17th Aug 2023
Graham had arrived on time but unfortunately Louby Lou was working late so I had to take my Jack Russell Lucie out for her walk before we could go out on our adventure. I left Graham sat outside while in his words got his legs back . On my return he commented “Done well with the weather again pal avn’t we” , it was something we had commented on every week recently, it seemed we’d picked the only good day of the week to go on our adventures. As we headed through Leverhulme park we were politely stopped by 2 young boys on bikes and asked if we could help, it was obvious they were a little distressed, one of their bikes had broke. We immediately reassured them both and Graham quickly fixed the issue and they were soon back on their way , very appreciative of our help.
Seven Acres park was in full bloom as we rode through on our way up to Longsight park, suddenly above us we heard the sound of a Police helicopter circling overhead and hoped it wasn’t after us, even so Graham hatched a plan , we’d jump in the river , get a reed and hide underwater so the heat seeking camera wouldn’t be able to spot us , just like in the movie Predator. Oh dear I thought. As we continued our we journey we moved to one side to let some people pass with horses, one of which looked like a Shetland pony but Graham couldn’t resist himself, “ Oh wow that’s a big dog !“ . Shortly after that we caught up with a woman jogging, well it was more like a very slow walk really. Not long after we’d passed her we stopped while I took a photo of Grahams bike in the same spot we had taken the original one in May 2016 Graham’s New Bike. As I positioned the bikes ready for the photo Graham called out sarcastically “Hurry up , that jogger’s gonna pass us” , to be honest I think we could have stayed there all day.
As we exited Longsight park and rode up Longsight Lane we remarked on how it looked such a nice area to live, little did we know, this was to be out done spectacularly. As we climbed up Longsight lane a car stopped to let us pass a parked car but some impatient ignorant and arrogant woman in her 4×4 who obviously thought she owned the road overtook this car and nearly wiped us both out in the process, the other woman who had stopped just shook her head in disbelief .We weaved our way up Bradshaw Road as we left the Seven Stars and The No Name pubs behind us . The slow climb up the road led us to the next stage of our adventure as we turned off up Slack Lane . We paused here and took our infamous selfie before we set of up the steep hill. The lane was gravelly and uneven and as we progressed upwards it got steeper and steeper as it bent its way up. We took a number of breaks to get our breath back and rest our legs.
The lane gave way to a narrow path through a field but first we had to negotiate our first stile of the evening , a rickety old thing that swayed around as we stood on it. Once over we had to push our bikes along up the very steep grass hill which was actually part of the West Pennine Way , this proved hard going and a strong breeze was blowing at that point as we got higher and higher but the views as we ascended were stunning, we stopped a couple of times just to enjoy the view.
Another 2 stiles negotiated we were on the last leg and the ground had levelled out slightly, there on our left was a memorial bench looking over the surrounding area, we sat and chatted for a while before we set off and approached the last stile, that was a monster though it was as solid as a rock and quite high, not to be deterred we worked as a team and with some huffing and puffing and bit of groaning we got the bikes over. I said to Graham that I hoped he thought all this effort was worth it when we got to our destination, he assured me that he believed in me and as always it would be.
Just over the stile was another memorial bench , Graham noted it was for a man and woman , sadly the woman had past away at the tender age of only 53. There were some flowers that had blown out of the vase at the side so we carefully replaced them whilst we chatted. This was a sobering thought as it’s my 60th birthday in October and we both realised how fragile life is. We discussed friends we had lost as well as those who were now a lot less mobile due to their age. We decided therefore that we would get out on our adventures as often as humanly possible before we get to the point where we can no longer do it , fingers crossed that is a good few years off yet.
As we waited near the bench two young jogger’s bounded over the stile shouting “hello” as the past by us and ran off around the corner out of sight. I turned to Graham, “ Do you remember when we could run like that?” , “yeah” he replied “ but not any more , just showing off them two in front of us oldies “. As I moved around the corner I summoned Graham, the 2 joggers were now slowly walking up the path, Graham was right they’d tried to kid us but to our amusement it’d back fired.
We followed the joggers route up the path and emerged into a wonderful open green space, Affetside Memorial Green. Graham turned to me “ Well pal I can tell you one thing that was definitely worth all that hard work, what a stunningly pretty place, there’s a pond and everything!” . The green was amazing, a lovely oasis, a place you could sit relax and reflect on life, there were Carp swimming in the pond , various info boards dotted around, it was a very nice place to be. We deposited some money in a donation box for the upkeep of the green before we left on our travels home.
Strangely Graham spotted a pub down the road amongst the quaint little cottages, The Pack Horse. We didn’t call in but we did visit the beer garden at the rear to admire the views which were once again fantastic. We decided that we would hopefully try and revisit this area next year and maybe sample a refreshing beverage.
We now set off on our journey home, all down hill, well almost. We turned right at Four Lane Ends up Harwood Road were we spotted an unusual building, it was a church, Four Lane Ends Congregational Church which was built in 1852. There were a number of grave stones right in front of the church as well as some names that were engraved into the building itself. We left the church and rose up-to the summit of the hill , at this point it looked like we would fall off the edge of the world. We continued downward along Harwood Road until it changed to Riding Brook Road. Here I stopped as I recognised where we were. I informed Graham that the large field on the left with the large Summer House and Bell tent was where Louby Lou and myself got married back in June, he was very impressed as I pointed out where we had tied the knot so to speak, where the Marquee had been and the Beer Truck, Hot Dog stall, Ice Cream/Sweet Truck as well as The Hog Roast. He said it sounded like it had been a wonderful day, and indeed it had.
Within 10 mins we had left all the greenery behind us and now were in the middle of a large housing estate in Breightmet Bolton. A far cry from the vast open fields and village greens. We rode down Winchester Way at great speed as we headed to the entrance to Seven Acres Park, I passed a police car parked up just before a set of traffic lights, I presumed Graham was right behind me but as I stopped at the entrance there was no sign of Graham. A minute or so past by and then he appeared. ” Traffic lights just turned Red as I got there pal, didn’t want to risk it with that Police car there, plus think we might have been speeding too”. I thought we were safe though, didn’t think they’d get the helicopter on us far that.
As we rode through Seven Acres Graham once again had an issue with his bike, hed crashed into something and his derailleur had jammed into his spokes which caused him to come to a rather abrupt stop. A little pulling and pushing and he was on his way. He assured me it would be fine to ride home, as we parted company he reached out to shake my hand, Aww I thought what a nice gesture, I was wrong he just wiped his oily hands on me. “Text when your home” I shouted after him.
