Hoghton and Samlesbury

As we set off across fields, on the first part of our walk, the temperature was only a little above freezing point and the milky early morning sun provided little comfort when pitted against the northerly wind on the open pasture.

                  The driver of this train gave us a hoot as he passed beneath the bridge.

                         A derelict farm provided some shelter from the wind

          

              Anthony is eager to get off again but John and Jim are having a chin wag.

Reaching the perimeter of Bottoms Wood, things began to improve. As we dropped down into the valley, through which the river Darwen meandered it began to feel quite pleasant.

Turning left, we followed the river downstream. Before very long we could hear the unmistakeable sound of a waterfall. The weir in earlier days provided the power for the near by Samlesbury Mill.

Before reaching the road, we settled down for dinner in the sun, which had warmed up considerably from earlier on.

                   Crossing the boundary bridge between Haughton and Samlesbury.

Climbing up out of the valley we came to this former church, now converted into a residence. Not very tastefully done in my opinion.

This rural by-way heading east ia called Further Lane, prompting the call "How much further".

 Turning right down Alum Scar Lane, before long, this prestigious building came into view over to our left, which we were unable to identify with any degree of certainty.

The lane gave way to a path which led down into the valley to a a muddy section of the path where it crossed a bridge over a brook to the opposite side of the valley.

                     We each chose our own method of getting past this obstacle.

      It was reported in the Lancashire Telegraph on 22 July 2009 that a body had been found in the brook in Alum Scar Lane. Detectives believe the remains had been there for several months. It may be that someone had climbed over the fence to avoid the muddy path and fallen off the bridge.👿

    Or on second thoughts, it may have been the accident that prompted them to fence it off. 

         A long climb up the opposite side of the valley proved to much to tackle in one go.

Having reached the top of the hill, we turned right passing Alum  Scar House on our right under the watchful eyes of several security cameras, and Close Farm on our left. Immediately after the farm we turned left and followed the path as it began a gradual slope downhill again.

Part way down we came up against another obstacle. A huge tree had fallen across our path. 

There was no way past the monster of a tree, but it would take more than that to deter us Meanderthals.😠

The path led us down to the River Darwen again. We crossed this bridge to the Haughton side of the river.

The lane on the opposite side of the bridge led up to Chapel Lane, from where our walk had started, but you can't come to Houghton Bottoms without going to the famous viaduct and weir can you?

              Jim, is there, only to give perspective to this magnificent viaduct, built by the        victorians.

        The viaduct carries the Preston to Blackburn railway line over the Darwen Gorge.

A little further along the river brings us to this wonderful weir, before retracing our steps back past Lower Mill and Higher Mill back to the hamlet.

A three story house named The Counting House has a path leading alongside it which we followed back to Chapel Lane, not far from our cars.

                                                              The End. DK