Alone Beneath The Sky: Abbey Village to Rivington Park 18/10/15

7.8 miles, via Brinscall, White Coppice, Anglezarke & Lead Mines Clough.

There's always an option for a bonus day when visiting My Sister's family, so whilst I'm still not persuasive enough to get the girls out walking today, preferring a trip to MOSI with Dr G, a bit of car relay can get us out to Abbey Village, the odd linear village that grew alongside the A675 Bolton Road, a start point for a stroll of many sections before a late lunch and my ride homewards. Drop off outside the Hare & Hounds pub at 11.20am, at the bottom of the village, pacing the way among the terraces at the roadside and past the mill that drew the village here in the first place, to start a railway walk that hadn't quite aligned itself to fit onto my Coastal trek, the remains of the Lancashire Union Railway (L&Y / L&NWR joint) line from Blackburn to Chorley, active from 1869 to 1966, have become a linear park running through to Withnell and Brinscall. It's a leafy and nature filled route which immediately gets My Sister's approval, one which she hadn't known about previously and now provides a much more level cycling route than the one available on the roads, with a few pretty impressive bridges along its length, an obvious station house at its top and a parkland with fishing lake near its end, a really good use for a resource that could have lain fallow otherwise. Pass the C2C route again as we meet Brinscall, having once again passed close to Withnell without entering it, and this might be the smallest place in the country to have its own swimming baths. Dick Lane shadows the railway line to the bridge on the lane to Brinscall Hall, before footpaths almost drop us onto the alignment before we peel away to head towards the woods on the moorland fringe and the path that accompanies the goit channel that links the reservoirs at Roddlesworth and Anglezarke. Another leafy walk on the western bank, along a track badly represented on the map and oddly developed as a good bridleway surface but with cycling thunderously forbidden from it, and as for the goit, I've no idea at all if the water still flows functionally in it, as it is, it's a good way to get down to White Coppice and to observe to moorland edge as we pass. Change sides by the cricket field, moving onto a slightly more undulating course on the eastern bank as the rough upland looms larger, and it seem the cyclists are pretty keen to ignore the ban along here, we pace along discussing this odd section of moorland, as is ends so abruptly on the edge of the coastal plain, with neither of us having quite enough geological nous to theorise coherently.

Drop out on the top corner of Anglezarke Reservoir, which should provide the third feature of the day, but as that's a perimeter we've paced before we hit the ascending Moor Road, another frustrating one for the cyclist as it rises 90m away from the water's edge only to return to it again a mile or so distant. The ascent is hard, predictably, and the undulations hide the reservoir pretty successfully, but we can enjoy a view over the plain towards a coast shrouded in Grey and look up to the rough moor, sneaking down to the roadside despite being well below the 300m contour, and you wonder what might have brought the road up here in the first place, probably to serve the considerably sized Manor House farm, up at altitude. Join the bridleway for some rougher going southwards with Winter Hill looming large, and the going suddenly gets challenging when the descent into Lead Mines Clough comes, a steepling drop that could challenge the boldest of cyclists, soon enough bottoming out at the heart of a landscape of ancient industries, one that I'd love to explore if we had more time. The stream that flows down is hardly charging, making the lowest waterfall cascade rather unimpressive, but the waters lead us down to the top corner of Yarrow reservoir, crossing over Alance bridge and then pacing the road once more for more undulations on Dean Head Lane over to Wilcock's farm and Dean Brook, with Sheep Walk lane leading up to Belmont Road. No need to dodge traffic due to a well concealed path at the roadside, and we can slip into the Rivington park estate at the end of the high bridleway path, but that's not the route we will be taking, instead slipping into the growing crowds on the path down to Rivington Hall Barn. A much larger Oak cruck counterpart to our regular spot lower in the park, and much less appealing according to my Sister, open less often and completely rammed with bikers today, as if they agreed to congregate here only, which is fine for those of us who prefer Great House Barn, soon enough found at the heart of the park. All done at 2pm, a pretty rapid burn for a Sunday, with more West Pennine lines crossed and plenty of time for a roast turkey sandwich before getting my rideback to West Yorkshire, with more miles towards 2000 put down and our world talked around before we all have to descend to Leicestershire next weekend.

5,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 1989 miles
2015 Cumulative Total: 586.8 miles
Up Country Total: 1829.3 miles
Solo Total: 1758.9 miles