28th May 2026
Thursday had arrived and that could only mean one thing , it was time for a Graham and Ebay adventure. Currently we were in the middle of the hottest May since records began, the sun was beaming down, the sky was clear but at least there was a nice breeze, a great evening for an adventure, but I had to bear in mind Grahams heart condition, I think he may have mentioned it before , I wanted to make sure that he would be ok. I had a route kind of planned to get to the Island Lodge on the Kirklees Trail near Bury. I therefore messaged Val to reassure her that even though our adventure might take longer than usual, due to the hot weather, we would be taking our time, stopping off regularly and taking on plenty water. Peggy Lou had advised us on taking extra water supplies to ensure we stayed hydrated and therefore would be fine.
I arranged a rendezvous point with Graham, the Meccano bridge, as we would be heading along the canal towards Bury, that would be after circumventing the breach that is meant the towpath is non navigable from Nob End until Ladyshore Ln.
Once everything was checked extra water packed I set off along the old canal path from Darcy Lever to meet Graham at our meeting point. I arrived after the short solo ride already rather sweaty it was still 26C at 6.00pm. We set off almost immediately though after taking a quick photo of the piling rig now on site at the breach.
We rode passed Dingle Reservoir which was a feed for canal when it was in use. Whilst we stopped to take a photo Graham spotted the yellow flowers in the canal. Asking what I thought they were I said “ They look a lot like daffodils “ he replied “ yeah they look like TRIFFID DAFFODILS tho , better get a move on before they attack us “ Graham advised.
A short distance later we were at Water St where we had to cross the busy street, Graham suggested that we ride down to the lights at the bottom of the street to make the crossing easier but I decided we’d wait for an opening in the traffic, well it would have been twice as quick to go to the lights but I was determined to make it across , which meant we would be taking the shortest route. Graham was becoming a little impatient though “ should have gone to the lights pal “ he said on a couple of occasions but just then the traffic eased and we were across.
We were now on the Radcliffe side of the canal heading towards Bury . At the point where a bridge used to cross over the canal we spotted a family of geese sitting on some of the old stonework. As we sat admiring them Graham became a little concerned that the baby gosling could fall off into the canal , gently calling out “ be careful there little fella don’t fall in you won’t be able to swim yet,” he then went on to ask me “do you think geese have swimming lessons ?”. Well I could only imagine the little bird with water wings on, practising in the water . Graham pointed over to the fields further down on the opposite side of the canal “ that’s were I used to see the Lapwings when I used to ride to work , lovely birds “ he said “ keep a look for them when we pass “. Now not being any way an expert on birds I asked Graham “what do they look like ? “ . His reply “ well you know they’re like a little bird with wings “. Then as if by magic Graham spotted one “ look pal there’s one over there“ , indeed there was , it was indeed a little bird with wings, I couldn’t fault him on that. He also told me since he’d been observing Blue Tits nesting in one of his bird boxes he’d been reading up all about Blue Tits, he’s turning into a right ornithologist is our Graham.
Our next sighting was a bit more unusual, it was a road works sign on the towpath. I thought it was a little odd but Graham pointed out that they were working on the bridge we were about to ride under , so it kind of made sense.
At Wellington St in Bury where the canal now ends we took our second pit stop for refreshments. We sat chatting about our upcoming holidays and amongst things , technology ,when Graham mentioned in passing about as awareness course he’d taken on line for a minor driving offence, which actually was a genuine mistake on Graham’s part . He went on to explain how you had to participate in the online Zoom meeting otherwise you’d have got singled out . So Graham being Graham in his inimitable way tried having a bit of banter with the instructor , but this fell flat on its face, “ the guy had no sense of humour whatsoever, that was 3 hours of my life I’ll never get back and cost me over £100 for the privilege “ Graham stated frustratingly.
Suitably hydrated we set off and took the route towards the old packhorse bridge over the river Irwell which is only wide enough for one person to cross at a time . Just as we approached I spotted a jogger at the other end of the bridge so we stopped to let him pass. Then another one appeared and another and another there were about 30 of them , they all thanked us as they passed. As the last couple passed us I said jokingly, we wouldn’t have stopped if we knew how many of you there were.
We continued under the subway under busy junction of Bolton Road and Peel Way and on up towards the cycle path that took us up to the Kirklees Trail. As we did Graham spotted an old MKI Ford Escort in a yard “ look at that pal you don’t see many of them anymore, and it’s the same colour as your shirt too, look behind it too I think it might have it’s own little race track cut into the grass in that field “
We continued our journey along the trail enjoying the scenic views. The path is up a slight incline but we were making good progress, I could see Graham was enjoying the ride so we continued to our objective for this evening, Island Lodge. Once we arrived Graham was taken aback by the beauty of the area we had dropped down into. We stopped here for a while and enjoyed a water break and look around at the area with its wildlife. Graham spotted a bird on a branch in one of the ponds, “ look EBay it’s a wagtail “ I could see it there, and low and behold it was wagging its tail. , then a woman who obviously knew a lot more about birds than the both of us said to Graham yes you’re right it’s a Brown Wagtail. I was impressed with Grahams knowledge.
As we enjoyed our rest and rehydration Graham informed me that he was going watching Billy Ocean at the weekend with Val at Leigh Village Sports Arena. As we chatted we spotted some ducks swimming along enjoying the evening weather , then Graham exclaimed “ Wow I feel like Johnny Morris watching all these birds “. For reference Johnny Morris was a famous presenter of a nature programme ( Animal Magic ) on TV back in the 1970s .
We were now ready for our journey home but we decided that this would be a great place to take our selfie, as we posed Graham placed his hand on my shoulder, “think that looks a bit gay pal “ I said laughing. He then proceeded to place his arm around my waist, silly sausage. As we were about to set off I pointed out to Graham that he was facing the wrong way “ oh so I’d better turn around then I suppose ha ha “ ,“ well unless you want to ride backwards all the way home “ I said jokingly. We rode back up the hill to rejoin the Trail as we did the route App gave us the opportunity to take a different route, unplanned, so being Extreme Bikers we did. Well that wasn’t the best decision I made . Unfortunately for me the App then wanted to send us right back to Island Lodge, whether this was caused by the heat or my bad planning it’s hard to say but we certainly did our quota of U-turns.
Eventually we found ourselves on Starling Road in Ainsworth so we knew we were on the right track to get home. We continued along to Higher Ainsworth Rd passed the Toby Carvery Ainsworth. It wasn’t much longer before we found ourselves riding along the Bradley Fold Cycleway. Part way along we came across a fallen tree blocking the path. There was a narrow gap to one side which we negotiated with care. At that point Graham shouted out behind me “ wow wonder what caused that ? ” . Hearing this I stopped, but damn I hadn’t taken into consideration how close Graham was behind me. Suddenly I heard the screech of Graham’s tyres on the tarmac as he come to a halt millimetres from my back tyre. “ bloody heck pal I only just managed to stop then, good job I’d got some new brake pads off my bestie “ he said a bit squeaky. All part of Extreme Biking though we both agreed.
Soon we found ourselves at the Queens pub at the end of the Cycleway. I offered Graham the opportunity to have a quick pint as a treat but as a true Extreme Biker he politely declined saying that he didn’t want to undo all the hard work we had just done plus he was looking forward to his tea, a simple ping ping curry he said but he would be having some bread with it as he’d earned it tonight, I on the other hand would be having pasta. We parted company, promising as always of a text message when we were both home safely. We had a little disappointment in our voices as we wouldn’t see one another now for nearly 3 weeks due to our holidays but as Graham was disappearing into the distance he turned and called back ” Don’t be a stranger, love you my bestie“, I immediately responded with the same.
