A Walk in the Woods at Calder Vale

A few weeks ago, Mum and Dad, who let's be honest aren't known for being particularly keen walkers, reported back that they'd found a 'delightful little walk' in the countryside around the tiny village of Calder Vale and we really ought to give it a go. How could we refuse? We even persuaded Jean and Kevan to join us, although the prospect of a meal in a local pub afterwards may also have been a factor in their decision!

The walk was in fact very enjoyable, passing through the village and uphill through woodland where there are bluebells flowering in the spring. The bluebells may have gone now, but even so the scenery was pleasant, especially around a large pond which was created for the mill lower down in the valley. Not surprisingly there were plenty of ducks around, and some would even pose for photos. The walk is described in more detail here in my walking blog: Calder Vale Stroll.

The whole walk wasn't too far and we soon found ourselves back in the village where we even managed a rare photo of the six of us!

The plan afterwards was to get a bite to eat at a pub we'd seen on the way back to Garstang, but when we got there we decided it wasn't for us. Instead we found ourselves back once again at the New Holly on the A6 at Forton, where we could relax and enjoy good food in familiar surroundings.

The age of the train

Back in the 70s when Jimmy Saville was making those ads about British Rail, how would we have described what rail travel would be like in the 21st century? I doubt it would have matched my experience this week.

First of all the station car park at Preston station is being redeveloped at the moment, so there were no spaces. Worse, the vast shopping car park across the road was closed until 8:30am, and a sign placed at each entrance made it clear that rail travellers weren't welcome anyway. One poor driver, who hadn't seen the sign because it had been moved, had taken his token from the machine and driven past the automatic barrier only to find the way in was blocked by a gate - leaving him with no way in or out. He'd rang for assistance and was told curtly it was his fault anyway and what did he expect if he moved the sign! Not surprisingly he was almost literally hopping mad. Meanwhile I tried to find somewhere else to park before my train left but no such luck - the only car parks available for all day parking were some distance away, so there was no way of getting back for my train.

The way back home in the evening was no better - my train was destined for Birmingham, where I could change for another to Preston, however when I arrived at the station I discovered it had been cancelled. Great! So my improvised journey back involved changing trains at Nuneaton and again at Crewe, and both these trains ended up being late, although according to Virgin if a train arrives within 10 minutes of its scheduled time, then it's classed as being on time (I wonder if their staff are afforded similar leeway when they arrive late for work?).

Eventually I made it home an hour later than planned. Will I be travelling by train again in a hurry? Perhaps, but only because the alternatives these days aren't any better.

Waiting on station platforms gets boring after a while.

Windy walking in Wayoh

Wayoh reservoir dates from 1876 and is part of a chain of reservoirs north of Bolton supplying drinking water to the town. The moorland around Wayoh are always popular with walkers and it's one of the places we often visit for a stroll, usually with Carole's parents. Although the weather was very un-seasonal, with the threat of rain in the air and a cool blustery wind, we'd decided we'd venture out nontheless.

Kevan and Jean know these paths well, so although we have books detailing several walks in the area, we didn't really need them. Kevan led the way which took us from Chapletown village, along the shore of Wayoh, past Entwistle reservoir then up over Turton Heights before descending to Turton Tower, where the added bonus of a tearoom awaited. The wind was certainly blustery on the exposed hillside, so we were ready for a hot coffee and a slice of cake by the time we made our way down to the tower.

Turton tower is nowadays really an old house, but when it was originally built back in the 1400s, its purpose was to defend land belonging to the Orrell family. By the time of the civil war it had passed to the Chetham family (who founded the school of music in Manchester). The family name lives on in the area through the nearby hillside Chetham Close and the Chetham Arms pub in Chapletown. The tower now belongs to the local council and is open to the public.

We made the walk back to the car a little longer with a detour to the northern tip of Jumbles reservoir, where we picked up a path taking us to the other side of Chapletown before we turned back down the main road.

All in all a refreshing walk of around 5 miles.

Supergrounds revisited

Earlier this week I had the opportunity to revisit the school where we did our Supergrounds event back in April. The school were celebrating the improvements we made to the gardens and climbing wall which included a photo shoot in front of one of the walls which had been professionally painted.

Whilst I was there I took some pictures of the grounds with my camera phone. Thankfully the weather over the past few weeks has been much better than the day of the event itself, so the planted areas are now starting to fill out much more and the whole site is looking really great.

It gives me a real feeling of pride to remember what we achieved in the pouring rain a few short weeks ago.

Happy Fathers' Day!

Happy Fathers' Day to Kevan and Brian!

Gliding over Parlick

Anyone driving north on the M61 towards Preston will see a range of distant hills come into view as they approach the junction with the M65. I see these hills every evening on my way home from work. Some may think they are the southern hills of the Lake District, but they aren't, the Lakes are much further away. These are the southern hills of Bowland - a beautiful part of the country often ignored by the rest of the population, who prefer to head up the M6 to the Lakes instead.

Two of the more prominent hills visible from the M61 are Parlick and Fair Snape Fell, and I'd been planning to tackle them for some time. The hills around Bowland can be boggy even in summer, so this is a walk which is best left until after a few weeks of dry weather. Although the weather has been cool lately, it's some time since we've had any serious rain, so with the day free and unplanned, today seemed to be the ideal opportunity to pull the boots on and bag another couple of peaks.

The weather was forecast to be a little unsettled, with plenty of sunny spells but some dark clouds too and possibly a little rain. Sure enough, ten minutes into the walk and the rain arrived, but fortunately not for long. By the time I reached the foot of Parlick, the rain had cleared and the sun was out. The path to the top is steep and hard work, but the summit's only 20 minutes away and the pain is worth it for the views. A wonderful panorama opens up at the 432m (1417ft) high top, from the Pennines in the East, round past Pendle, Longridge Fell and out to the Fylde coast.

After savouring lunch as well as the views on top, it was time to follow the ridge path around to Fair Snape Fell, slightly higher at 510m (1673ft). Here the view of the coast opens up more, with Heysham and Morecambe Bay in view and Black Combe sitting broodily behind. Fair Snape Fell is topped by a trig point and an impressive cairn, known as Paddy's Pole. Who Paddy was or why he left a pole here is a mystery.

The ridge joining these two hills creates a huge natural bowl, which is ideal for generating the thermals used by the gliding club in the valley below. Years ago I was fortunate to tke a trip in one of these gliders, and I still remember the wonderful views from the cockpit with the accompanying silence. Today though I was on the fell tops watching the gliders flying overhead. Each one was actually making its own sound, quiet and eerie, like an unusual wind instrument as the air currents flowed round the fuselage and over the wings.

The path down soon brought me down to the valley and the way back to Chipping took me through several farms and eventually down past the Gliding Club itself, where I was just in time to see some of the gliders coming in to land. An enjoyable if tiring day in the countryside.


Full details of the route taken will follow shortly.

A sunny day in the garden

Whilst at Lynne and John's last weekend, we were both impressed with the wide variety of plants, shrubs and climbers we saw in their garden, so much so that it gave us some ideas for new plants we could try in our small garden back home. So, with the weather set dry and mostly sunny over the weekend, we headed for a couple of garden centres to see what was available.

We decided to take a look at the new Barton Grange garden centre, which has recently relocated to a spot further up the A6, just by the canal at Brock. However, before this, we knew of another smaller place called Ashleigh, which is connected to Myerscough College. Here the choice is perhaps slightly more limited but the prices are only half those at Barton Grange and the quality is as good if not better.

Having filled the car boot with new plants, Sunday became a gardening day. Hard work, but it didn't take too long and we could spend the afternoon relaxing in the sun enjoying the rewards of our labours.

Wheelbarrow repairs

They cost very little to buy but even so, I've recently been feeling a little sorry for the neglected little wheelbarrow planter in our garden, which has been showing its age. So, over the past couple of nights I've been treating it to some sanding and then a couple of coats of wood preserver, and this is the result!

George... and a Scooby Doo birthday!

This is George, a very fine beagle who belongs to Lynne and John in Bedworth. It's been some time since we'd travelled down to Bedworth, so we hadn't seen George for ages, but he certainly recognised us!

We'd arranged to stay with Lynne and John overnight after yesterday's trip to the memorials at Lichfield, so after we'd had enough at the Arboretum it wasn't all that far to renew acquaintances with George. George is a fantasic dog with a great personality and he soon settled down after greeting us, being quite content to sit in the garden and relax with us whilst we enjoyed a cup of tea.

Later we took George for a walk down by the recreation ground, past the Saturday cricket match and back through some woods, where we could briefly look out over the canal. Once we got back our exertions gave us the perfect excuse to open the wine, not that we needed one!

As the evening rolled by, the wine continued to flow and John did an admirable job on the barbie, even though it did take longer than planned to get going.

The food was good and so was the company, and the evening was rounded off with a surprise birthday cake for me! It's many a year since I've had to blow out candles on a birthday cake, and fortunately there wasn't strictly the full number of candles to go at. If there had, the fire would have lit the garden and we'd have been up all night whilst I tried to put them all out.

I certainly wasn't expecting a birthday cake, especially a Scooby Doo one, so it was a nice gesture which was warmly appreciated.

Thanks to Lynne and John for putting us up, putting up with us and for a relaxing weekend - even the weather was reasonable!

National Memorial Arboretum

The National Memorial Arboretum, near Lichfield, is a tranquil place and is home to over 150 memorials and dedications to the country's military past. Recently it was chosen as the place for a new national memorial to the armed forces, which opened in the Autumn last year. The memorial is fairly close to where Lynne & John live (Dad's cousin and husband), so it seemed a good idea to meet up and then stay with them overnight as we hadn't visited them for some time.

The Arboretum covers some 150 acres, with well over 100 memorials and dedications on site besides the new Armed Foces Memorial. Whilst some of these smaller memorials were impressive in their own right, to be honest others weren't what we would have expected, and what disappointed us more was the overall state of the grounds, which weren't as manicured as they ought to have been.

Nevertheless, the Armed Forces Memorial was much more impressive, with two sweeping curved walls enclosing two further walls which were inscribed with the names of all service men and women killed either on duty or by terrorists since the second world war - over 16,000 names. A thought-provoking sight, but what was equally poignant was the vast empty spaces reserved for many thousands more to be inscribed there in the future.