Leader: Andrea Foster

Number on walk: 12

Distance: 10 miles

Weather: dry and glimpses of sunshine 

Meeting at Low hall nature reserve we were lucky enough to bump into some of the volunteers "friends of low hall" and one gentleman specifically. Along with his brother (stone mason and artist Andrew Black)' they had recently installed a large stone sculpture "Hard bearings" in the nature reserve. He provided an explanation about the sculpture for which we all thanked him.

From here the walk began with a meander around the lake and some mud of course. We paused for a little bit of history about Low hall. A moated manor house once stood on these grounds and was the family home of the Langton's for some 400 years. Later, Low hall was also the scene of a tragedy when a locomotive called Dorothy plummeted down a mine shaft complete with coal wagons and driver never to be seen again.

The walk continued following the old Whelley loop line, a disused railway line now made into a public footpath. Emerging at the Leeds Liverpool canal we turned left heading in the direction of Wigan, passing through Ince. At Wigan we continued to our holy grail "Wigan Pier" and a little bit more history. Fact or fiction? The irony being that when George Orwell wrote his "Road to Wigan Pier" book, he searched in vain to find the pier as it had already been demolished. 

Our route continued crossing the A49 and down Pottery terrace, across the river Douglas and onto Parsons Meadow. From here with rumbling stomachs it was a b line across the playing field for lunch and picnic tables very thankfully provided by St Jude's rugby club who had given permission for us to use them. 

After lunch we rejoined the Leeds Liverpool canal running parallel to Poolstock road and followed the canal passing Scotsman's flash and Persons flash. At Bamfurlong junction we turned off the canal to Platt Bridge and took a path running at the back of Iceland and under a bridge to return to Low hall nature reserve.

Thank you to all who joined me today for your company and smiles. Andrea