CLITHEROE

 BRIDGE TWO FAR  5.5+  miles

Bridging the gap :-  Danny, Vic, Mike, Frank, John. 

I shall begin at the beginning.... Well , no actually I shan't.  We left the car park near Edisford Bridge then  about a mile into our walk your gormless writer/photographer saw a message on his camera screen "No memory card" hence no photos. BUT your brilliant writer/photographer had a spare camera in his rucksack.   so, I shall begin at that point in the hope that Danny will fill in the missing part on hid blog entry.

We were part way along the sculpture trail when we came to this object (first of several the same). What was it ?  No title . No explanation. Our nearest guess was a pineapple but who knows.

Ah ! Now that's better . Definitely Deer. Perhaps it's just my less than sophisticated level of art appreciation.

We continued along this woodland path with occasional breaks in the trees giving us panoramic views across the Ribble Valley towards The Bowland Fells. We could just make out Parlick and Fairsnape fells. Old friends from the past (and likely to remain in the past).

Suddenly the path ended at a busy road across which was the industrial site containing the famous (or infamous) cement works.

A left turn took us down to a gate which in turn would put us back on the Sculpture trail.

Almost immediately we came across another example of work from the "Pineapple School" of sculpture  ..............

Then we came to the next sculpture.  What could it be ? 

This time there were clues. It had a crown.........  it had a fishing rod.     Aha !   Could it be a...... KING....... FISHER ?

This next one was dead easy. I shall leave YOU to guess !!

Those of you who guessed a frog are wrong !  Those of you who guessed Otter  are correct.........   BUT only get half marks if you failed to mention the other creature.

Lunchtime and an old quarry offered us shelter and plentiful seating if needed.

Here's Vic getting out one of the rather smart collapsible stools we all seem to be acquiring.

Those of you with eagle eyes will have spotted a helmeted head peeping over the rocks. It belonged to one of three very amiable young cyclist who happily took a whole group photo for us. 

And here is our two wheeled photographer.

Lunch over we set off again along the woodland path..                                  

Not another Mystery sculpture ?  Yes another piece from the pineapple school of art.  I promise not to photograph any more. Dare I use the word "Phallic".

The next piece of artwork we passed was even simpler to understand than the Otter (and fish....)

At this point our leader Danny offered us a choice . Take the "High Road" or drop down to get a view of a weir on the river.   DOWN is always a good choice but there would be a price to pay.  Down we went.

Unfortunately recent heavy rain meant the water level was quite high and the weir was reduced to a line of brown turbulence.

It had produced a lot of foam though.

Just at this point was a further art work.

It was sort of quadruped compass. The leg nearest to Danny pointed North and the others followed in sequence.

Now came  the  payback time mentioned earlier.

This shot was taken looking down the long steps we had just climbed and gives little impression of how steep they were, Certainly steep enough to require a "Breather" stop when we reached the top.

We were now on the section of path leading back to Brungerly Bridge. The bit I missed on the way out.

Out onto the road and across the bridge.

A steep but short uphill climb before we again found ourselves on a track. This time through the lands of Waddow Hall the large Girl Guide's  outdoor activity centre.

It would have been inappropriate for a group of elderly gentlemen to walk through a girls only area so we kept to the paths taking us around the activity centre.

Is this is an optical illusion ?  One might suspect that Mike has had a close encounter with the local javelin throwers club.

Hmmm....... what is Danny finding so interesting over that wall ?

As we walked we spotted a strange construction up in the woods. It appeared to have a spiral stair leading up to the top. It was not until we spotted the wire leading from it that we realised  it was the start of a very long aerial runway going down into the Waddow Hall grounds.

The next stretch of our walk would take us along the road just beyond the wall in front of us.

As we walked along the road your writer fell into  conversation with a man on holiday from Cornwall. He was enthralled by the beauty of our Lancashire country side and was amazed at how friendly the people in the North were. 

"Isn't Cornwall beautiful ?"  "Yes in parts I suppose."

"Aren't Cornish people friendly ?" "No. Not like up here.... and you can't find any in summer !"

One man and his dog.  I think this was more than your average North Country farm though.

Over to one side as we walked was an old friend who seems anxious to accompany us on many of our walks

PENDLE .......  AGAIN !

With Clitheroe Castle framed against it's sunny flanks.

Before we arrived at Edisford  Bridge we crossed this rather attractive footbridge

.

Once across the bridge we entered the part of Clitheroe called Low Moor. Although seemingly quite ordinary,....an area of terraced housing, there was an air of community pride and liveliness about it.

Several houses had embraced the fun of Halloween.

At the top of one street was a disused church with the initials UMFC, It took us a while to fathom out what that stood for . Surely the F C   couldn't mean Football Club. ? No !  We eventually , with the help of passers by settled for "United Methodist Free Church". It was no longer disused . it was now a carpenters workshop and wood yard.

and there were memorials.

Our final stop was a church we came which provided benches in the yard for flask finishing

Not much further and we were back at the car (Mike's) and on our way home.

THE END

JW

Edisford Bridge, Clitheroe. 5.5 miles. Walkers John W, Frank, Vic, Mike and Danny.

The early morning rain had now stopped. After parking up on the pay and display car park at Edisford Bridge, we crossed over the road and walked down the side of the Municipal Swimming Pool and across the grass to the trees opposite.

Turning right, we are now on part of the Ribble Way. After a short distance we come to the gable end of a row of houses. Here the Ribble Way is diverted away from the river.

                           We turn right, passing this magnificent ash tree.

And this house, which always has a good display of plants and flowers. From here, the alert walker will have no difficulty following the well signed route through the houses.

              The residents of this street (sorry Mews) obviously value their privacy.

From here, the hitherto well surfaced road deteriorates as it passes a long row of allotments small holdings and stables.

     

                         Mike renews his acquaintance with an old friend of his.

After leaving the donkeys, the path splits. A lower path follows the river but we follow the path to the right. The large house across the river is Wadddow Hall, now owned by the Girl Guides Association.

Our route takes us through the well maintained grounds of Clitheroe cemetery where there was an abundance of seats for us to choose from for our morning brew.

                                                   

        Exiting the cemetery by a lower path, Vic leads the way back down to the river and               Brungerley Bridge.

                                                Here we stop for a photo shoot.

                                                                          Or two

Climbing up to the road we turn right before crossing the road to enter Brungerley Park and sculpture trail.

Climbing up to the upper path, we follow it to the end, where we exit and turn right, opposite Clitheroe cement works.

After passing the cement works car park, we turn left again to re-enter the park at the lower level,

                                        

                                                                "Say what you see"

                                                                   

Leaving the main path we enter a disused sandstone quarry where we stop for dinner. 

After leaving the park by the same way we came in we crossed over the river by road. Care had to be taken as the road was quite busy and there was no footpath. Once over the bridge, a little further on on the left hand side is a footpath into the grounds of Waddow Hall.

Following the public footpath through the grounds brought us out at Edisford Road which we followed until we reached the footbridge back across the river. The well made footbridge can be seen in the centre of the photo.

We made our way back to the car through the streets of Low Moor, a district of Clitheroe. The weather stayed fine for us, which added to the enjoyment of the walk.                                                                                                           DK