Blackrod to Adlington 8.75 miles (07/09/23)

Members present; M.Sadler, P.Cotterill, A.Dulson

I travelled up on the 08:01 via Manchester as scheduled to meet Phil and Adrian who had been staying in Adlington after doing a walk yesterday.

It was surprisingly overcast to begin with especially as we were in the middle of a heatwave with even a few spots of drizzle.

The first 4 miles took us along field paths crossing the railway and the scenic M61 at Bolton West services to a wooded valley where we encountered some scenic waterfalls before making the steep ascent of Rivington Pike.

At the top there were good all round views of the surrounding reservoirs, Boltons football stadium and out as far as Preston.

Unfortunately due to the hazy conditions it wasn't possible to see across to Blackpool Tower, even using binoculars only proved to magnify the opaqueness. However we did later on encounter a club member who had seen it close-up today.

After our lunch break at the top we descended into the ornate 45 acre terraced gardens with its maze of paths, and stairways taking us around well maintained lawns, and sections of woodland dotted with iconic structures and lakes orinally conceived and built over a 20 year period in 1905.

Descending further out of the gardens the sun broke through and it quickly heated up. We followed a couple of lanes and crossed between Rivington upper and lower reservoirs before continuing via more field paths and quiet roads into Adlington where we met up with Mr McDonnell who, after missing the train this morning, had nipped up to Blackpool.

Mark Sadler