Copster Green; Tuesday 15 December 2015.

The Pictures:-

Click on the following picture to see who was on the walk:-

To view all the pictures taken on the walk click 'HERE' then click 'slideshow' then 'full screen'.

The Walk:-

Walk Leader - Chris Seddon.

 Keen for another pre-Christmas walk, 17 enthusiastic members of the group met in Copster Green for this late addition to the Tuesday walk programme. After the recent rainfall, in particular Saturday's deluge which left villages such as Whalley flooded, we were thankful not to need waterproofs at any point during the day and we even had a couple of brief glimpses of the sun, which has been rather elusive of late! What is it that Stan says about the leader being responsible for the weather? The route involved field paths, tracks, tarmac ..........  and a little mud, included to make Stan's day memorable and give him something to moan about!! Several halls were passed during the walk, starting with Copster Hall, before heading across fields to Dinckley suspension bridge. There was evidence of how high the water has been recently, but today the Ribble was merely flowing energetically. The Ribble Way was followed for a while before heading to Hurst Green for our lunch stop. This turned into quite a grand affair with opera music in the background, courtesy of Ken, plenty of seats, a shelter and toilets cleaned ready for our arrival! Suitably rested and refreshed, more fields and tracks took us back to the Ribble via Merrick's Hall, Bailey Hall with its ancient moat, Dutton Hall and the site of an old mill alongside Duddel Brook. All too soon we started the final gentle, and in some sections muddy, ascent back to Copster Green. We had one final pause by the waterfall at 'Little Blackpool' where boots could be cleaned in the stream, using the brush kindly left by the locals - but where is it now? If the last person to use it lets me know where it is I'll put it where the local dogwalkers can find it!