3rd September 2026
Click Here To See Our Route & Photos
Graham was waiting at my house ready for our adventure. As I prepared my bike for the adventure ahead Graham asked how our bank holiday weekend had been away in Elsie our Swift caravan . I explained we had stayed on a remote caravan site in Wigglesworth but luckily there was a pub only 100m away. The pub was the Plough and was a lovely pub serving great food. I told him that we’d had a fantastic time and been lucky with the weather too . I told him that we had a day out inSkipton, which Graham has visited quite often and is a place he really likes. I mentioned that we’d also visited a couple of farm shops and purchased a few items. Graham wanted to guess what we’d bought , he managed to get 3 items but he couldn’t guess the item I’d bought that began with “F”, this went on all through our adventure and beyond but not surprisingly there’s a twist at the end.
We set off over the Darcy Lever viaduct and dropped down onto the path that follows the route of the old Manchester Bolton & Bury canal . Here we immediately came upon a fallen tree obstructing our path and before I knew it , crash Graham had hit the tree that’s 2 in as many weeks. Not a lucky chappie is Graham with trees. After he’d recovered from his mishap we continued up the hill , as we set off Grahams bike started wheel spinning he called out “ caution leaves on the track”. The leaves had already started to fall to the ground as Autumn was now on its way. This brought on a discussion about the pronunciation of Autumnal. The excitement had already begun . At the top of Scholey St on Manchester Road Graham waited at the crossing until the green man flashed this time , as in his words he got told off last time for going when the man was RED .
We were weaving our way around the streets of Bolton on tonight’s adventure. As we turned down Moncrieffe Street we spotted a taxi driver having a pee against a wall “ dirty bugger “ Graham called out obviously startling the man, we thought hopefully he might have peed down his trouser leg. The road came to a dead end but we were intrigued by a gate that obviously led somewhere but hadn’t been opened for some considerable time.
We now rode around passed the market where they are building a block of flats on what’s left of the site of the old Moor Ln bus station. Across the road there’s another block on the site of the old Albion Pub.
We paused on Le Mans Crescent where we had a chat about how our week had been. We soon progressed on to the more exciting matter of the upcoming 60th birthday celebrations for Val which are to take place in Corfu in the coming week, which no doubt will be fantastic. Just before we set off Graham stopped me “ I nearly forgot to tell you pal“ he went on to explain that he’d been in his kitchen and had heard a commotion outside , he’d rushed out just in time to see 3 swans flying up from the canal into the sky, as he described it “ like bomber command, they looked amazing as they powered up into the air “
Shortly we traveled down Hotel St where the demolition of Crompton place is in progress. I spotted a digger on the roof of the building and Graham wondered how the hell they had got it up there. I explained it was where you used to drive up to collect your Mark Spencer’s orders back in the day. This area looked desolate with the large boards obstructing your view of the old Crompton place. On one of the boards was an information map which neither of us could make heads or tails of. Next to it was an artists impression of what the area would look like upon completion. It showed what looked like an outdoor sports bar area. Graham spotted a young boy in the photo who was dressed like an adult and asked.” is that supposed to be a boy or a little man, why has his mum dressed him like that” I must admit it did look rather strange, then Graham said “I’ve spotted something else I’m not happy about, it’s showing a bar area with lots of people, but there’s not one glass bottle or anything on the tables. That’s a bit of a letdown think they could made it more realistic , bet it cost a fortune as well.”
After Grahams analysis of the artist impression we moved along Deansgate this again was a dismal area with drunks and drug addicts hanging around. We then rode down Brook Street towards the bridge over the River Irwell where Graham spotted the white bricks of a building in the distance” have you ever tried drilling those white bricks they are rock solid” I replied “ no pal, I’ve never lived there” Graham just looked at me and sighed.
We crossed over the bridge and into the car park at the bottom of Bark Street. I wondered as I looked around what was here before the car park, as there were remains of some sturdy wall structures. After a bit of research I found out it is on the site of Ryder Bros ironworks.
Graham suggested we have a ride up to Bark Street to look at houses that we had seen being built in our blog BOLTON IN DECLINE back in 2023 . They were finished and obviously occupied but the weeds and overgrown vegetation give the impression that they were not very well cared for
We headed up Palace Street behind the Holiday Inn and towards Higher Bridge Street. Here we saw a building with a security sign smile you are on 24 hour video, immediately we both looked up and waved at the camera in unison like a couple of kids giggling as we did. We crossed over the junction at Topp Way where they are carrying out major improvement works, but this we will have to judge when they’re finished. We then came to what you would call a small backstreet garage and outside were 2 very old motorbikes one was a Honda monkey bike the other was unidentifiable but looks very, very old , even older than me Graham commented.
As we made our progress around central Bolton, we came to the former town hall of Little Bolton where there was a plaque on the wall relating to a Charterist riot that took place there in 1839, neither Graham or myself had any idea what this was at all , but I said I would see what I could find out. The Chartism movement was a working class movement for political reform for the working classes from around 1838 to 1857 and was very strong in Northern England and there were numerous riots throught the country at this time.
Shortly we passed Bark Street East which is a cobbled street and wouldnt look out of place in a Victorian tv drama. We both commented on how this was probably the nicest part of Bolton we’d seen that evening.
Our route then took us down Brown Street and eventually onto Water Street this area was what used to be the wharfs for the old Manchester Bolton and Bury Canal. The end of the street looked like a dead end but from a previous adventure I remembered there was a little path that ran along the side of the culvert for the river Irwell but this time it looked exceedingly overgrown and was a struggle to get our bikes and ourselves through, but as Extreme Bikers we were not going to be defeated and eventually fought our way through to the side of the culvert. Here Graham looking into the water said ” don’t think there are any fishes in that water?”, this time I had to agree. The culvert entered into a large very dark tunnel, which alows the river to pass under Saint Peter’s Way. I shone my torch into the darkness, it was then it got a little scary, Graham said” wow wouldn’t it be freaky if you saw of a pair of eyes shining back at us ?” that give us both the creeps so we set off quickly up along a very overgrown path up onto Churchgate.
I spotted a path that looked like it went up behind the parish Church. It led us underneath the railway bridge that goes over Saint Peters Way . The Bridge was made by Ogle Son & Co of Preston in 1847 , I turned to Graham as I looked at my watch and jokingly said “ wow matey that bridge is only three minutes old it’s only 1850 now, boom, boom“ once again Graham just smiled at me . The path brought is out at the bottom of Brieghtmet Street from here we worked our way back past the Balmoral pub and down Silverwell Street as we headed towards Churchgate here I spotted a shopping trolley on the side of the road next to a parking meter. It didn’t look like it had paid for its parking, so no doubt a traffic warden would soon be on the scene.
It had now started to rain but this wasn’t going to stop us Extreme Bikers. We rode back along Bradshawgate and stopped off to admire the two buildings one of which was formally Yates Wine Lodge a well know drinking hole back in the 80s and 90s. The other had a sign The Fleece Hotel, again a bit of research was required, it told us that the hotel dated back to 1778. Since then it had been The Flying Flute, formeley Maxims and the Gaity Bar. Graham exclaimed it was really sad to see such lovely buildings know unoccupied and left in neglect.
We now rode around to Nelson Square. As we stood in Nelson Square looking round at what used to be the splendid Pack Horse hotel which sadly is no longer and has been swallowed up like the rest of the buildings into bars and pubs and student accommodation a man approached us and asked us if we had any spare change , we informed him that we didn’t, he thanked us anyway and went on his way. Graham commented even though he was begging for money, he was still polite.
The rain was now beginning to come down quite hard so Graham decided it was a good opportunity to put his jumper on. This sounded simple, but for Graham, it wasn’t , as he struggled to get his jumper over his head without removing his helmet, silly sausage. Once Graham had completed this mission we rode around towards Mawdsley Street but our path was blocked by yet more building works so we decided to go back down towards Cheapside.
The weather had certainly turned and obviously it was not going to improve so we took the decision to shorten our adventure and head towards home. We stopped off outside the bus station facing the Olympus chippy which Graham said he had never been to, mainly because he said it was expensive. I have been a few times with Peggy Lou , it is on the expensive side but is very nice for a treat.
As we left the bus station, I managed to cross the road, but unfortunately Graham was held up by buses entering the bus station. When he eventually caught me up he said ” typical mate you wait ages for one, then three turn up at once“ jokingly . We made our way back towards the Darcy Lever viaduct. As we crossed we saw a cyclist coming in the opposite direction as we passed the smell of cannabis was overpowering with Graham remarking ”the amount of wacky baki he’s smoking , think he should be floating on that bike never mind riding it”.
We rode up Gorses Road hand in hand for a short while , just for a giggle and got a couple of strange looks from passers by . When we got to the end of the road , we parted company with the obligatory , when you’re home message routine with the added bonus see you Wednesday my bestie as we will both be in Corfu celebrating Vals BIG birthday and maybe even get an adventure in there, you never know.
After returning home, Graham was still messaging me , guessing what I bought from the farm shop .When I explained this to Peggy Lou she said ” you idiot it wasn’t a flan, It was a quiche.” well, I felt such a fool I’d had Graham guessing something that I hadn’t even bought. I mesaged Graham to explain what I’d done ,needless to say his and Vals replies were unprintable. Hopefully I’ll be forgiven by Wednesday.
