11th July 2024
The previous Sunday I had visited the Queens pub in Bradley Fold with friends and family and I noticed in the shelter in the beer garden a number of old photos of Darcy Lever and Bradley Fold railway stations.
This in mind I planned an adventure over towards Pilsworth and arranged to meet Graham at the Queens pub so that I could get some photos of the aforementioned for our blog .This task completed I awaited Graham’s arrival. He arrived seconds later looking a little shaken, I enquired if he was okay and he went on to say he had had a couple of close shaves with two cars on his way to meet me. Unfortunately for Graham to get to our meeting point he had to use roads where I came along a cycle path. He told me that a car had pulled out in front of him causing him to brake hard and another had passed him so close he might even have some of its paint on his handle bars. Then a Graham thing happened after telling me about it he stated “ Moan over !”. Then ,” I’m not moaning though I’m just saying “ which confused me but I know Graham so well I got his gist. He then told me he had bought himself 2 brand new tyres from Halfords after his mishap last week in Flat Out. So we would be okay for tonight’s adventure.
We set off along the Bradley Fold cycle way towards Radcliffe and then along The Banana Pathway. It was along here we came across some of the obstacles we have to negotiate as Extreme Bikers. They consisted on a “K” barrier and a smaller section that was made up of a metal bars about 4″ high which prevents vehicles passing through but allows horses etc.
Graham said he was going to Bunny Hop over it, so I thought it would be a good video in case he failed and came tumbling off, at least I could get £250 from YOU’VE BEEN FRAMED. Graham successfully got over the barrier and I had to wave goodbye to my £250, at least for now anyway. The path brought us onto the canal and we headed along the towpath towards Bury, using my bell frequently to warn the large number of pedestrians and dog walkers of our approach, yet other obstacles for us Extreme Bikers to negotiate. We left the towpath at Bridge No.19 and went up to Bury Rd. It was here we came to one of Grahams old employers previous to him joining the AA. It was TMC where he enjoyed many years of work . They now hire motor homes and camper vans, so we decided to have a quick peek. There was avast array of vehicles some for sale with very expensive price tags. As we left the vehicles behind we heard a booming voice over some loud speakers WARNING YOU ARE BEING MONITORED AND VIDEO RECORDED PLEASE LEAVE THE PREMISES IMMEDIATELY , a little startled and feeling like a couple of naughty children we cycled on, amazed how technology has progressed over the years.
We now approached the junction with the A56 where we needed to make a right turn but up a back street rather than the main road. The junction is a very busy and dangerous one for cyclists of any level so we took the decision to go straight on and then make a U turn which would enable us to then turn left. We waited for a gap in the traffic to make our U turn and just as we did a car that had been parked on the opposite side of the road decided to do the same but without looking, if it wasn’t for our Extreme Biker skills we would probably both been knocked off our bikes by him.
We rode up the back street and to my amazement saw that there were double yellow lines on both sides , I queried this with Graham and he came up with a very plausible answer. If there were cars parked on either side and emergency vehicles needed access they would not be able to get through, so hence the yellow lines, nice one Graham. The street brought us out onto Gigg Lane so we decided to pay a visit to Bury F.C whilst we were passing. Thankfully it is now a fully functioning football club in the North West Counties Football League, last time we visited it had gone in administration and was sadly no longer.
At the end of Gigg lane we turned off down a path at which point Graham said “ eBay I think I remember here , there’s a bridge ahead we can’t cross” and sure enough a few hundred meter’s on we came to the closed bridge, this though wasn’t going to stop us, so we manhandled our bikes over the barrier and onto the bridge. We paused to assess our plan . As we did so I noticed 10m to our left a brand new bridge obviously to replace the one we were stood on with the river running dangerously underneath.
I told Graham that we were heading towards Pilsworth fisheries and that we might have another 30 minutes or so before we get there, so not wanting us to return home too late we set of , just as we turned the corner what did we see , oh yes a great big sign for the fisheries, Graham was behind me laughing at me and I was feeling a little foolish , ahh well I can’t always get it right. It turned out not to be Pilsworth fisheries anyway but it had given us a giggle.
Our route took us past a farm with some lovely horses in a field patiently waiting for something, then up along a path at the side the river Roch. This should have been a circular trail that would take us back down to the farm, but this is a Graham & EBay adventure and nothing ever goes to plan. This was certainly the case this time. We came to a point where we needed to go straight on but there was a problem. A big sign warning PRIVATE LAND NO ACCESS, now with the memory of the warning at TMC over the loudspeaker we thought we better not push our luck but Graham wasn’t being beaten and noticed a road to our left, but even here there was an issue, a great big rope tied across it, obviously to prevent access but that didn’t stop Graham as he lifted the rope and rode on , I followed just behind. The road rose very steeply and it went on and on we both began to struggle, as we huffed and puffed our way to the top only to be met with a large locked gate to a field. What a disappointment. After a breather we assessed our options and we both agreed the only way was back down. We rode at break neck speed back down the hill. But then what happened ? Graham had forgotten about the large rope across the road, brake screech skid , his new tyres probably saved his life as he hit the rope nearly decapitating himself.
As we now back tracked our route we decided to try a different way but this proved fruitless and only resulted in yet another U turn. Now back on our original route we turned left just after the fisheries sign we had passed earlier and rode up the hill. We looked over at the large fishing lake on our left which was oddly devoid of fishermen.
This path turned out to be the Roch Valley Greenway which led us out near the centre of Pilsworth, where after checking we were OK for time took the decision to ride up to Hollins Vale Nature reserve. It was on our way there we came upon a very unusual building , a cross with a building and shipping container.
We were shortly at the narrow entrance to Hollins Vale but we had made the decision it would take us too long to make our way all the way through so we decided we would head back the way we came. As we sat there taking in the scenery 2 women joggers exited the narrow gate and told us that they seen us waiting patiently and had gotten an extra spurt on to let us through. We casually said we weren’t going that way but they thanked us any way, then Graham came out with another Grahamism ” You never lose it do you pal, think we could have pulled there “, relating to the 2 lady joggers, sometimes I’m sure he’s just a big kid in an adults body.
Graham noticed a warning sign “You got your rod license pal” He quizzed me , I turned to him with a puzzled look. “Do I need one ???” I queried, “£2500 if you’ve not got one pal” he answered, pointing at the sign for fishing permits, oh you silly man I thought
Sadly we didn’t make it to Pilworth Fisheries which was only a matter of a couple of hundred meters further along the path just under the bridge if only we’d known , but by now we had just run out of time, probably caused by all the dead ends we had encountered, plus grahams near decapitation.
We now began our journey home, but we took yet another wrong turn just after we passed over the new bridge we had seen earlier. This proved quite fruitful though as we came across 3 large strange shiny metal objects sticking up out of the grass we thought they might be part of the Irwell Valley sculpture trail, but I couldn’t find any evidence, but a search on Google maps shows they’ve been there since at least 2008, so they remained a mystery.
Eventually we did find our way back onto our route home but then decided to make yet another detour to visit Bury Cemetery that looked kind of interesting, indeed it was with all the new graves positioned together on one side with the older ones over on a separate area with a nice chapel in the middle.
We left the cemetery and I mentioned to Graham that I knew exactly where we where , when he enquired where, I told “ In the dead centre of Bury “ , he paused for a second or 2 then just sighed, I thought to myself jokingly, now you know how I feel pal.
It didn’t take long before we were back at the Queens pub , our round trip completed, just our individual return legs to be completed
My adventure though was not quite over. When I had originally set of Peggy Lou wasn’t home from work and I had locked Eddie our mad ginger cat in the garage because I couldn’t get him come out before I was setting off, thinking I would let him out on my return. Unbeknown to me when I got back I saw my wife and a neighbour who were trying to get the keys for next doors garage , Eddie had only gone and climbed over into their garage and was now stuck in there meowing loudly. Thankfully I managed to coax him back into our garage and he was reunited with Peggy Lou a little dirty but otherwise fine. Maybe he used up one of his 9 lives .
Great adventure eBay …. I think you should have added a clip from father ted when you passed the lovely horses 😂 … or would that breach copyright orders ?
Sadly I didn’t think of it I could have put a link to YouTube clip 🙄