10th July 2025
I awaited the arrival of Graham at the old Jag garage in Farnworth . I’d arrived there early due to the fact I had to use my electric bike due to the brakes on my usual bike being faulty . I should have fixed them the day before but my brother had come down to visit and had suggested we go for a pint in my local pub the ” Volunteer”, so off to the Volly we went for a cracking night. When Graham arrived, he wasn’t too pleased that I was on my e-bike. He said “that’s not fair pal “ with a sad face. I explained that I’d had to make a decision either go on my e-bike or we’ed have no adventure. I told him that I would switch it off so we would be on an equal footing. I mentioned that he should look at getting one, as its the future, but he said he’s not quite ready for one it yet,” It’s ok for you though pal your a lot older than me “ he said with a cheeky giggle.
The evening was hot and sunny and we going to take it easy , especially with Graham in mind. Graham asked ” Where we off to pal or is it going to be a surprise ?”. I told him that we would be heading towards Close Park but first we were going to see the progress of the cycle path being built through Farnworth town centre, which felt like it had been going on for years now. We spotted what will eventually be the start of the cycle path, which is far from being complete. We used the path even though its not open and stopped opposite a takeaway called , “KABABTWIST”, which proved a bit of a tongue twister for me to say, which greatly amused Graham , with him asking ” Can you actually read pal ? “
It was whilst we were stopped we heard the rumble of a big V8 engine. It belonged to Mercedes “G” Wagon as it thumped its way up Market St. Graham said that it was the best part of £200,000. No sooner had this past us a great big V8 American pick up drove past vibrating the air. This in fact turned out to be a regular occurrence as the evening progressed as one after another big V8 monsters passed us .
We next approached the very busy roundabout at Kearsley which goes over St Peter’s Way, I had already taken the decision, rather than go around it we would for safety reasons use the subway, which is exactly what we did. It was a good number of years since either of us had used the subway and to our surprise there was a brand new bench just there on the bit of grass, we wondered how long it would be before it was vandalised. Graham suggested we give it a visit in a future adventure to check it out. ” This brings back memories “ Graham exclaimed “ Remember on our Thursday nights out back in the day , we,ed stagger home with a Donner Kebab and flick pieces of meat onto the cars below on St Peters Way ?” I said “I remember them well pal, good nights “ , but neither of us were proud of our antics back then, but in our defence we were quite young. We then stopped off just by the first house I bought way back in 1986, a little terrace.
We now headed down Stoneclough Rd at breakneck speed towards Ringley Rd where we made a left turn up an unmarked road towards Shore Top Farm. At the top of the road we paused to take in the wonderful view over towards Radcliffe. We then continued until we got to the point where we needed to follow a path to the right, but here we met an obstacle we had to negotiate a wooded stile. Now this normally causes no issue, but, my e-bike is a very heavy bike and I suggested to Graham that we try and find an alternative route. ” We’re extreme bikers pal and a team we’ll get it over my bestie , come on “ he said. And true to his word we soon had both bikes over, a little strugglle with mine but together we did it. We rode across the field following some kind of rough track until we got to the other side and were met by another stile, which we safely negotiated. Then we encountered yet another obstacle, a very narrow wooden bridge which we had to jiggle our bikes over. With this negotiated we headed to bridge over the river Irwell and up onto Mount Sion Rd. Before we could cross it though we again had to get past some more obstacle’s namely 3 great big yellow bollards at either end of the bridge.
As we road down the road I spotted some old cars in a works yard so we stopped to take a little look. As we did the owner appeared and Graham said tentatively “ I used to have one of them back in the day “ thinking we might be in a spot of bother. The owner said that we could have a look around the yard with pleasure, in a thick Irish accent. This we duly did and enjoyed having a look at some mainly old Rovers and Jaguar’s one of which still had its car phone in the console.
As we left the cars behind we past a building that was once a pub and Graham said a friend of his used to run . “ he said but was unsure so I said I’d look on Google street view to check, and I did , it was the Masons Arms
Our next stop off for a breather was to be Festival Gardens in Radcliffe. As we rode in Graham said there’s some kind of memorial here for the East Lancashire Paper Mill which employed thousands of people over the decades. It was in fact the actual mill gates that all those people would have walked through over the years that were the centre piece of the garden. Sat on one of the benches dotted around was a elderly chap enjoying the sunshine as well as quite a few cans of lager and he struck up a conversation with Graham about the mill but I could tell Graham was a little uneasy, so I let him suffer a few more seconds before I called out “ come on pal gotta get going “ much to the relief of Graham.
A bit of history about the mill .
By 1750 the Bealey family had established a bleaching business in Radcliffe on Dumers Lane. The site was next to the River Irwell which provided good supplies of water through goits. Parts of one of them, Bealey’s Goit, still exist and runs across the park near the front entrance. In the early years of the business, prior to chemical bleaching, nearby fields were used for ‘grassing’ the cloth.
In 1925 the Bealey family presented the house and its grounds to the then Radcliffe Urban District Council for use as a Child Welfare Centre and the grounds to be converted into a public park for the use of the inhabitants of Radcliffe. The house was used in turn as a clinic, a museum and an ambulance centre before being demolished in March, 1969. The Bleach Works was demolished in the 1980s and the Riverside Road housing estate built on the site.
Now we were off to Close park. Our route took us up a street that looked like it was a dead end, but as we neared the barriers we noticed there was a path carrying on. The countryside path went past a cricket ground before it emerged onto a small street. Graham was on point at this time and he’d noticed a very old lamppost just standing there on its own. Graham said ” Looks like we’ve merged into the land that time forgot pal “ , it was indeed a surreal experience .
When we got to Close Park we had a sit down on a memorial bench opposite the huge metal dinosaur sculpture and had our usual catch up as well as taking on plenty fluids to keep us hydrated. We continued our discussion about Coors lager being reduced in strength from our adventure Can’t Have A Big One Pal and that Graham had come up with an ingenious solution. He had a can of Coors followed by a Kronenbourg .
After a our rest we set off up along Dumers Ln in search of a horseshoe path along the river called Riverside Walk. It was a lovely little path that brought us back out onto Dumers Lane and onwards up York St heading for Swan Lodges.
Through the woods we went. I led the way along a twisty and very narrow dirt path covered in foliage , with tree roots everywhere. This is where I came a cropper . As I rounded a bend I didn’t notice the culvert running under the path , until it was too late. It was covered with a small piece of wood that had rotted on one side, the side I rode on. I shouted out to Graham behind me “BIG HOLE BIG HOLE !!! ” It was too late for me, I was already down but luckily Graham managed to stop just in time and help me up, that was after taking a cheeky photo of my crash.
Back on the bike and no worse for wear we continued on our way until we came to a fork in the road ! unsure which way to go we just guessed, but as usual we went the wrong way. A quick about turn and we’re back on our way, now heading towards home. I’d asked Graham how we were for time and he said he’d be fine if he was home for 8.30pm to avoid Val any undue worry.
I therefore decided to head first for the little surprise I’d thought of for us. But first we had to cross the busy junction of Blackburn St and Pilkington way. We approached the junction via Darbyshire St, a charming peaceful little street of lovey terraced houses adorned with nice gardens. At the junction we were pleased to see a designated cycle crossing which made our task much easier. A short distance on we came to the little surprise I had for my pal, a small skate park. It had been empty on the Sunday before and 3 old gits had a good laugh riding around it, but sadly for us today it was being used by a group of friendly teenagers who waved at us as we watched on. It was great to see them making use of it and really enjoying themselves.
We now meandered our way back onto the canal at Nickerhole bridge which is a tricky task as it is a very narrow steep and twisty path down to the canal.
On our way home we spotted a large group of geese and ducks. As we stood taking a photo a group of them set off in a line like a train. As I videoed it Graham gave a little running commentary 😂
Not long after we were at the Meccano bridge where we would part company. I checked my watch 8.22 pm . “ Thats brilliant timing pal “ Graham said.
As usual we enquired what we would be having for our teas, I was surprised with Grahams answer “ A Vivindaloo curry pal “ well that’s way too hot for me I thought but I said I hoped he enjoyed it. Graham said I should switch my bike on now and put it in boost mode so I could get home quicker and thats just what I did. Plus a text to say I was home , just as I received Grahams.
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