What an evening! All had begun well we’d agreed to meet at the Old Jaguar garage in Farnworth for tonight’s adventure all being well around 5.30pm. This did not go according to plan, Graham was delayed on his way back from Yorkshire and I got stuck in some awful traffic in Kearsley, so my 15 min journey actually took 50 mins. By now it meant that we probably wouldn’t be able to complete our full adventure.
I set off to meet Graham by now it was nearly 6.10pm . I travelled along Haken Lane in Bolton where there are some speed bumps for traffic calming but as well as these there was the addition of roadworks. Now as a seasoned extreme biker I’m used to hazards of riding on the road so I was extra vigilant. I was closely followed by a car but due to the nature of the traffic he couldn’t overtake me that was I until I was over the bridge. His frustration must have got the better of him , as soon as he got the opportunity he sped past me, he was that close I felt the draught off his wing mirror as he went by but fortunately all the years of extreme biking enabled me to remain on my bike, many an other person may not. There are a lot of idiotic selfish people on the road these days. Sadly that wasn’t the last incident. Only a few hundred yards further on I was passed a young woman in her car sat at the traffic lights , merrily texting away on her mobile, oblivious to what was going on around her. Just as I rode passed she went to set off , but luckily for me she wasn’t in gear and the engine screamed away as she pressed the accelerator . Another close shave and I’d barely traveled a mile.
The old Jaguar garage is now occupied by Hyundai cars , I casually looked around whilst I waited for Graham. Once he’d arrived we set off almost immediately. As we rode through Farnworth park we noticed they’d planted some saplings on the right and on the left were some large old trees and we commented on how it must have looked when the park first opened all those years ago.
We took the route down The Linnyshaw loopline , a cycle and footpath that passes through Blackleach country park. It brought us out onto Manchester Rd in Walkden . Here we had a choice as we saw a small gateway across the road we could follow the main road until we it met the East Lancs Rd or take the path. It goes without saying we went down the main road , only kidding we’re extreme bikers , of course we went down that path.
Once through the gate we were presented with another 3 options and guess what, we took the wrong one and came to a dead end . Fortunately there was a young couple who were out enjoying the views in the evening sun. They told us either of the other paths would take us where we were heading. So we thanked them and turned around. This was not the only couple we would meet on our adventure.
The path twisted and turned through the trees, branches striking out helmets as we ploughed on. One particularly part ran downhill straight along the side of the motorway. As we sped down I heard Graham behind me “ weeeeeeeeee!” He was definitely enjoying himself. Not long after we came to a bridge that was closed off , stating the reason ,it was a weak bridge. Graham was puzzled how they had come to the conclusion it was weak, saying that in foreign countries they use bridges that are almost falling down, so why was it closed simple I said 3 words ” Health And Safety”
The path is just very narrow dirt path which has been trodden down over the years so it was pretty easy to ride on but there was one large obstacle that if you’re not concentrating would cause a serious problem. A great raised manhole cover right in the middle of the path. Shortly after it is where we met our second young couple of the evening walking deep in the woods. They thanked us as we let them pass. As we continued Graham asked ““ Do you think they’re going for a little bit of hanky panky?” I just chuckled , what goes through his head sometimes?
Emerging onto East Lancs Rd , a very busy dual carriageway separated by Armco barrier we spotted a ginnel across the road but to get to it we needed to cross this busy road. We saw a set of traffic lights in the distance and decided that was a good place to cross. As we patiently waited for the green man, we were passed by a lad on his bike who apparently didn’t care too much for his own life, darting between the cars to cross over before the lights changed. Its people like this who give us cyclists a bad name. The entrance to the ginnel proved to be much more of a challenge than we anticipated, with us both struggling to get our bike through.
Soon we were at Roe Green and it was here we parked ourselves on a bench in a lovely spot to have a catch up and a rest. The conversation soon turned to our trip down Manchester the previous Saturday when a group of us went on my Stag Do . Myself being reminded by Graham of some of the events from that evening which had slipped my mind, for one reason or another . We chatted about my upcoming wedding to Looby Lou as well as more mundane things like work and the sad loss of an icon in Tina Turner. As we rode off the green I could hear Graham behind me belting out ” What’s love got to do, got to do with it? What’s love but a second hand emotion? What’s love got to do, got to do with it? Who needs a heart when a heart can be broken?” If I hadn’t of know better I’d have thought she was right there with us!!
Now we were off through Worsley Woods itself, it was a beautiful area with some awesome views . Riding through I stopped to take a photo as I did Graham whispered ” Hurry up pal this looks like just the spot we’d get attacked by Zombies !!” Hence to say I didn’t rush, confident that we were perfectly safe. We exited the woods onto Woodstock Grove, it was like entering another world, the houses here were fantastic, very individual all designed in all manor of styles . We wondered what kind of people lived here, Doctors, Solicitors Dentists that’s the type of people lived here we thought, we could only dream of living here, but you’ve got to have a dream
Leaving Woodstock Grove behind us we were now at Worsley Green surrounded by some lovely mock Tudor houses. But not all is as it seems. The area was known as Worsley Yard. It contained the workshops of masons, engineers, blacksmiths, boat builders, carpenters, sail makers, basket weavers and nail makers. The processes included the use of lime kilns, forges and coke ovens, all of which must have produced a substantial amount of smoke, blackening the surroundings. Goods were also stored here that would later be shipped out along the Bridgewater Canal.
A story goes that 3rd Duke of Bridgewater came across some workers returning late from their lunch break. He asked them why this was the case, and they claimed that they had not heard the clock in the works yard strike one. The duke ordered that the clock be modified so that it would strike thirteen instead. This tradition continues, with the clock now being located in nearby St Mark’s Church, still striking thirteen. The base of a forge chimney was converted into the Fountain Monument to commemorate the 3rd Duke of Bridgewater and was completed in 1905.It is places like these that we have both passed many time in our car over the years and sadly never noticed.
We now crossed over the Bridgewater canal heading homeward. We stopped off at the Worsley Delph, it is a historic landmark in the development of the canal industry in Britain. It began life as a quarry, but later became the start of the first industrial canal in the country, as well as being the entrance to a labyrinth of underground coal mines. It was here we spotted some goslings with their parents enjoying the sunshine. It was now back up to Worsley Woods via School Brow, a rather steep hill, by now we were both starveling and to make matters worse we passed the Delph Restaurant & Bar, with-its aromatic BBQ smells wafting around, it was pure agony going up that hill.
The woods are a labyrinth of paths and yet again we took the wrong one, but this time it took us into a dip where a strange circle of branches appeared and the we noticed someone stood in the middle Graham’s response was rapid “quick lets head back its probably a Pagan Druid Ceremony, don’t want to get caught up in that “. So we simply about turned and found our way back passed a lovely large tree as we did.. We realised then how lucky we are to have all these wonderful things right on our doorstep.
The way home was up Roe Green Loopline, this is an old railway line and is on a steady incline for about 3.1/2 miles, that meant we had to constantly pedal, no free wheeling so it makes it quite hard work. We took it at a leisurely pace, and at one point a gentleman on a bike rang his bell to pass us , on hearing it I moved to one side but Graham being a bit deaf didn’t move. When I asked him had he not heard the bell he replied ringing his bell ” No but ,I can hear mine “ . After about a mile the path spits at a “Y” junction to cross over Parsonage Rd. Now I was in front and I saw someone go on the opposite side of the “Y” . I got held up to let a man and his dog cross over, now on rejoining the path I saw a bike up ahead and presumed it was Graham who had taken the other path. He was some way in front and going at a steady pace. After a mile or so I wasn’t catching him so I stepped it up and started to push myself harder and harder. Eventually I began to gain on him thinking to myself “Turn around you idiot and see me! ” . It wasn’t until I got closer and realised it wasn’t Graham at all. I stopped ,looked behind me and saw Graham struggling up the hill puffing and panting. He must have been thinking “ What the hell is he doing , is he trying to kill me”. Sorry pal
After a good rest we set off at a more leisurely pace until we were arrived at the end of the line on Highfield Rd in Farnworth. A short distance later we were at the top of Bradford Road where we departed company both looking forward to our evening meal, acknowledging we would message one another when we were home . This we did with Graham’s having the additional message “ Me too. Punishing but rather enjoyable”
Top adventure chaps!!