Myerscough 5.5 miles

The Baton Grange Garden Centre and Entertainment Complex is situated on the bank of the Lancaster canal. The first part of our walk today is along the canal, but the tow path is on the opposite bank, so we crossed the bridge carrying the A6 north to Lancaster and got onto the tow path heading south.

                        There's a smattering of snow on the fells in the background.

It's unusual to see Martin with his hood up, hardy man that he is, but a short shower of hailstone's persuaded him to take cover.

Crossing the aqueduct, that carries the canal over the river Brock.

Another shower of hail.

We leave the canal here, to follow a track, or unmade road, that was muddy in places, to squelch our way to the back entrance of the Myerscough College of Agriculture.

As arranged, The sun came out, to make our dinner stop a bit more pleasurable.

Time to move on.

Leaving the College, we follow St Michaels Road southward for a short way before turning right along a narrow lane with no footpath. After 3 or 400 yds, a gate on the left leads us onto a farm track where up ahead we can see the hump back of the canal bridge.

 

Rejoining the canal we follow it eastward to the next Bridge which passes under the St Michaels road. We have now reached Old Nells, a complex of bars restaurants and holiday accommodation in an oldy worldy village setting.

           We stop off here to finish our flasks off under the shelter of the bowling green.

Old Nell's is a very popular stopping off place for the narrow boat and launch owners, especially during the summer months.

We take our leave of the canal again here however, and  after about 200 yds south along the A6 we cross the busy road and enter a well made road leading to some residential accommodation,

But we are a man missing, Where is Vic? Unbeknown to me, Vic had lost his stick, and after checking inside John's hat 😅, and not finding it there, he had set off back to Old Nell's. The rest of us carry on, on a short detour to the picturesque St Hilda's church.

We walked through the well maintained church yard to a lane on the far side, which led us back to the A6.

Once back to the A6 it was not long before we were back at our cars, where we found Vic waiting for us and wondering where we had got to. Although we had had a couple of showers of hail, it was not as cold a day as was forecast.

                                                                   The End       DK

 

MYERSCOUGH

 NORMAL SERVICE RESUMED 6+ Miles

Normal walkers (?) :- Danny, Anthony Martin Vic

                                      Mike, Jim, John,  Lawrence.

After a week without a walk eight Meanderthals gathered in a quiet corner of Barton Grange Garden centre's car park.

After days of seemingly continuous rain the low winter sunshine was very welcome.  (even though it made photography difficult)

We left the car park and joined the A6 road and turned left to cross the canal bridge. It seemed that a vehicle had come off the road and smashed into the bridge parapet.

We dropped down from the bridge and began our walk , as often before,  along a canal.

Just across the canal was the very successful Marina opened in 2010 as a part of Barton Grange's  extensions.

A short distance along the canal we came to a short but essential aqueduct over the river Brock.

HELLO !  We appear to have been joined by a Jedi Knight. Light Sabres at the ready.

Perhaps he is saying "Stop. No further. Leave the canal now". Well you can't argue with a man wielding a light sabre. So we did.

We were now on the rather muddy track leading to Myerscough College.

Myerscough College enjoys an excellent reputation for all manner of outdoor occupations notably grounds maintenance. Some of its former pupils being employed at major sporting venues both here and abroad.

"Hello Dobbin. Are you into grounds maintenance ? "   " Neigh ! But then if you include organic fertilizer...... Absolutely. "

 "

"NATIONAL ARBORICULTERAL CENTRE".... It's hard to say that ! "

The entrance to the cafe was through "Plant World". As it was by now lunchtime it was again decided to merge our coffee time into lunch. There were plenty of benches OUTSIDE the cafe but as at least one Meanderthal was uncomfortable with using these to eat and drink our own stuff, we sought seating within the grounds.

In the next photo you will see Jim quickly putting his flask away, Why ? To stop John pinching more of his excellent Italian coffee. John had inadvertently picked up the wrong flask and filled his own cup, He was , it must be said, mystified as to why his milky coffee had turned black !

Off again,  and which path to follow . Across the lawn or down this rather pretty path.

We have said in the past that there is frequently an owl sculpture somewhere on our walks. But this is surely taking the Micky !!!

We left Myerscough behind and followed the road as far as Moss Lane. One section of this busy road  was rather dodgy (no pavements ) but it was only a short stretch.

As we walked we came across a bit of a conundrum, Which fork in the path should we take.

Yes,, Yes... I know I've used that pathetic joke before but I couldn't resist.

We walked safely along the grass verge.

Before crossing over to follow Moss Lane.

About half a mile down Moss Lane we turned aside to follow a short farm track down to the canal once again.

There's leader Danny waiting to make sure we didn't miss the gateway down to the canal.

Once again we followed the canal.

Until we came to this bridge.

Beyond which was.................................. GUY'S Leisure complex.

One part of the facilities was a bowling green on which several of us have played. We took advantage of this to shelter from the cold wind and finish off our flasks.

There was also a "Wishing Well". So our photographer made a wish.

Think the wishing facility was faulty !!

As we left Guy's we saw this message but as we had only been drinking our coffee we decided it didn't apply to us.

We turned south on the A6 but soon left it to walk through this rather pretentious though impressive development.

Quickly past this small area stopping to investigate this unusual contraption. What is it ?  There is a clue in the word contraption.

Out onto a road again next to St Hilda's Church.

There was an unusual device over the church door and we spent a little time trying to work out the motto.

The first word me surmised might have something to do with speed,  "Celer" is contained in the word Accelerate. Jim was confident that the middle word was "And" and we all knew that fidelis  meant "Faith"

So it must refer to the dogs (hounds) being "Fast and Faithful" but what is the religious connection. A beneficiary perhaps ?

We walked through the church grounds to reach the road back down to the A6.

Our walk was nearly over as we ambled down to the A6 and back to Barton Grange.

As we "Ambled" we passed two objects that bore the initials YFC. What could they be, After much pondering we eventually guessed they must refer to the local branch of the Young Farmer's Club. Were we right ?

An excellent walk Danny. Well planned and well done.

THAT'S ALL FOLKS

JW

p.s. The writer  must remind the reader that the blog is only the views and opinions of the writer as he sees it.  Other walkers might see and have different ideas about each walk. The writer welcomes comments from both participants and readers and the Email address is available at the top of the pages.