The Ribble estuary

The view from Lytham prom across the Ribble estuary

 

Bolton by Bowland 5.5 miles. Danny and Barbara.

     The unspoiled village of B.b.B with the parish church in the        background

The Parish Church of St Peter and St Paul. We were unable enter the church due to Corona Virus.

"A road opposite the church runs through the grounds of what was Bolton Hall, demolished in the 1950s. The road ends at the outbuildings of the hall, now restored as residential accommodation. The hall was the historic home of the Pudsay family. It was Sir Ralph Pudsay who gave refuge to Henry Vl, after the kings defeat at the Battle of Hexham in 1464, during the Wars of the Roses."

    The lane leading to the outbuildings of the now demolished hall.

"In a hollow, alongside the restored buildings, is a dome- shaped, small, stone building, known as King Henry's Well. This was a bathhouse built over a spring of water."

                  The outbuildings of the now demolished hall

Skirting the perimeter of the wooded grounds, we reached the bridge crossing Skirden Beck

The weir has been carefully designed, giving artistic merit to an otherwise unimaginative construction.

 A farm track led us through a field populated by sheep. The stump of this fallen tree, with a little imagination could come to life given the right conditions, but the sheep in the foreground seems unperturbed.

                      Some of the sheep were very colourful. 

Most of the sheep were of a speckled face variety. Perhaps John can enlighten us about the breed.

You would need a "Mouton-eer" to really know but "Lonks" and "Rough Fell"  seem to fit the bill and possibly "Dalesbred"  though I think they are horned. A  lot of farmers use crossbreeds to get wool and meat off one animal. I know that "Swaledales" can be in the mix.  John W.   (not an expert)  

                              Arriving at the village of Holden.

I had intended to follow the lane ahead, through Clough Wood, that runs alongside Holden Beck, but discovered that it was a private drive.

We decided to have dinner by the beck, before checking the map for an alternative route.

The weather vane adorning the Copy Nook pub. A short diversion up Holden Lane and we were back on track. Leaving the lane we turned right down a farm track leading to Hungrill Farm.

A not very modest residence we passed along the way. A sports car sat outside of it. Given the state of the long farm track leading to the house, a sports car is definitely not the ideal car for whoever resides there.

We followed the river back to B.b.B dropped of our rucksack and as the day was still young, decided to have another scout around the village. Going up Main Street from the (free) car park with the (free) toilets we passed again the Coach and Horses Inn   on the right hand side, with the unusual Cinderella type coach above the pub sign. Very charming.

Opposite the pub, on the left is the remains of the Village Cross with the stocks in front of it.

To the right, opposite the village cross is the War Memorial.

The church dates back to the 13th century. The oldest part looks to be the dark stone castellated section at the east end, followed by the centre section, built of random multi coloured stone. The most recent appears to be the tower, built of dressed stone.

"The lid  on Sir Ralph Pudsay's tomb in the Pudsay Chapel of the church of St Peter and St Paul gives a complete account of his family. Besides his twenty five children, his three wives are engraved on the cover of the tomb. In the manner of a scoreboard, Roman numerals indicate the number of children produced by each wife. The chapel also has a number of monuments to the Pudsay family."

"Another member of the family, William, was responsible for Pudsay's Leap; The story goes that he was caught counterfeiting money. He escaped from the pursuing government officials only by making his horse jump from a high cliff over the River Ribble. He rode on to London to seek a pardon from Queen Elizabeth, which she granted.

       A little further on, past the church, is a second village green.

 "Halfway along the green is the Old Courthouse, at which the Law of the Forrest was made known. As tends to happen in  villages which have been part of an estate, there are few modern structures."

The extracts in red are taken from Towns and Villages of Great Britain. Lancashire. By Michael Smout.

                                                                       DK

FAIRHAVEN

TWO MEETS TWO  4 Miles

Walkers :- John W, Martin  +  Paddy , Anthony

Last week the car park was solid with more cars waiting to get in. This weeks car park was virtually empty.  Why ?

Was it John W casting a shadow over it (careless photography) ?  No ! It was the £4.50 charge when there was free parking all around.

The car park led immediately onto the revamped section of the promenade. An excellent job too.

As you can see the day was cold and clear with a low sun washing the colour out of photographs.

The promenade was nowhere near as quiet as it looks in this picture, Just as in the parks we have visited in recent weeks Lytham was alive with walkers alone, in pairs  and with dogs. 

We were walking on the new promenade which at this point was on the seaward side of Fairhaven Lake. Looking across the lake we could see the famous "White Church" in the distance.

We had never walked this stretch before and were quite surprised to see this  "Drainage " pipe spewing water out onto the sands. We presumed it was an overflow from the lake although it did seem rather a lot.

The next photo is of John W about to....

.................................... do absolutely nothing !

We continued to follow the far side of Fairhaven Lake until we eventually arrived at the road.  We followed the road for about  two or three hundred yards before turning back to the prom shortly after passing a shelter with seats. Not very far along the prom we bumped into Anthony and Paddy. ( a suitably socially distanced " bump " of course). They were doing a different walk going in the opposite direction. We had to stop for a coffee break so we turned back to the seated shelter.

The photo lies. We were DEFINITELY socially distanced. It must have been the angle from which I took the photo. 😏

As we sat with our coffees Anthony checked his phone to discover that Lancashire had been placed in Tier Three of the covid restrictions --- Ah Well !

 As we parted to continue our separate walks. John and Martin took to a footpath which ran parallel to the prom.

During recent walks it has been invariably the case that friendly greetings are exchanged with people passing by.

This young lady, part of a group with dogs, had a very unusual but successful way of controlling her happily bouncy spaniel.

Very soon we were back n the promenade again heading in the direction of Lytham's famous windmill.

The tide was well out but as we walked we noticed that the tide was not the only thing that was out.

Can you spot what it was ?

Of course you could. It was a car with it's bold driver engaged, we surmised, in shrimping or cockling or some other commercial fishing pursuit.

Very strange. Very much an anachronism.  Why ?

We didn't go as far as the windmill but turned inland, beckoned by the lure of "facilities" in Lowther Gardens. (Pathetic Eh ! ) Once again Martin's magic key proved useful as others queued for the remaining two doors.😈

Lunchtime. People were queueing at the cafe but  we had brought sandwiches knowing that our walk would be a little longer this week. We quickly found a bench to sit and munch.

Two old fellas sitting on a park bench in the sunshine.

Is that a CLICHE or what ? (thanks to the young lady who took the photo for us.)

During lunch a little friend joined us

begging for a scrap or two. He (or she ?) got a bit .

Just a few yards away (do you think I should be writing in metres in the 21st century ?) was this chap.

I think he's fishing for something. Doesn't look desperately happy about it though. Perhaps that was his car we saw earlier - now submerged beneath the waves ?

Aha ! He's after the goldfish !

Lunch over we set off to leave the gardens but came across this sign.

"What a good idea" said John W  "I'll have this one. Can I take it home now ? "

Just a little further on , however, we got a stark warning !

"Be careful. I adopted a tree last year and look at me now,"
 

After leaving the gardens we followed the road out of Lytham heading towards Ansdell. A left turn down Fairlawn Rd. took us back to the coastal road. This heading towards St Anne's. We turned right and walked along this road passing as we did "Stella Matutina" the care home well known to Anthony and John. We stopped here to say hello to Ann a friend who works there.

She told us that she would be contacting Anthony to arrange for us to do a concert at the home as soon as it was allowed. (for those who do not already know there are those amongst the group who claim....I repeat..CLAIM to be musicians and do perform at places such as Stella )

Leaving the home we now made our way to Fairhaven lake and the end of our walk. The sun was getting low in the sky by now and the clouds were getting darker.

We found parts of the Fairhaven Lake Park blocked off as major refurbishments of the cafe and boating facilities were taking place.

As we passed the RSPB centre we discovered that there was a defibrillator for the birds.. How nice !

I joke of course. There were defibs.  at several points on our walk which considering the average age of the indigenous population and the numerous visitors is an excellent provision.

Past the refurbishments and back into the park we of course had to visit the "Spitfire".

Ooh ! A close call for Martin.

That's enough Spitfire pictures ! Back to our parked cars and off home. 

But what's this ? Never seen a car this "Colour" before. Is this the motoring equivalent of Marmite. Love it or hate it.  Can't decide which myself.

Can't follow that sooo.............

THE END

JW

W