30th April 2026
Spring had sprung at long last. The weather had been miserable for the past few weeks which meant an early start to our adventures was a no go, but thankfully it had recently improved considerably so on Saturday I messaged Graham to see if he would be up for an adventure this coming Thursday. His reply came almost immediately.
I had been out on my Cube E-bike over the winter months on Sundays with other E-bikers, Chris Mechanic , Big Andy and Mr Carl so had managed to maintain some kind of fitness , but now it was time for the real adventures to begin again. As Graham had not been out on his bike over the winter months I decided that we would do our usual quick visit to our own town ,Bolton.
I arrived home from work to find Graham sat on the steps waiting for me. He was excited about our first adventure but also a little perturbed, he forgotten his banana. He accompanied me into our flat where he explained that he really needed a banana, to give energy for our adventure. I noticed Peggy Lou still had one of her bananas left so I offered this to Graham. He was a little hesitant to take it but I insisted that it would be fine just then Peggy Lou got in from work.” hello wifey” I said as she came down the hallway ” , “ blimey you not gone yet “ she remarked , “ Graham’s just pinched your last banana.” I pointed out, thinking she would chastise him but she just said it was fine and obviously he needed it more than her. Graham thanked her and stated “ I do have a heart condition you know”
I started to get my things together and get the bike ready for its first adventure since September. This took a little bit longer than I anticipated and Peggy Lou was already returning from walking our dog as she passed us she enquired ” you two STILL here ? ”
I told Graham that I’d gotten a couple of gifts for him and he was excited to receive them but said he’d have to pick them up after our adventure. It wasn’t long before we were on our way on our maiden adventure of the season and it didn’t take long for us to get into our rhythm of riding and were soon approaching the town centre. We stopped just outside the centre to take a photo of a building that was under construction on our last visit in 2025 . As we did Graham spotted the police helicopter circling just in front of us “ Must be looking for some naughty people “ he pointed out “ not us though , we’re the good guys” . After watching the helicopter for a few minutes with no further developments we set off on our way.
My plan was just to randomly ride around the town centre and see if anything caught our eye. It wasn’t long before we came to the sad looking building that was once the Crompton Place shopping centre, a vibrant shopping centre back in the 1970s but sadly it was just sat there now awaiting demolition. Shortly afterwards we came to a lovely old building, an old bank with its stunning architecture at its roofline. We commented that most people probably wouldn’t see these wonderful buildings because no one looks up these days, they’re always too busy with their heads in their phones.
We rode down the side of Slaters Menswear which is in the old Whitaker’s department store building a well known landmark in Bolton. It was here I spotted a very old looking Ladies Toilet’s sign high up on the wall , which apparently was in the old cooperative building. We pondered on how old the sign was and why it was still there, we guessed it was from around the 1950s or 60s. but too be honest we’ve no idea. Whilst we pondered this Graham spotted what he thought was, our reflections in a shop door, not surprisingly it wasn’t us but the reflection of a poster of 2 handsome men . It was an easy mistake to make, they looked like a couple of doppelgangers .
We then passed the Greyhound pub that is now fully open again after the explosion last year, unfortunately the same cannot be said for the Albion pub that has now been demolished and looking like it’s being replaced with flats.
We decided it was about time for a catch up and headed to Queens park to find a spot in the sunshine. We found what Graham called a very cosy bench near the flower beds. It was indeed cosy just big enough for us both to squeeze onto just. We chatted away about Graham’s holiday in Tenerife and his trip over to Dublin which he and Val thoroughly enjoyed and recommended it apart from the price of a pint of Guinness . I told him about my surprise holiday that Peggy Lou has planned for us in June , it’s a long haul flight and I need 2 Visa’s , that’s all I know and as of writing this I still have no idea where I’m going. Exciting times ahead no doubt. I informed Graham that she is also going on a cruise with her mum through the Fjords this coming week. A right Judith Charmers is our Peggy Lou.
As we chatted , mostly about nonsensical things , Graham told me about his Granddaughter who had watched the videos we have done that are on YouTube , which she found extremely funny and asked if we could keep doing some more. Well there’s a little one later on as a bit of teaser of things to come. There were quite a few people enjoying the evening sunshine in the park as we sat there, suddenly Graham remarked “ Wow look over there at that man with a tiny head “ . It actually transpired that it wasn’t , it was he just a small man carrying a young child on his shoulders. Thankfully Graham never changes, always a good supply of good humour.
We took our obligatory selfie, it actually took 2 attempts to get a GOOD ONE , out of practice I may think . Just before we set off on our journey home Graham told me he’d been given a badge for 5 years service with the AA, it doesn’t seem 5 minutes ago that we were sat on a bench in Roe Green Worsley discussing the pros and cons of should he take the job. Where does the time go?. As we got up from our cosy bench we laughed at ourselves with the strange sounds we we made whilst getting up, they were comical, two old farts huffing and a puffing, creaking and groaning.
We circled back around towards the town centre, passed the town hall heading towards Back Cheapside. It was here we spotted an Afro Caribbean restaurant which is located where Wimpy Burger Bar was back in the 1970s and 80s , a place where mine and Peggy Lou’s paths may have crossed many years before we actually met. Graham paused to look at the menu. “ Urgh they do gizzards”. I miss heard him and thought he had said lizards “ OMG “ I said “lizards “ . “No “ he replied “Gizzards , in’t it the inside of a chicken? “ to be honest we didn’t really know but the food did smell fantastic but unfortunately the place was empty, so it kind of put us off a little , so we just continued on our adventure.
We were now heading towards Church Wharf which is planned for some future redevelopment, to get there we had to negotiate a road closure but within a blink of an eye Graham had set off through the road closure and off into oblivion never to be seen again. Realistically though he’d just rode on the pavement.
Once we arrived at the area at Church wharf we headed down towards what is now St Peter’s way but back in the 1800s was the Bolton Bury & Manchester canal. The area is very run down and as we continued it became a little sketchy the road was overgrown and looked like it led to a dead end, but as Extreme Bikers we ploughed on to investigate, but even Graham commented that he wouldn’t like to be down here in the dark. At the end of the road we spotted what looked like an overgrown section of path to our right. We decided to continue. After battling with some overgrown bushes and brambles we found ourselves at the side of the culvert for the River Croal just below the parish church. Suddenly as I was checking where the path went, I heard Graham behind me call out “ blinking heck is that a body” immediately I froze. Then turning around I could see an old bubble like jacket in the water puffed up by the moving water. Thank god for that I thought. Then he hit me with another “ hey it looks a big turtle like them in Corfu “ . I think he must have had too much sun, but I could see what he meant with a great deal of imagination.
We approached the entrance to the culvert that now runs under St Peter’s way, as we got closer the temperature dropped considerably, giving it a spooky airy feel to it. Hence to say we didn’t hang around and soon found ourselves at the bottom of Church Gate.
As we rode under the railway viaduct that goes over Bury Road we paused right underneath it, what a stunning structure it is. Like we said earlier people these days just don’t look up, it’s amazing what they’re missing. It was constructed in 1847 by the Bolton, Blackburn, Clitheroe and West Yorkshire Railway. Designed by Charles Vignoles. Iron castings by John Ogle, Son and Co of Preston. The Manchester Bolton and Bury Canal formerly ended at a warehouse just beyond they viaduct. The southbound carriageway of the St Peter’s Way (A666) now occupies the canal bed. An adjacent area is still known as Church Wharf.
From here it was a short ride back to mine but it wasn’t without its excitement. As we weaved our way through the back streets of Castle St we came upon a group of , well people I suppose but they weren’t on this planet. They cheered us and clapped as we neared them which was a little unnerving but we sped up and passed them with no incident but I can assure you we won’t be repeating that route in a hurry.
We decided to head along Bromwich Street rather than Radcliffe Road for a change, part way down we turned off by the side of Mr Carls house and down onto what was the old canal towpath. We followed this until we came to a small path that led us up to a gate to join the viaduct and home. Unfortunately the kissing gate was rather small and as Graham pointed out he had to use all of his 5 years of AA expertise to get his bike through, even though he ended up facing in the opposite direction to we were going.
After turing Graham around so he was pointing in the right direction we set off towards Darcy Lever Viaduct , as we did Graham called out behind me ” You’ve broke me in lovely there pal ” . I replied ” That sounds rather gay my bestie , like something from Brokeback Mountain “. Now normally when we get close to home we part company and go our separate ways and this is what I was about to do, just as Graham yelled out “ EBay I need to pick up my presents from yours ,I’m dead excited “ , back at mine Graham collected his gifts and was a very happy chappie .
As he eventually set off on his homeward journey he called out “Message me when you’re home pal and I’ll do the same “ silly old Graham .
