The Witton weavers were not a specific group of people, but rather a term used to refer to the hand loom weavers from Witton near Blackburn. The Witton Weavers were among many Lancashire textile workers who were replaced by industrialisation and modernisation of the industry in the 19th century. The Witton Weavers Way is a…
The Forest of Bowland National Landscape covers in excess of 800 sq. km. of NE Lancashire with a small section in North Yorkshire. Most of the Forest is not forest as we understand it. It was created as Royal Hunting Forest after the Norman Conquest and was designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty…
This is, more or less the walk we did yesterday. It’s 5.5 miles, but there are loads of variations to make it shorter or longer, all helped by 2 nice pubs. The Black Bull, just off the path in Edgworth, and The Strawbury Duck, next to Entwistle Station. The Wader is a 10foot tall heron,…
Another beautiful day today, so we took ourselves off to Clitheroe for lunch. If you haven’t been, and I’m sure most of you have, its a lovely little town with loads of independent shops like D. Byrne and Co Fine Wines, Cowman’s Famous Sausage Shop, Maxwell’s Cafe down by the railway station and The Emporium…
A fine day today, so Heather and I went off to Darwen to do the walk around the reservoirs, and, just for once, we took a packed lunch hence avoiding the Black Bull’s culinary masterpiece. For those of you unfamiliar with the area, which is just of the A666 between Darwen and Bolton, there are…
Another walk in the country on Saturday. This time in The Forest of Bowland from Slaidburn up to Stocks Reservoir and back. This is a beautiful walk which can be extended or reduced with several optional starting points. There were very few people about, presumably as the fine weather had sent everyone off to The…
Preston from Cuerden Valley Park Another Wednesday walk yesterday, this time around the surprisingly beautiful Cuerden Valley Park. Unfortunately, the circuit we set out to do couldn’t be done as the entrances to Cuerden Hall are closed off, apparently due to an “unsafe bridge”. They seem to have been closed since 2021, so I…
Martin Mere – Mere Sands Wood One of (the only?) problems with moving has been that I have struggled a bit to find a group of people to “hang out” with, as the youngsters say. In Southport we were both very attached to our church and had a group of friends there who we saw…