20th August 2026
Click Here To See Our Route & Photos
Eventually our luck ran out and the fine weather had come to a violent end with local thunderstorms and torrential rain. The weather forecast for tonight wasn’t good but that wasn’t going to deter us from our adventure. We had a couple of choices where could visit this evening. Due to the forecast of rain I’d discuss with Graham when we met which route we could choose that hopefully wouldn’t get us too wet and we could revisit some places we hadn’t been for a while as well as somewhere new.
I’d messaged Graham that morning with my plan and arrangements were made , weather permitting we were to rendezvous a my house and discuss our options for our adventure. We kept an eye on the rain, the forecast was for it to hopefully stop around 5.00 pm , but as we all know in Britain the weather forecasts aren’t that reliable, but they have got better since the Michael Fish forecast on 15th October 1987 when he infamously told viewers not to worry about a rumoured hurricane. Hours later the great storm of 1987 struck with winds of up to 120mph which caused record destruction.
Graham was once again awaiting my arrival, as I did I noticed my lovely wife Peggy Lou wasn’t home yet, which unfortunately delays my departure for our adventure. Once we’d discussed where we would go we set off riding by Chris the Mechanics house just as a taxi pulled out, obviously in a hurry. Luckily for us he spotted us just in time to avoid hitting us, that would have been a short adventure. This wasn’t to be our last encounter with a motor vehicle that evening.
Once properly under way we headed through Leverhulme Park and down into the valley, we then headed up the steep hill out the other side and over into Tonge Cemetery. Once at the top of the hill we both paused to catch our breath “ that’s a tough one only 5 minutes in pal “ I said as I turned to Graham, he was slumped over his handlebars, so I took it that he was in agreement. We stopped off in the cemetery to pay our respects to one of Bolton’s most famous men , the one and only Mr Fred Dibnah the renowned steeplejack .
Across Bury Rd we headed up Hypatia St where we picked up the path that led us over to the Tonge Moore area of Bolton. We meandered our way over to Ainsworth Ln via Entwistle St , it was here we had a serious issue with a motor vehicle. As we got to the tee junction a car turned off Ainsworth Ln and he cut the corner so much he almost took us both out even though we were well in our lane , well that was it “Feckin idiot he could have killed us both there “ I yelled out ,I was fuming now “ didn’t even apologise, BASTARD !” I tried to regain my composure but Graham could see I wasn’t happy. “ ooooh don’t think you can put that in our blog, never seen you angry like that my bestie, he’s proper made you mad “ he said. I replied “oh yes it’s staying in “he was right on one thing, it had made me very angry, it’s morons like that who ruin peoples lives but I wasn’t going to let it spoil our adventure tonight.
We crossed over Ainsworth Rd and down Alexander Rd and through the pretty little park , as we did Graham spotted a dirty car , covered in leaves “ wow “he shouted, “you don’t see many of them around, an old Toyota Celica, be worth a few bob that now you know” , to me though, it was just a car.
On Thicketford Rd we passed “ Sue’s Chippy “ a few yards farther down the road I asked Graham if he thought it was an English chippy or a Chinese one . “ got to be English” he said “with a name like Sues , like Susan”. I disagreed. There was only one way to find out , so we headed back it wasn’t long before I heard a sigh from graham , he’d just spotted the sign , Sues Chinese Take Away, well that’s 1-0 to me.
We struggled to cross Tonge Moore Rd to access Lowerwood Lane , here we were lucky not to be involved in an accident with a woman on a chicken chaser who was more interested in her mobile phone rather than where she was going. We hoped that would hopefully be the last vehicle related incident of the evening.
We rode along Union Rd which is blocked off for cars just under the railway bridge about half way along but bikes and pedestrians are allowed, so we went ahead. This an industrial park area with no houses, yet as we rode along 2 posh cars, with a woman in one and a man in the other drove past us heading to the dead end . Graham remarked that it looked a little strange, I agreed commenting “ think they might be going for a little hows your father , wink wink” . We continued on our way and left them to their possible frolics.
The path we took ran parallel with the river Tonge ,part way down we came upon a weir on the river which had trapped various plastic bottles and other rubbish including a football that every now and again looked like it would escape from its trap but the weir kept pulling it back. We now had to cross over the river using a very narrow and low sided bridge. Before we attempted the crossing Graham asked if we should carry out a risk assessment, I assured him we would be fine but he did insist I go first. Over the bridge we were in what to us looked like a jungle in the middle of Bolton with a narrow dirt trail that led us up and up through a wooded area closely flanked by a fence. It was along here I failed to spot a low hanging branch and CRACK my helmet took the impact, but before I could warn Graham he was already on his way down after striking it a lot harder than myself.
Once he’d recovered from his dramatic crash we carried on , this time with a little more care until we emerged onto Crompton Way. We rode down to the traffic lights to aid our crossing up along Green Way where I pointed out a bungalow where my grandma used to live many years ago, which triggered some happy memories.
We managed to find the path that is the Tonge Trail that led us on a circular path between Halithwood and Bradshaw. This is an area where we have never explored so with a bit of luck we might find something a little interesting. Well luck was certainly on our side. Firstly Graham spotted what he reliably informed me, he’d seen one before somewhere ,was an Owl box high up on a tree, then I spotted some old stone work, “ hey pal look at this “ I said “ it looks like the remains of an old building, maybe a mill or something “ . At that point we didn’t know what we’d stumbled across, then Graham spotted something in the distance, which was off our route but you know as Extreme Bikers what we had to do, yeah go and have a look. They were what looked like 2 stone gate pillars and there was another, a lot older lay across the path. We then saw a cobblestone path that looked like it headed down towards somewhere , so once again we went to explore. Due the recent rain we’d had the cobblestones were extremely slippery and more than once did we nearly end up a a heap . Once at the bottom we came upon a wall and steps which led down towards Eagley brook and on the other side were more steps leading up into a private house. As we looked around we spotted what we think was the cut off base of an old lamp post but we’re only guessing. It turns out after a bit of research when I got home that this was the sight of Oaks Hall built in 1820 which belonged to the Ashworth family who were among the wealthiest mill owners in the area it even had its own railway station but unfortunately it was all demolished in and around the 1950s.
Back around we we followed Oaks Ln, it was here we crossed the railway level crossing not once but twice due to the fact that I’d missed our turning along a path. As I’d backtracked to find the path Graham had pushed both bikes back across the crossing. I asked him, as I pointed to a sign STOP LOOK AND LISTEN relating to crossing the railway safely and asked if he’d obeyed the sign , he answered “yes of course my bestie “ . I then jokingly accused him that he in fact he hadn’t due to him being deaf , his reply was a gem “ well I wouldn’t hear it anyway because they’re electric now you know “ it was then I casually pointed up , this line hadn’t been electrified yet , which gave us both a chuckle .
The path led us back around onto Crompton Way where we turned left down to the Valley where they are now building houses on the old site of the Cotton Kier pub. We took the opportunity of having our catch up here and Graham told me all about his and Vals holiday to Lanzarote to surprise Karen & Gordon on his special birthday. He’d mentioned it to me weeks earlier but we couldn’t say anything in our blog because Karen would have read about it, so we kept it TOP SECRET.
We retraced our journey and eventually up onto Folds Rd. It was here we noticed some demolition activity but neither of us could recall what was there before , but during my research about Oaks Hall I found that it was the site of the old Beehive Works but I couldn’t find much about them but looking at an old map of the area I believe it was a Iron Works , but if anyone knows drop it in the comments section.
Just across the way is the Lord Clyde pub which Graham commented looked derelict, in fact it wasn’t and was actually open. It did indeed look rundown and quite unwelcoming but I suggested we nip in but Graham was a bit apprehensive and suggested we give it a miss this time . I’ve since been on Google and its reviews get 4.6 out of 5 so it’s not that bad at all .
Our final leg of our adventure took us up along Gorses road which adjoins Leverhulme Park which is very close to where I live part way up Graham said in a very quiet voice “ there’s a deer there through the trees just seen it wow that’s brilliant “ I suggested to him I could point out something that I thought might interest him, it’s simply a little trodden path into the park, I explained that it’s not made my people but by the deer as they travel to their sleeping areas in the park. Soon after that it was time to part company again with the texts soon pinging as we each returned home safely once again.
