31st July 2025
The Meccano bridge at Nob End was our rendezvous point for the commencement of tonight’s adventure. I was going to take Graham on an adventure to Whitefield. As I rode down the towpath to our meeting point I passed a family of swans, the cygnets were now quite big and it wouldn’t be long before they were themselves beautiful swans. A little further along I was amazed to see a heron just sat on the towpath straight in front of me , it was probably looking for fish for its tea.
I arrived at the Meccano Bridge to see Graham waiting their patiently. I noticed that he ‘d got his jumper on, I on the other hand had decided to go in just a T-shirt. On noticing this Graham remarked “you’ve no jumper on Pal, we’ll see how that develops during the evening, its a bit nippy now“.
I was explaining to Graham that we were going to go to Whitefield on tonight’s adventure when I noticed some graffiti on the bridge that just said White, that’s a bit odd I thought as I pointed it out to Graham. We set off almost immediately along the towpath towards Bury , so we wouldn’t get stuck for time. later as in like last weeks adventure Off Up Scout Rd Wink Wink.
When we approached the site of the breach, we noticed there had been a lot of progress. The level of the land was now raised just above where we where stood on the path and some kind of concrete shafts had also been put in place one of which had a tin of paint and brush with a ladder poking out of the top, Graham said jokingly “maybe he’s still down there pal“ .
We proceeded along the canal past what remains of the old steam crane, sadly this is slowly being eaten away by rust and the boiler side is only held together by a couple of tiny scraps of metal. Shortly after, as we approached one of the bridges over the canal I spotted two ladies jogging towards us. The towpath under the bridges is only wide enough for one person at a time. So being gentleman as well as Extreme Bikers we held back to let them through. As they disappeared behind us without uttering a word I turned to Graham and shouted “ A simple thank you would have been nice “ , some people have no manners these days. We continued along the tow path heading towards Radcliffe. The branches of the trees were in full foliage here and were hanging quite low over the towpath so we had to take extra care not to hit them with our helmets. Even so I still got the odd tap of one on my helmet, then thwack , and a “ oh my god that nearly knocked mi head off pal “ Graham yelled out as he ran straight into a large branch. Once Graham had recovered from his incident we descended the dirt hill down to Mount Sion Rd, then it was only a short distance before we climbed up the hill up onto the Outward Trail and across the bridge over the river Irwell into Outwood Park.
Our route this evening was to take us on a meandering and indirect path to our goal of Whitefield Park. But first we had to find a path. We had gotten to a point where the route guide told us to turn left, but, we couldn’t see a way through never mind a path. Undeterred by this small matter us as Extreme Bikers explored around for sed path. As we crept forward through the undergrowth Graham called out “ there pal through the trees, that looks like a path “ , and indeed it was . Yes! we thought but our excitement was short lived. It was no more that a up hill dirt trail with the odd rocks thrown in for good measure.
Once at the top of the hill we spotted a sign in the distance. Upon inspection it was an information sign about where we were, Outwood Park . The one thing it didn’t tell us though was where we where on the map, we tried to guess but it was all in vain , we hadn’t a clue where we where. It did inform us though about Himalayan Balsam, the plant itself has lovely pink scented flowers, but is one of the most invasive plants in England and the sign advised how people can help by uprooting it to kill it off.
When it came to exiting the park we encountered quite a big problem, the barrier was overgrown and we had only a very narrow gap to get our bikes through, but we managed it , but only just.
Our route now led us a merry dance through the side streets and back streets of Radcliffe before we eventually joined Radcliffe New Rd. We acceded up the road until we came to a small path on our left that led us down towards the river Irwell. The next thing we came to was a sign which was not quite so pleasant, DANGER LANDSLIDE KEEP OUT, Deep Mud, Steep Drop , Falling Rocks. Hence to say we didn’t go in. There was an obstacle we did have to overcome soon after. Fallen trees blocked our path up another hill back up onto Radcliffe New Road but we managed to overcome it with a bit of team work. It was through here we came upon a creepy looking pond with some stonework and brickwork around it. Graham said he thought it was maybe the site of an old mill. He wasnt far off after a bit of research it turned out it is the site of the old Spring Clough Bleachworks.
We again took the back roads until we got to the junction with Radcliffe New Rd and Church Lane. It was here that we found the first of our aims of our adventure. An artwork on the side of Morrison’s celebrating the history of Whitefield. It was here Graham spotted a restaurant across the road offering a Sunday 3 course lunch for £17.95. He told me that himself and Val had been to the San Marino restaurant on Tuesday to celebrate their 36th wedding anniversary, congratulations to you both. I thought to myself I bet that cost more than £17.95 tho .
This was not our main aim today, it was in fact to meet a couple of birds in Whitefield park, which luckily for us was just across the road. As we entered the park I informed Graham of our task this evening. It was to find life size Canary sculptures that were dotted about at various points in the park. Just as we set off through the park, I spotted something on one of the railings. On investigation they turned out to be brightly coloured metal canneries. I played a little guessing game with Graham of how many actual Canaries there were in the park firstly Graham guessed about 16 and then 30, 50 , 70 . I told him on each occasion he wasn’t right. Eventually he said “can’t be more than that “ but in fact there are 121 hidden in the park. We only spotted about a dozen though but Graham commented “it would be a great place to bring the grandkids. They could have a great adventure themselves trying to find them all.”
The Canaries in the Park sculpture by David Appleyard is located in Whitefield Park in Whitefield. It consists of 121 individual canary sculptures, designed to commemorate the park’s 121st anniversary. The sculptures are part of the Irwell Sculpture Trail.
We left the park and proceeded up Stanley Road. It was along here Graham informed me that we were near a place where he used to work and could we go and see if it was still there. Of course I said yes . Graham led the way to what once was Academy motors where he worked quite a while ago. The building itself was still there but now it was a door handle company. We stood outside in the warm evening sunshine as he reminisced about some of the things that happened there. Before we were ready to set off I asked Graham , seeing as I was sweating in just my T-shirt, ” You warm enough there pal with your jumper on?” . He replied ” Oh yes pal , very ” .Before I had chance to revel in my decision to only wear a T-shirt he added “Losing weight for my holidays, you cant see it but I’m wrapped in bubble wrap underneath , oh no I mean clingfilm ” with his cheeky little grin, trust Graham. As we set off again we had to take extra caution here as it was covered with broken glass.
Our path then took us on a circular tour through Fusiliers Memorial Meadow and then back around to where we started. As we rode down Thatch Leach Ln we came across a brand-new looking restaurant called Mellis, it described itself as a Mediterranean restaurant which looked very nice, but we felt it was not in the right area.
Shortly after we passed Whitefiled tram station with its metal car park, which Graham commented looked ugly, ” wouldn’t have looked like that if Victorians had built it “ he remarked
Our route home followed a snake like route due to the fact I’d picked a route that would keep us off as many main roads as possible. This meant we were riding through housing estates , parks and often even going back on ourselves. It was whilst traveling through a housing estate we came across an unusual structure and design in the road at some of the junctions. They consisted of bollards and a symmetrical pattern in the middle on the road surface. Graham pointed out a flaw in the design. He said “ they’re all exactly the same , imagine if you’re drunk and come staggering home saw one of the designs and thought you were home only to go wondering into someone else’s house “. A fair point to be honest. Our exit off the estate took us through a ginnel as we entered through a large iron gate which was open but we couldn’t see the other end of the ginnel, we hoped that the gate at the opposite end would also be open, thankfully it was. Noticing this Graham remarked “ imagine if we banditos escaping the sheriff , we be done for if that gate was locked” again a valid point but we we’re not really banditos tho😂😂
We now emerged once again onto Radcliffe New Rd where we continued down until we reached the traffic lights at Stand Lane where we turned right and headed up towards the church of the Parish of St Thomas and St John which is a lovely building. Graham told me that the church was indeed very nice inside, he’d been inside with his daughter quite a few years ago. He also mentioned that he’d been passed many times before and seen some drunks sprawled on the benches in the grounds obviously sleeping it off . It then became apparent that we hadn’t taken our selfie. This remedied we left the church behind us and headed up the Banana path. It was along this path we came upon some obstacles to prevent motorcycles and the like from accessing it but allowing access for horses and bicycles . Part of these barriers consisted of a large iron bar across the path. Previously Graham has bunny hopped these and Graham suggested I try it as previously I’d failed miserably. “Whoa hoo I did it” I called out as I landed over just to turn around and se Graham behind me try but unsuccessfully.
As we came to Whitaker St there was a Road Closed sign in the middle of the road but it wasn’t going to deter us extreme bikers, so on we went. Graham then asked “ do you know where this road goes pal I’ve passed it many a time but no idea where it goes “ I simply replied “ me neither pal it’s going to be an adventure “
We soon found out where it went, it led to the bridge over the canal back onto the Banana Path. We now knew where we were and I suggested to Graham he led the way but he declined saying ” I don’t like being at the front pal I’d rather just follow behind you”. This dully noted we continued along the path and on up to and across Ainsworth Road. Down through the housing estate we went and then onto Bradley Fold Cycle way. We were now feeling the affect of our efforts of the evening and we were going at a leisurely pace which gave us time for a chat as we rode along, once again we hadn’t stopped off for our usual chat. Once at the end of the cycle way it was time to go our separate ways until our next adventure. “ Message me when you’re home pal “ I heard Graham shout as he rode off “ you too pal” I called back .
