Hampered by Sheep

7th May 2015

8.2mile

Click here for route

As this was only our second expedition of the summer due to mechanical problems with one of the bikes last week it was decided we would explore around Clifton country park has we had not visited there for some time and would try and take a look at the work being carried out on the Farnworth railway tunnel and surrounding area.

This evening saw Graham riding a bike he borrowed off his son a fine mountain bike. We set off at a steady pace along the canal towards Ringley, surprisingly the footpath wasn’t too muddy or full of water so we made good time.

We past the horseshoe pub and headed down past the sewage works before veering off down the path on the right just before the bend leading us towards Clifton country park, crossing the bridge we turned right by the lake and onwards up the path. Following the path we continued until we came to a junction, after a short discussion we decided to turn right up towards the railway.

Arriving at the top of the hill once again we turned right and travelled parralel to the railway line as the path dipped up and down, we came to the site of some work being carried out on Dixon Fold bridge over the railway. Upon closer inspection and reading the notices around the site we found that they were rebuilding the bridge to accommodate overhead electrical lines under the bridge as part of the electrification of the Manchester to Preston line via Bolton. As we looked around we saw some of the original stones from the bridge numbered and in order hopefully ready to be re used.

We continued along the path parallel with the railway as we hoped to explore the area around the Farnworth tunnel of the railway where they are boring out the tunnel to accommodate the electrical lines, but unfortunately we came to a bank of steep steps leading down and away from the railway line so we decided therefore we would leave this for another day.

Retracing our route we arrived back at the building site of the bridge where we noticed a road had been built for the site traffic so down it we went, hopefully back to the side of the lake, but it led to a bridle path, we travelled along until we came to the turning heading the way we needed to go, but there were three horses at the junction and as I began to turn down the path my front wheel became stuck in mud and as I struggled to turn I came too close for comfort to hind legs of the horse but luckily came to no harm. Down the path back past the lake and up towards Ringley bridge, here we decided to turn left up Ringley Road taking what we thought would be the easier route rather than the canal path, this proved not to be the case this evening. We rode along Seddon St towards the canal locks at Nob End as we did we were chased by a pack of small dogs yapping at us as we rode by, one of them even grabbing one of my shoe laces, bloody hell we thought that was strange but that wasn’t the end of it as we went down the narrow path towards the locks we were surprised to find 3 sheep stood there, they started to move off slowly along the path but kept stopping at every puddle they came across, and it ended up with Graham acting like a shepherd to get them moving again, eventually after about 100mt they found a gap in the fence and wandered off into a field, very bizarre.

At the top of the locks myself and Graham parted company myself heading along the canal towards home for tea until next weeks adventure, whatever that holds in store for us.