Meandanthony's walk Fishwick Nature Reserve 8.5 miles

Our walk today began from home. Anthony and I had arranged to meet on Sharoe Green Lane, by the Sherwood Way roundabout. It was a wet morning of fine drizzle, but it was forecast to improve by midday. Anthony has come prepared for the worst.

Moor Park. Barbara and I did this walk last Saturday, setting off in a blizzard of snow. We had been told that there was a pair of Mandarin Ducks on the serpentine in the park, and so there was, but today they were not to be seen. The floodlight towers of Preston North End football ground can just be made out in the misty distance.                                          

A slight detour was required here.

With the rain showing no signs of letting up we travelled through Deepdale to Ribbleton and thence to New Hall Lane. This house on Samuel Street. No 13 was Danny's granddads house long ago. As often was the case in the years after the Second World War, a shortage of housing resulted in many newlyweds moving in with one or other of their parents, and so it was that Danny spent the first 18 months of his life, along with his two elder siblings and his parents in that house. His mum's two maiden aunts lived next door at No 11

The Fishwick Nature Reserve is accessed from Fishwick View. It is a large area of woodland on the steep slopes of a bank  that stretches from Watery Lane ,( known locally as The Loney)  through to London Road, and from Fishwick View and Brockholes View down to Fishwick Bottoms 

Having foregone our morning brew, with our tummies rumbling and with  the rain showing no sign of abating, despite the continued drizzle, with a seat going spare, we succumbed to our appetites and settled down for were butties.

A spare foam rubber seat pad served as a make do table and a means of keeping the rain off ones legs.

This long flight of steps, fortunately is not on our route today.

A BMX Course within the recreation ground off London Rd.

This stairway leading up to Ashleigh Street and Brockholes View is part of our route. Anthony affirms there are 75 steps in total. From the top, we followed Brockholes View (known locally as The Bonk) to Fishwick Rd. 

The darker coloured house is No 6 Fishwick Parade, and is where Danny lived from aged 7 to 21 with his mum and 7 siblings. His dad died in the front room when Danny was 18.

The rain had finally stopped, and we made our way through some of the less salubrious areas of Ribbleton and Deepdale back to Moor Park.

 

The Mandarin ducks had still not returned, so you will have to make do with this specimen. We did however stop and have a chat with an elderly gent who was sat on a bench overlooking the lake. He had lots of badges on his lapels, a cane with a brass ducks head and a pair of binoculars round his neck. He was (as you might have guessed) a keen bird watcher. He told us that he hadn't seen the Mandarin ducks for a couple of days, but told us where around the park he had seen various birds, i.e. tree creepers, nuthatches, long tailed tits, etc etc. And so we commenced on the last lap of our walk, up Plum Pudding Hill and Sharoe Green Lane back home.

                                          A wet but enjoyable walk. DK                 
 

BROCKHOLES

WET - WETTER - WETTEST (so far)

Martin & John W  3.5 Miles

(Danny and Anthony are out and about too)

The sky seems to have joined in sympathy with the gloom filled Nation. It hasn't stopped weeping for months.  NEVERTHELESS Meanderthals are always well prepared and we were fully waterproofed for our weekly walk.

The Car park was very busy.......

It was also wet.

We climbed the embankment away from the car park. On top of the embankment was an appropriate sculpture.

We left the top of the embankment and dropped down towards the River  Ribble  which was in full, powerful flow.

At the point at which we met the river a notice told us to hide but with Martin being 6ft tall and myself being of more than average width (ahem !) the little post was hardly big enough to hide an  emaciated mouse.

 As we followed the bank upstream we saw evidence of the local wildlife.

This footprint with the toe end of the hoof turned in looks very much like a deer.

Scattered along the bank presumably thrown up by the floodwater were the shells of Freshwater Mussels (Otters might also be involved)

After a few hundred metres we turned away from the river bank and followed a rough path towards the Guild wheel which cuts through the Nature Reserve.

Here there were trees lying felled, Why ?

Ah !   This is why...........................

The path we were on soon joined the broader path which was part of the guild wheel. 

Here we see "Martin PuddleGee" in the first of the puddles. They were to get bigger.  

Muddy conditions and plenty of interest on the walk meant that Coffee time was soon upon us. But what could this be ?

Dogs are not allowed in the reserve so what creature made this footprint ?

We stopped for coffee on a bench at the bottom of the steep - "VERY" steep climb up through the woods towards Longridge Rd.

Throughout the day there was very little rain but all the while the air was thick with misty moisture - Everything felt damp. 

Coming from the steep hill were more tracks in the mud but we knew what creature had made these. 

Just a few yards from the bench was a kissing gate leading into the wood. There was a warning posted on it.

But we being bold (AKA Stupid) Meanderthals we forged on into the wood.

Only a short distance along the path we came across a little group feeding the birds.... and birds there were ! ! ! Robins, Blackbirds, Blue Tits, Great Tits and Nuthatches in the main.

At first the path was OK.

Although at times it resembled a stream rather than a path.

The water now began to make it's presence felt. Either side of the path there were large areas underwater. In places this spread right across the path.

Here's Jemima Puddleduck's friend again.

AND THEN.........

The path disappeared completely !

Back we went the way we had come heading now for the Floating Village Complex.

It was deserted BUT  the toilets were open (yipee) and they were clean, warm and had lots of hot water and hot air hand dryers -  most welcome.

The site also offered seating so we settled down in splendid isolation to eat our butties.

Lunch over we left the Floating Village and took a right turn to once again climb the embankment but this time heading in the opposite direction.

Once again, atop the embankment, there was a reminder of the reserves "Sponsors".

From here the path took us down to woodland bordering the River, These woodlands seemed to be "Themed" The first one being the "VIKING WOODLAND". Within there were "Viking" sculptures.

A little further along the path we came to the . . . . .  Well. . .See for yourself.

It was only after spotting this........

..............and This...

.....that we realised the wood was themed after that delightful children's book "THE GRUFFALO"

So where will we find the snake and the fox ?       Here's the Fox......

and could that be the GRUFFALO keeping an eye on him ? Naa,,,It's Martin.

We went no further through this section because there was a snake lurking somewhere and who knows we might even bump into the GRUFFALO and that would be very scary

Our route now led us once again to the top of the embankment where we thanked our "Host" 

 

and set off back to the cars.

As we approached the cars we passed this notice.

So somebody has a sense of humour 😊

THE END

JW