Middlebrook Re-visited
8th August 2013
Journey Length 14.9ml
Click here for route
Meeting up at the Farmers Arms in Darcy Lever with Graham we had decided to have a trip up to the Reebok stadium at Middlebrook a place we had visited last year. Graham alleged he had been waiting for me for nearly 20 mins before I arrived but I informed him I had only received the text from his wife Val 10 mins earlier saying he had set off, after agreeing to disagree we set off along Radcliffe Road towards Bolton, passed Bradford Park and down to the arches at Bury New Road and through the subway under St Peters Way and on up Church Bank passing the historic Bolton Parish church through the town centre and out on to Spa Road passing Queens Park this time and finally up to Randolph St where the Middlebrook Trail begins.
Along the trail we first crossed over the river Croal and now cycled right alongside the railway along a narrow path shortly on our left appeared Middle Brook which is the river before it turns into the river Croal, here we came across a number of ducks who seem intrigued by a couple of men on bikes.
Travelling along this path it soon opened up ans we passed a golf course on our left with the railway running parallel with us on our right. Soon we passed through a little tunnel running under Lady Bridge Lane and continued along at a steady 13mph . Graham pointed out that the signals were showing red but being a couple of rebels we carried on regardless. !! There were a couple of joggers along our way near to Heaton Bridge where a lone man was fishing but looked like without much success. Following the path to its end at Lostock we once again came upon the old Lostock Arms pub which we had heard had been purchased and was being re-opened , but when we arrived there it looked in a worse state than the previous year. (see achieved post Off to Horwich )
Onward we crossed over Rumworth Road and up along Regent Rd before turning left again picking up the path which leads right through the municipal golf course before we turn right at Mill Ln passing BWFC academy football pitches and up to Ox Hey Lane which eventually brought us out onto the A6027 opposite the Reebok stadium the home of Bolton Wanderers Football Club now a championship club.
Now after an exhausting ride we decided we were in need of some refreshment so it was decided we would get our refreshment from the Harvester pub which apparently sold cold refreshing beer , so therefore we thought it would be rude not to partake in a beer. After our rest and refreshment we saw that the clouds had become very black and threatening so we thought it best to head home before the heavens opened, but before we set of we stopped at the Spirit of Sport sculpture that sits in the middle of the roundabout at the Reebok.
Graham now led us back as I had taken the lead going, this turned out to be a very good move because when we descended through the municipal golf course at a dizzy speeds of up to 24mph at points we came upon a few people oblivious to us and Graham being the only one of us with a bell on his bike had to ping ping his it a couple of occasions to avoid an accident. Now we travelling back down the trail we cycled along at a steady 14-16 mph not bad for a couple of boys nearly 50.
Once we were back in Bolton we took a slightly different way home by turning off Spa Rd down Walker St and through the housing estate onto Moor Lane, near the bus station and by the Market along Ormrod St down to Great Moor St and the right along Bradshawgate before a left turn down Shiffnall St which brought us out onto Bradford St here we had to cross using the crossing at the lights due to this being a very busy and dangerous junction. As we headed back up towards Darcy Lever where we had met outside the Farmers Arms we only thought it right to have a breather here mainly for Graham’s benefit because he still had a couple of miles to cycle home, so we had another refreshment here while we discussed next weeks adventure, just as we were discussing this it began to rain but thankfully as it had for the rest of our adventure it soon stopped and  we returned home safe and dry.
