12th July 2023
It had been a hectic 3 weeks. I had got married to Louby Lou not once but twice, firstly a blessing in a marquee in a field with family and friends and then a marriage service with just the two of us up in Gretna Green to make it legal. Then it was off to Corfu on our honeymoon for a couple of weeks where we met up with Graham and Val who were already there on holiday. It was now time to get back to our adventures so I arranged to meet Graham at my house.
Graham duly arrived. I was just getting things organised, water bottle, phone , power pack and lead. As I checked everything over Graham sat patiently waiting for me ,then all of a sudden he burst into life. “What have I done with my gloves ? “ he asked. After a thorough search around the area he came to the conclusion that he never had them on at all, “ thought it felt a little strange riding here , must be coz I hadn’t got me gloves on” but then came the irony ,he pointed out that I hadn’t got my gloves on and that I’d taken off my sweatshirt, “ I notice things me“ he said “ observant me ya know, got to be in my job “
We were just about to set off when Louby Lou arrived home from work, after a little chat with Graham we were on our way. I hadn’t told Graham where we were going only the fact that it would be a shortish adventure due to us both only recently returning from holiday and honeymoon.
We set off through Leverhulme park towards Tonge Cemetery to visit Fred Dibnah’s grave to pay our respects. We both commented on the fact that he had passed away in 2004 and it didn’t feel like that long ago, how time flies by when you get older. From here it was just a short dash to find a path up towards Tonge Moor, this in fact proved to be a little amusing . We rode up Hypatia St and found the access to the path on our right through a old gate that looked like it hadn’t been opened in ages. We struggled through the gate watched by some children who were playing across the road and were obviously amused by our antics. This became more apparent as we eventually got through the gate and looked back we saw an unobstructed path just past the gate which the locals must use. Ahh we’ll live and learn
Once we were on the path it dropped away and passed through some dense shrubbery . One branch caught me out and sent me tumbling off my bike. Luckily for me I managed to remain upright as Graham pointed out there were some quite nasty brambles and nettles that I could quite easily have landed in , that wouldn’t have been a very good start. Shortly afterwards we passed an unusual structure it looked like some kind of huge gas burner of some description. I said it looked like a huge cigar lighter. Graham commented that he’d had some large cigars but nothing big enough for a lighter of that size.
Along Union Road we traveled under the railway arches and up past Warburton’s the bakers and then took the path up towards the railway line. It was here we encountered some horrible dirty stagnant water and where Graham managed somehow to injure his hand. A little further we stopped while Graham attended to his injury. I meantime was enjoying the aroma of fresh baked bread emanating from Warbys . We then had a in-depth discussion about the merits of white and brown bread. Oh the excitement on our adventures.
Hall I’Th wood museum was our next stop but just before we got to it Graham spotted a house that he mistook for the museum, “ bit little for a museum int it pal“ he said. I pointed out that it was somebody’s private home, the museum was just around the corner. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like living inside Grahams head. The museum sadly is closed for essential repairs but it still is a wonderful building. We noticed some of the windows had been damaged by vandals, what enjoyment could they possibly get from that we thought, just damn idiots is all we came up with. On the opposite side of the road I saw a sign DANGER CLIFF EDGE. On pointing this out to Graham he asked “oh do you know him ? “ I looked at him with a puzzled look, ” Cliff Edge” he said ” is he a mate of yours ?, ahh I’m full of them tonight “ he chuckled away to himself
On from the museum we descended down a very steep hill down towards Eagley brook. This was just a dirt path which we proceeded down rather cautiously , my brakes making a horrible squeaking sound as we descended much to Grahams amusement. Once at the bottom we came to a narrow bridge, on our approach I shouted back to Graham ” do you think I’ll get through with my wide handlebars?” , ” Yeah pal………………urmm maybe …………….errr ohhh …..ooops NO !!” Graham replied as I came to an abrupt halt. Whilst we pondered how to proceed across the bridge I noticed the remains of a motorbike lying in the brook, so naturally we had to investigate.
Once we had successfully negotiated the bridge we followed the path around and came upon a young woman walking her dog . Descending the hill my brakes squealed once again, Graham shouted over to the woman apologising , “ Sorry for my mates noisy brakes “. After leaving the woman to carry on her walk in peace we came up a road that lead to some equestrian buildings and at the side was an old dilapidated caravan. Graham obviously with his funny head on tonight asked ” hey pal is that like yours ? ha ha hah”. At the other side of the buildings we passed the daddy of all trees it was absolutely huge, sadly the photo doesn’t do it justice. Shortly after we came out on Ashworth Lane , here we had heard was Bank Top Brewery , so we set about trying to find it, up and down we went with no sign of it. Eventually Graham asked a passerby and he pointed us in the right direction. The result sadly didn’t live up to the effort we had put in , it was just a tiny building with some barrels and a few vans outside, so we continued our adventure a little deflated.
At the bottom of Eagley Brook we came upon a fork in the path one way lead straight down the other up a set of very steep steps . So it goes without saying we went up the steps , Graham commented “ by eck they’re nearly vertical these pal “ , indeed they were. Obviously this was a footpath and not suitable for bikes as we soon found out when we both came a cropper on some very slippery tree roots. This was a very treacherous path indeed and we proceeded with extreme caution. The drop down to the brook according to Graham’s reckoning was now about 100’ . “If you fell down there pal” he said “we’d need an air ambulance and What3words to rescue you” .Always looking on the bright side is our Graham. Shortly afterwards we came to a clearing and took a rest and took on some liquids . We chatted about random things our holidays , family, marriage oh and of course car insurance . From here it was a climb back up to Blackburn Road which Graham didn’t relish one little bit. I took a little detour from Eagley Way up Eagley Brow but this proved too much for Graham having to dismount his bike and reluctantly push it up the hill saying “ ohh I’m so embarrassed, I’m way too unfit after my hols”. I kindly reassured him as I too pushed my bike alongside, never leave a man behind. As we continued we passed some lovely stone cottages which took Grahams mind off his suffering. It wasn’t long now before we emerged onto Blackburn road. From here it should have been a relatively uneventful journey home, but it wasn’t to be. We stopped off to have a look around an old mill , that’s been converted to apartments called Cotton Works. We noted that they had done a very nice job of keeping the appearance of an old cotton mill.
Now we rode down Blackburn Road within a matter of yards we both had nearly been knocked off our bikes by cars passing either way too close or just pulling out of side streets . As extreme bikers we usually avoid roads for just these reasons but luckily our extreme biker training kept us safe. We had one more idiot to deal with though near St Peter’s way .A car tried to pull out , he saw us , and stopped and then as we were almost alongside he decided to pull out right in front of us, once again our training kicked in and we avoided a serious collision. As I stated previously we avoid roads as much as possible and this is probably why I made a mistake. We actually rode a very short distance along St Peter’s way which prohibits cyclists. Nevertheless we were extremely careful and thankfully both made it home safely texting as always when we each arrived home.
