3rd May 2012
Journey Length 9.7ml
Our first adventure out of 2012, saw us set off along the canal towards Bury passed the breach of 1936, this part of the canal has now been reclaimed by nature since it was cleared in the winter of 2010-11 by the canal society.
Shortly after the breach an under Bailey Bridge we came along the site of the old Creams paper mill founded by James Crompton 1677 which was the oldest mill in Europe until it closed in 2004, a place we had passed several times previously but had never explored , until now. Leaving the canal we descended the road leading down to the site which is now almost completely demolished apart from a brick building at the lower end of the site near the river.
Travelling further into the site we had our first mishap Graham got a puncture, so we get to use our brand new repair kit for the first time (only bought that afternoon), with the puncture soon fixed we continued our exploration of the area to the far end of the site and came across a small trail leading along the river, passed the breach of the canal above with the remains of the canal scattered all around. The trail continued into a small clearing walled by a large rock face below the canal itself.
Returning to the site we went across to the side nearest the river, where on foot we followed a small trail which lead to the old brick building and beyond that lead us down to the Ladyshore Weir which served the Lever Bank Bleach Works, just downstream there was also an inlet channel to supply water to Creams paper mill.
Back at the site we caught site of a small tunnel, wondering where this led to we set off to explore, then mishap number 2 another puncture but this time its EBay’s bike that comes a cropper. Yet again another swift repair or so we thought but 30 seconds later after we set off to carry on our adventure the tyre was flat again, due to the position of the puncture it couldn’t be repaired successfully. So pushing the bikes back up the hill to the canal and having admitting defeat we set off back home our first adventure coming to a premature end. Brew time!!!!!!
