Hollins Lane, Accrington. Tues. 25 November 14

Our Group seems to have an abundance of Daves and Kens and sometimes it's necessary to qualify the one you're referring to in one way or another. So to avoid confusion we'll refer to our walk leader today as Dave 'W', from whose house in Hollins Lane, Accrington our walk was to start. That was only once everyone had assembled, as members seemed to just keep on arriving, some in cars and some on foot from the small 'colony' of members that live on Hollins lane. The final count added up to 27 (or so we thought), a record number for one of our Tuesday walks.

The first part of our walk, with Dave 'W' staying in the background, was to be be a brief history tour of the area by local historian and Group member Frank 'Peg Leg' Watson. The interesting sites he showed us are too numerous to mention in this report, or indeed too many to remember (sorry Frank!), but the one that will probably stay in all our minds is the fine memorial to the 'Accrington Pals' so tragically killed in WW1. Badly handicapped by his knee, Frank left us after a couple of miles or so, and with Dave 'W' back in charge we headed up past High Riley and under the by-pass up to Mary's Well. Here we re-grouped and after hearing a little of it's history, we then made our way onto Great Hameldon, where we took time to take in the fine all round views.

Click on pictures to view.

Up until now the day had been sunny, windless and pleasantly mild, and so it continued as we descended from Great Hameldon to join the Rossendale Way. With numbers strung out and in single file, a quick count up to check all were still with us showed, that in spite of having lost Frank on the way there were still 27 of us. How could that be? Maybe the one who did the initial count up had a finger or a toe missing???? At least we hadn't lost anyone and so, after a break for lunch, we continued on the Rossendale Way down through Stonefold to Rising Bridge. Here we crossed the busy main road and headed up Round Hill Road for a short way before crossing through fields, then along the disused Accrington to Manchester railway line and back to our cars in Hollins Lane.

On our return Dave and Beverley had tea, mulled wine and other goodies waiting for us, which we enjoyed in the sunshine of their back garden. A big thanks to them for that and to Dave for leading the 10 mile walk that was appreciated by all. Several 'newcomers' had come along today, we hope you enjoyed our walk. We enjoyed having you along and hope you'll join us again soon.

Stan.