6th August 2026
Click Here To See Our Route & Photos
Our past few months adventures had been planned and executed , unaffected by the weather as the record heatwave continued but rain had been forecast for this Thursday, so myself and Graham were on tenterhooks to see if the weather would hold. With this in mind I found us a route that would hopefully provide an enjoyable evenings adventure over to Cutacre Park. Our rendezvous point was the old Jag garage in Farnworth( now the old Hyundai Garage ).
Tonights adventure though was tinged with sadness on my part. My sons 13 yr old chocolate labrador, “VINNIE”, sadly had to pass over the Rainbow bridge that morning. He was a fantastic dog, a loyal companion and a much loved family member. Him and my Lucie ( a Parsons Jack Russell) had been friends since they were puppies. Wednesday evening I accompanied Lucie on our visit to see Vinnie . As Lucie entered my sons house Vinnie’s tail wagged away excitedly upon seeing her, he struggled to his feet to greet her and they sniffed each other, little did either know it would be for the last time. We returned home with a heavy heart and my eyes full of tears, RIP Vinnie.
Tonights adventure was to take us up over onto Cutacre Park for a little mooch around before we would have our usual sit and catch up, I knew that I could share some of the sadness with Graham and hopefully he would , like he always does bring a smile to my face.
It didn’t take long for him to do exactly that, via the following message
The evening turned out to be a very pleasant one as I rode up Smiths Road a steep hill from Darcy Lever to the old Jag garage in Farnworth. Graham was already waiting for me when I arrived and we paused for a few minutes to catch our breath. I mentioned to Graham that I had forgotten my water bottle once again and noticed that he wasn’t wearing a jumper, he then pointed out that he had got it tied around his waist like you did in school. He continued to inform me that the old Jag , now the old Hyundai garage was going to be some Chinese car garage. Has he explained all this I listened patiently and then the cheek of him said.” Well, are we going then or what? , it’s going to be dark soon “ as though it was me who was holding us up
We took a rather different route to get Cutacre Park, rather than ride straight up Plodder Lane we went via the backstreets around the Farnworth Christian Fellowship church down Lucas Road along the cycle path and through to Little Hulton via Anchor Ln. As we got to the junction with Manchester Road Graham said “that used to be a pub on the corner I’m sure”. The land was now being redeveloped and gave no clues to what was previously there. Graham was in fact right it did used to be a pub , the White Lion. Just across the road was another club/ pub that was closed and all boarded up. A sad sign of the times we live in today where people haven’t got money to spend on nights out.
As we continued down the road I heard Graham shout out “car coming “followed by “bus coming “ these are some of the things Extreme Bikers do to look after the safety of the other. Just around the corner we were met with an unexpected sight, a load of minions all lined up on the pavement. Actually they were concrete bollards that had been painted to look like minions. We both agreed that they certainly brightened up the area and brought a smile to our face. I had heard of this on social media but didn’t realise it was so close by.
We followed Kenyon Rd and as we did we passed an old speed boat sat on someone’s drive. When I pointed it out Graham said “ got a story about one of them , true story “ ! So we agreed, that when we stopped for a chat he’d tell me his story. Not much further down the road we turned right and up into Cutacre Park . The paths surface is made up of small loose gravel and dirt so we enjoyed doing skids in the dry dusty surface , taking us back to our childhood days.
As we made our way along the paths that cut between the long grass a pigeon flew out of the grass just in front of us, I heard Graham call out “ wow was that a pheasant ?“ obviously Ornithology isn’t Graham’s strong point. We made our way over the top of the park where there’s a large number of concrete blocks approximately 1m square scattered around, all set out in groups of 3. This on its own was unusual but to compound matters they all had the grass around them mown nice and neat. Graham was so perplexed by these we took a seat on a bench while I searched Google for an answer, sadly I couldn’t find anything about them they so they still remain a mystery, so if anyone knows or has any ideas leave us a comment. We took this opportunity to have our usual chat about our week, with the good times and the sad.
Graham informed me rather randomly that he thought he would make a good actor, that is apart from the fact he he said he wouldn’t be able to remember his lines. I suggested he would make a great Clint Eastwood but he rather fancied himself as a John Wayne. As we chatted away a woman walked by with 2 dogs and she immediately came over to us and started chatting away , she was very forward asking where we were going and where we’d been, etc , then she randomly said to Graham “ oh I like your helmet “ . On hearing that I made an excuse that we had to get going, she slowly walked down the path heading away from us . I turned to Graham “ wow she was a bit full on pal” I said, Graham quickly replied rather loudly due to his deafness in one ear “ I think she wanted servicing ha ha “ , “ oh shit she looked round , do you think she might of heard me pal” . As I looked around she had continued walking so luckily I think she didn’t but Graham’s face was a picture . The funny thing is though we passed her a couple more times around the park.
We rode out of the park at its southern edge onto Engine Ln . Here we crossed the bridge over the railway line. I commented on how wide the bridge was for such a small road, it was at least 2 cars in width. Graham said it could have possibly been something to do with when the area was a coal mine, Peelwood Colliery, which sounds plausible.
We rode up Cumbermere Ln in search of ,which on the map. appeared to be a little bridge over the Old Mill Brook but the very narrow path that led to it was almost impassable by foot never mind two old codgers on bikes. As we sat there all forlorn I spotted something out of the corner of my eye. What was it? . We stared across the field and there amongst the horses was , well this is our dilemma , we don’t know if it was an alpaca or a llama. A little research still couldn’t solve our mystery so here’s a poll we’ll let you decide.
Just tap on the word you think it is
We now retraced our steps passing the strange woman yet again before we exited the park at its northern edge via Bridgewater Ave. It was along here we came across another unusual place, a Greggs drive through, whatever next. As we made our way home via the roundabouts on Watergate Ln it became apparent that a great number of drivers don’t indicate when leaving a roundabout. This is very dangerous for us when we are trying to cross over the road, so extra vigilance has to be taken.
Graham called out as we rode along Plodder Ln “don’t forget , got to tell you about Kev , true story.”
Well grahams story, for those of you who are old enough to remember involved the quiz show Bullseye, back then presented by the brilliant Jim Bowen, sadly no longer with us , is a gem . Quite a few years ago one of Grahams friends Kev from Northumberland was on Bullseye and actually won the top prize, yes youve guessed it , he won a Speedboat. Luckily though you were given a period of grace where you could opt for the cash equivant, which Kev did.
We parted company at the top of Bradford Road and I made my way down to Manchester Rd coming out near Asda at Burnden Park , as I did I spotted the old Burnden Park pie shop that was a hive of activity back in the days when Bolton Wanderers FCs ground was just across the road, remarkably it is still going strong with some fantastic Youtube foodies reviews too.
