as National Cycle Network Route 56, which takes this riverside path past Albert Dock heading south towards Sefton Park, so bikes belong here as much as runners do. There is no shelter anywhere on it: the Mersey is open to the west and the wind comes off the water. The promenade is smooth enough to hold a pace on, which leaves the setts at Albert Dock as the only thing on the route that asks you to look down.

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References

• Royal Albert Dock Liverpool — estate history
• The evolution of Liverpool’s waterfront — National Museums Liverpool feature
• National Cycle Network Route 56 — Chester to Liverpool route guide
• Liverpool Marina — moorings and berthing