Brinscall 7 miles Walkers Anthony Vic Paddy and Danny + 2

The +2 on our walk refers to John W and Martin who went on the B walk, but who we planned to meet up with at White Coppice for Dinner.

Across the road from Brinscall Swimming Pool entrance, is the entrance to Railway Park, a nature reserve, along the route of the now disused railway line. After passing a fishing pond on our left, we arrived at a junction. Straight on, the path led under a railway bridge, into Withnell Nature Reserve, but our route, off to the right led to a street with a long row of stone built terraced houses on the left, and an ugly high fence on the right. The fence hid from view an equally ugly industrial area that skirted the road between the two villages. We came out onto Bury Lane, turned right and crossed Railway Road following the sign uphill towards Abbey Village.

The road led to another road on the right, (Twistmoor Lane) which carried the heavy traffic to and from Armstrongs quarry. We took a short cut via a narrow path to cut the corner off.

At the end of the path, next to the road was an intriguing stone built enclosure, providing a break between two halves of a culverted land drain.

It could possibly have been a water source for nearby houses in years gone by

Armstrongs Quarry with it.s long sheer wall of rock, would have members of the climbing fraternity drooling at the mouth, not being allowed in

Once passed the entrance to the quarry we settled down on some large dressed rocks for our morning brew. Those of you with good eyesight may be able to see Vic, taking social distancing to the extreme

Carrying on along the road, it began a gradual descent back to Brinscall. On reaching the village we took a sharp left up Well Lane,

then turned right into the woods.

The broad path that we set off along gradually got narrower and more hazardous. As we approached the waterfall which tumbled down from the top of the wood, the banks on either side got progressively steeper. In the interest of safety, and not being as young and reckless as we once were, we made the difficult decision to turn back

   Paddy decided to risk making a crossing of the fast flowing beck.

Finding the other side of the beck no easier he had to cross back again.

After retracing our steps, the woodland flattened out and we were able to find a place where we were able  to get down to the safety of The Goit footpath.

Our earlier adventure delayed our meeting up with John and Martin but thanks to advances in technology, we were able to keep them informed of our progress.

We had arranged to meet under the shelter of the pavilion at White Coppice cricket ground, as the weather forecast was for strong winds and rain. Although it was a bit chilly, thankfully, the wind and rain stayed away. Dinner over. we again went our separate ways. John and Martin headed back along The Goit, and the rest of us went past this picturesque white cottage on the opposite side of the cricket ground, before tuning left along a narrow path.

The path was only a short diversion, and soon we were back on The Goit and catching up with our mates.

It was a short reunion before we left them again as we went along a broad track towards a disused railway line. But when we got to the railway bridge we saw that the railway cutting was overgrown and impassable in the direction we wanted to go. This second obstacle was not a problem as a little further along the road was a path through this farmyard, alongside some stables and over a stile into a large field.

After crossing a couple more stiles we reached this house, with it's magnificent lake. Care had to be taken crossing the stiles as they were quite slippy. We crossed two more then entered a large field, the path was not obvious from here but we headed diagonally across it to a farm on the opposite side. The cows in the sheds that we skirted round the perimeter of the farm seemed to be competing to see which one could make the loudest bellow.

Leaving the farm we emerged onto a well made road constructed of stone sets. We followed it to a junction were we turned right to rejoin The Goit. 

We were soon back at Brinscall rejoining John and Martin and finishing the dregs of our flasks while sitting on benches by the lake.

                                                                                 DK