The Liverpool site where Josephine Butler started life-changing work with the poor, the Birkdale road where women and children’s champion Christiana Hartley once lived, and the West Kirby school attended by actress Glenda Jackson are just some of the destinations featured in a new publication.

Bike & Go’s Women’s World Bike Rides Guide is being published to mark International Women’s Day, which takes place on March 8, and includes locations across Merseyside where key female figures have made their mark.

The guide, which can be found at www.bikeandgo.co.uk, celebrates some of the many women from Liverpool, Southport, Wirral and beyond who have changed the world through their forward-thinking, altruistic actions throughout the ages.

Some of the suggested trips on offer include a bike ride up to the Roman Catholic Metropolitan Cathedral, which stands on the site of the Brownlow Hill Workhouse, where Josephine Butler started her work with the poor following the death of her daughter Eva.

Desperate to help those in an even worse position than herself, Josephine spent time at the workhouse, and went on to improve the lives of women in a number of different ways, from opening an envelope factory to provide work for homeless girls, to successfully campaigning for a change in various laws that discriminated against women.

International Women’s Day (March 8) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. It has occurred for well over a century, with the first IWD gathering in 2011 supported by over a million people in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland.

Even those without bikes can try out one of the routes in the guide by simply hiring a Bike & Go bike from any one of 21 participating train stations across the region, including Liverpool Central, Moorfields, Aigburth, Southport, Ormskirk and West Kirby.

Suzanne Grant, director of Bike & Go said: “On International Women’s Day it is important to remember the courageous women who were key to the freedoms and rights that women in most western societies can enjoy today.

“So many women have made such a difference that it was hard to pick just a few to feature in the guide, but hopefully we’ve managed to combine some lovely bike ride locations with stories of women who embody everything that International Women’s Day stands for.

“We would encourage anyone interested in the lives of those who have made a difference to take to two wheels and enjoy a lovely bike ride to these historic locations, celebrating the lives of these women in the process.”

Bike & Go offers bike hire facilities from 23 participating train stations across the Merseyrail network, including Liverpool Central, Moorfields, Aigburth, Southport, Ormskirk, Hoylake and West Kirby, in addition to a further 49 participating train stations across much of the North West, North East and Yorkshire, East and South East of England, and Scotland. There are also bike hire facilities at Seacombe Ferry Terminal and Leasowe Castle.

To hire a Bike & Go bike, users simply need to register their card details online, which they can do via smart phones, tablets, or at home, and pay the annual £10 subscription fee. They will then receive a user number via email which will allow immediate bike hire at just £3.80 per 24 hours whilst they wait for their Bike & Go membership card. Bikes can then be returned to any participating train station.

Issued for and on behalf of Bike & Go