9th August 2018
Journey Length 14.0ml (approx)
Click Here For Route Via Ride with GPS
Warning this blog contains graphic idiotic humour
Arranging to meet at Gorses Rd, I heard Graham arrive before I actually saw him. His front brake blocks had worn down weeks ago and he still hadn’t replaced them, the sound was almost deafening.
The new bus and rail terminus has been open several months now and the demolition of the old Moor Ln bus station had commenced, so we set of to see what was left of it.
The quickest route was along the cycle path over the old railway viaduct. As this is a cycle path it has barriers to prevent motorised vehicles in particular a “K” type barrier (see photo) .My handle bars have metal extensions and I can just squeeze through with a clank, but Graham on the other hand has rubber grips, these caused him a bit of a problem, they grabbed on the metal plates as he rode through nearly sending him tumbling to the ground, this happened not once but twice, life lessons to be learned pal.
We crossed the foot bridge from Manchester Rd over the railway to see how the electrification of the railway was going, slowly obviously looking at the progress. Whilst stopped on the bridge Graham noticed a train stopped in the station and suggested we wait for the choo choo to go under the bridge. We waited and waited, then a large train came at us from the rear which caught us unawares, so I wasn’t prepared and missed the photo, them bam, Graham shouted ” where the bloody hell did that one come from” as another train passed underneath us, once again I missed the photo , damn.
Moor Ln bus station was to be our next call, well what was left of it anyway, most of it had now gone. Looking around we saw the old road markings, Graham asking “ did you see those arrows ?” , “ I didn’t even see the Indians never mind the arrows!!”, I replied.
Off now to traverse Queens Park along the lower paths, as we did we noticed a pond covered in algae “ bet you could walk across that” Graham uttered, “ You first “ I replied but not surprisingly he declined. We exited the park next to the car park and then went down Spa Rd entering Heaton cemetery from the lower side , as we did I commented to Graham “ This looks like a dead end pal “ ha ha ha, Graham just sighed.
We were soon at the Middlebrook trail which was to take us up to Rumworth Lodge, but before we did Graham stopped me and said “ Got to tell you this pal” . Well I was intrigued. He continued “ Val and me were watching an old episode of The Persuaders with Tony Curtis in when what does Tony do while stealthily walking around a warehouse not to be noticed, he whistles of course just like us last week going the wrong way up a one way St, and guess what it worked nobody noticed him either “. Well laugh we nearly fell off our bikes.
On our way up Middlebrook, Grahams chain came off , after a quick fix and with a little cursing and moaning we were soon on our way . At the end of the path we came to the now almost derelict Lostock Arms at Lostock , seeing a path to the right I suggested we follow if , Graham was a little hesitant and he was right to be it only led us to a steep flight of steps to the road, not only that as we struggled up with our bikes we were met by a group of commuters coming down, we stopped to let them pass as true gentlemen and each one said thank you as they passed, nice to see manners aren’t dead.
After a short distance along Tempest Rd we came to Rumworth lodge, here we hoped to ride around and find a path up to Wigan Rd but unfortunately we were met with a metal gate all chained up and a sign that read “STRICTLY NO ADMITTANCE”, so we turned around and found another path leading the way we wanted to go. At the end of the path we came to a Lock Ln a cobbled lane that proved a challenge to ride due to the cobbled surface shaking us to the bone, we both commented what would it have been like on the old boneshakers. Lock Ln brought us out onto Wigan Rd near the Tavern On The Hill, we turned left down the hill towards Bolton. Sensing we were going the wrong way I pulled up at the Three Pigeons pub, giving Graham plenty of time to stop, squeal , squeak the sound of metal on metal eventually Graham came to a stop. Now neither of us had had our tea and with the smell of food wafting from the pubs it was making us feel really hungry,.
Discovering we had indeed gone in the wrong direction we headed back up Wigan Rd into the ever tempting smells coming from the kitchens of the pubs but you can’t stop an extreme biker, so it was heads down until we reached our turning that brought us to the path at the end of Punch Ln . The route looked good, the path was dirt but quite wide, but this soon changed. Shortly after passing a small pond the path disappeared altogether at a fence. Now there was a stile at the fence, but, on the other side were some rather large cows and with our previous encounter with these animals we hesitated. “Shall we go for it “ ,“ What do you think “ , “ That ones looking at us” , “God that’s a big bugger over there “ our conversation went. Eventually building up our courage and sending Graham in front we set off pushing our bikes across the field, thankfully with no incident at all. Our high spirits were soon dashed. We came to the stile on the side of the fence with the sign “Public Right of Way”. Somebody has a good sense of humour the field was completely full of very tall grass and nettles, the grass was so high that even Graham at over 6 feet found it difficult to navigate through, but navigate we did until even the extreme bikers were stopped. Now we assessed the situation, we could admit defeat and turn around or try and somehow get over the barbed wire fence into the adjacent field and find a way out, the first wasn’t an option. So over the barbed wire it was, like a couple of clowns trying to work out a way over , obviously not wanting to catch our important bits on the wire. Eventually we used our bikes as ladders and as a team scaled the barbed wire fence and over we went, thankfully with no injuries apart from the nettle stings and cuts from the field.
Now after our traumatic venture through the field we came to a stile and gate that led down a path where we could see houses in the distance, that was the way to go. as I struggled with my bike over the stile I heard the sound of laughter, it was Graham astride the gate which was no more than a couple of feet tall, watching me struggle, we were soon both in fits of laughter,about my obvious stupidity.
We found ourselves now on Hulton Ln and turned right towards St Helens Rd. Here we stopped not knowing really which way to go. Just as we were consulting our maps a cyclist stopped asking us for directions to Horwich, he also had taken a wrong turning. After doing our good deed and getting him back on route we set off ourselves eventually finding the pathway to get us to Plodder Ln. This took us up over the hills with some terrific views over towards Leigh and as far as Middleton. It was here Grahams chain came off for the umpteenth time. His bike should be the better maintained of the two, he’s a top notch motor vehicle technician for god’s sake, with years of experience. Once it was fixed we were soon heading down Plodder lane but as we approached Smethurst Ln we saw the temporary traffic lights at the roadworks. The lights were on green so we gunned it, but not fast enough, they changed to RED, but sod it we were going to fast to stop, zoom straight through we went. We had just exited the roadworks when we heard an emergency vehicle sirens, “ Oh I hope that’s not the dibble coming after us for going through the RED light “ Graham said uneasily. It turned out only to be an ambulance on an emergency call. After this close call it was straight down Plodder Ln to head home. My phone battery had died and we had no concept of time only the fact that we had noticed a drop in temperature with Graham stating “its gone bloody chilly pal”, and with Peggy Lou still recovering I didn’t want to be out too long, plus I had to make my own tea we set off home parting company at Bradford Rd, “don’t forget to text pal “ Graham reminded me. Once home i realised we had been out quite a considerable time it was going on for 9.00pm. Peggy Lou was in wonder of where we’d been, but as usual she just has to read the blog like everyone else. The “I’m home pal” text whizzing off to Graham it was time for a shower and to put my tea on.
