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| The Ambience of Bedlam |
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Date : 11th January 2009
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Leader : Sheila Taylor |
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Report by : Phil Bedson |
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Photos © : Phil Bedson |
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| CLICK HERE FOR ROUTE DETAILS |
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| The view over Accrington from Rothwell Heights | |
The second walk of the year and it could not have been any further removed from the first. The weather was forecast to be cloudy with rain showers and the majority of those seven hardy souls who turned up already had full wets on, such was the lure of Christmas Cake. So it was that our leader for the day, Sheila Taylor, set off from Plantation Street with a clear plan of where she was going and an added clear plan of short cuts in case of extreme inclement weather and quite possibly breathing easy as with only the seven the Christmas Cake was big enough.
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left:
The start of the disused railway |
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right: Uphill to Rothwell Heights |
After a little bit of road walking we found ourselves on the disused railway line that is now a cycleway/bridleway/footpath and is used by all and sundry usually for walking dogs. It wasn’t long however before we turned off this and a small path through some trees took us over a footbridge and onto an ascent out of the valley we were in. The rain started about this time. Up we climbed along enclosed lanes and field paths to emerge at Rothwell Heights, with great views over Accrington behind us. The rain was stinging our faces. A converted ambulance, now called Ambience, was parked at the side of the road. Ironically the hamlet of Bedlam was the next place we came to not twenty five metres later and we made our way past a row of cottages and round to join the track leading to Accrington Golf Club. The wind and rain were absolutely biting. We followed the track round the course perimeter and entered a field where a track took us around Accrington Moor. The rain was still falling.
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left:
Ambience |
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right: Walking in the rain |
Over a wall stile and straight across a field, via a couple of very dodgy stiles, to Sandybeds farm to join the road where we realised the rain had stopped!
Going on across the road we took the track up to Elm Tree Farm and continued, over moorland, to join the Rossendale Way (RW) and on down to Jamestone Quarry. Here we had a quick refreshment break before continuing along the quarry edge, up and down a couple of steep sided valleys. A little further on we left the RW to go down a bridleway and through a plantation to arrive at Clough Head Visitor Centre. From here we crossed the A6177 Grane Road and made our way to Rothwell Fold and lunch at the picnic site. We were still dry.
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left:
The approach down to Jamestone Quarry |
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right: Crossing the bridge at the foot of a valley |
After lunch the group set off over the dam of Calf Hey Reservoir and re-joined the RW along the foot of Musbury Heights for a short distance with the larger Ogden Reservoir on our left. We soon arrived at the causeway - a long, straight track from the disused quarries at the top of the hill, which carried railed carts full of stone downhill in days of old. From here a field path and track climbed gently up, via another dodgy stile, to a great viewpoint back across the reservoirs. Taking a path off downhill past Hill End we came to a lane that wound its way round the end of Holden Wood Reservoir to rejoin the Grane Road at the Holden Arms pub cum restaurant.
No sign of any more rain.
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left:
The Causeway |
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right: Holden Wood reservoir |
Crossing the road we turned up the lane to Holden Hall before a variety of field paths and lanes (and an off-road vehicle course!) brought us to the disused Hutch Bank Quarry. A path around the edge - a bit close to the edge - took us round to re-join the RW for a third time. The good track then took us the next mile past Higher Swineherd, Copy and Moor Lane farms to the B6236 and the Farmer’s Glory, another pub cum restaurant. The track up to Lark Hill farm was ordinary and a couple more field paths, and obligatory dodgy stiles to boot, took us back to the disused railway line at Baxenden, just a mile further along from where we left it. It had stayed dry.
Our route back however required a short diversion to Sheila’s house whereby the seven of us were able to partake in the aforementioned Christmas Cake and drinks. And it was extremely good too.
The walk incidentally was logged at 12.3 miles and not the 10 advertised. No wonder everyone was tired!!
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| The last climb of the day | |
| OS EXPLORER |
WEST PENNINES 287 |
START/FINISH POINT |
SD 763 284 |
| WALK LENGTH |
12.3 mls / 19.7 km |
TIME WALKING |
5 hrs |
| MAX HEIGHT |
331.31 mtrs |
MIN HEIGHT |
144.45 mtrs |
| HEIGHT ASCENDED |
611.38 mtrs |
HEIGHT DESCENDED |
611.38 mtrs |
This map is for reference only and MUST NOT be used to do the walk.
Please use the correct OS map for all these walks.
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