View from Oban Bothy

View from Oban Bothy

Monday 16 March 2015

Sunday 15th March, Fairy Trails

 

This little walk was an East Lancashire LDWA event and was aimed at attracting new members to the club. At 14 miles, the distance wasn’t scary for potential new members, nor was the pace which was reasonably brisk without being fast.

So at 9am the group of 14 walkers plus 2 doggies (who were also walkers) set off from the rendezvous, a layby on the B5209, just to the east of Parbold, to enter Fairy Glen.

P1040030

West Lancashire District Council describe Fairy Glen as being ‘designated as a Biological Heritage Site for its ancient woodland of oak, birch, ash and alder, the woodland floor may be covered with bluebells, wild garlic, ferns, and red campion.
The waters of Sprodley Brook have, over time, cut down through the underlying sandstone to create the steep Fairy Glen valley, which has spectacular waterfalls and cliff faces.’

The route took us south from the B5209, through the wooded (and only a bit muddy) Fairy Glen to Appley Bridge and then onto the Leeds Liverpool Canal towpath.

P1040005Walking through Fairy Glen

P1040006Happiness….well, it wasn’t raining 

P1040008 Appley Bridge, and what fine a place to park your diving bell

P1040010 The Leeds Liverpool Canal

From the canal we followed tracks and footpaths, enduring various degrees of muddiness and not-so muddiness until we gained the giddy heights of Ashurst’s Beacon.

P1040015

P1040016 Jeanette and Angela playing the (baby) goat

P1040019 One for Alan

P1040021 Ashurst’s Beacon and another photo shoot.

Ashurst’s Beacon was once part of a series of beacons that ran from Liverpool to Lancaster and dates back to the Anglo-Spanish war of 1585. According to Wiki! It’s also very popular amongst the radio amateur fraternity being as wot it’s 170m ASL and so gives a great take-off for playing radio.

P1040024Lunch No2  (I’m not sure where Lunch No1 was)

P1040027

After Ashurst’s Beacon our Glorious Leaders led us back down to the Leeds Liverpool Canal and then through Parbold. Mud, a former windmill and then even more mud followed. A few hundred yards from the end of the walk we came across a very conveniently located stream – everyone managed to clean most of the clag from their boots before getting back to the cars at 2.45pm.

P1040029

On final approach

It was good to meet up with friends I’d not walked with for a good while, over a year in some cases. Thanks go to David & Alma who led the walk, and to everyone else who turned up and helped make it an enjoyable day out.

Leading a walk like that isn’t just a matter of plotting a route. Dave and Alma researched the area and carried out a thorough recce and so didn’t get us lost….well, not much ;-)

Very importantly, they led the walk at a sensible pace and ALWAYS made sure that nobody was ever left behind.

Where we went (clockwise):

Fairy Glen Route 

13.7 miles with 1200’ ascent

More photos here.

6 comments:

  1. Doing good John, that is a fair milage.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous17:10

    nice description and photos, Patrick

    ReplyDelete
  3. Looks like a Zetor. The colour is a bit odd but the Instrument panel looks like a Massey from which the Zetor was derived. The headlight positions are unusual for such an early model. Not sure what the model is. Did you get any info or other pics.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Or maybe a Kubota.

      Delete
    2. Kubota L225 for deffo. Had me going there JJ.

      Delete
    3. Well done...although I wouldn't know any better!
      What caught my eye was the fact is was so small.

      Delete

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