St. CATHERINE'S HOSPICE

WITHER GOEST THOU LEADER ? 4 Miles

THE LED  :- John, Anthony, Jim, Danny (?)

Lostock Hall ?

Your writer can in no way guarantee the accuracy of this walk on the map . Maybe the leader, Danny, can enlighten us.

We started our walk today in a "Different fashion"....   Having lunch FIRST ! at the renowned MILL cafe. So early, were we, that John W's order was rejected by the waitress, who politely pointed out "We're still on the BREAKFAST  menu sir, "

Having "Lunched" our leader today then morphed into a "Pinball Wizard" bouncing  us backwards and forwards through the gardens of St Catherine's Hospice. No Problem. It was a lovely place to walk through.

The main buildings of the Hospice itself.

Some of the attractive features in St Catherine's garden.

Having "Bounced" around the charming gardens of the Hospice we left it to begin our walk proper.

Once we had left the grounds of St Catherine's our walk alternated between open green spaces and housing or industrial areas.  In one of the "Open spaces" there appeared to be an old well, which Danny, seen here peering down it, said it looked quite deep.

Urban ?  Oh yes. Not a blade of grass to be seen.

The river Lostock was a notable feature as we crossed and recrossed it at regular intervals.

You'll have heard of the "Urban Jungle"  Well here it is.

Surely we're not in Burma but this is definitely a wilderness if not a jungle railway !

TO THE WEST..............................

TO THE EAST..................................  Was that a Japanese voice we could hear coming through the undergrowth. ...... NO !  You've been watching too many old movies John.

A brief rest in a little park. JOHN !  Look up and smile !

Not much improvement there then !

Para Medic Danny (???) dispensing drugs ..........  well..... Fisherman's friends anyway 😇

I was aware that the council provided leisure and sporting facilities, Football pitches, park play areas, allotments etc,  but I was entirely unaware that they also provided pigeon lofts for the pigeon fanciers but here they were.

A Nasty case of woodworm ? That was our first guess, Finally we decided it was council housing for bees and other insects, What a thoughtful council.

The Mighty River Lostock crosses our path again or rather we crossed it's path.

"When I said we need water, I meant bottled water you idiot !"

There's something about water that proves irresistible to some shoppers.

I am steadily growing fonder of this local council, Wild flowers growing next to a busy roundabout. Well Done.😃 ...and the sign post below sums that attitude up.

difficult to read ?...... " A warm welcome to Bamber Bridge"

A strange dwelling, right next to a busy major road, seemingly being swamped by the surrounding wilderness. What a fascinating place of contradictions this South Ribble area seems to be.

Did we leave a tip for the staff at the MILL ?

Once beyond that gate down there and Danny morphs again into the "PINBALL WIZARD" 

"Which way are we going then ?"

About 3 to 4 hundred metres down this track and Danny decides that the lake we had past wasn't there last time he came............ Well, we have had a lot of rain.

Rather a nice little lake but we shouldn't be passing it.

Back we go !

Did you know there was a rather pretty little pond just in front of the B & Q store.

No ?   Neither did we.

Is there a tired look about these two ? 

Out onto the busy road and across some very busy junctions and we were back to the MILL. ...... and so to home after a DIFFERENT, confusing but interesting walk . Well done Danny........ I think !

THE END

JW

CONDER GREEN

 ABOUT TURN    3 Miles

RETURNERS :-  Mike, Jim, Anthony, John.

With hearts aglow and spirits high we parked up at CONDER GREEN ready for a short but brisk walk in search of Ashton Hall. The last time we used this car park the ticket machine didn't work. No change then ! Unintended word play  there.

Is this just mindless vandalism or some form of "protest" ?

 

The day had started cloudy and grey but soon into our walk the sky turned blue and a warm sun (later becoming a HOT sun) beamed down upon us.

Wild flowers bloomed in profusion

and in the distance was a clear view of an old friend - GLASSON DOCK.

After about half an hours walking we halted for a conflab. You will notice in these two photographs that there is much tapping of phones as we search on our various map "apps" for an exit leading to Ashton Hall our destination. There doesn't seem to be one!  As for "Hands in pockets Mike". No worries.

On our maps a road is shown going over this bridge and past the golf course to the hall,  BUT........ there is no way of accessing this bridge.

Mike as usual remains cool and calmly detached.

As we waited for a decision to be made we noticed a group of geese at the side of the River.  (Flying geese = a Skein   On the land  =  a gaggle  in the water = no idea.) They were mainly Canadas with a sprinkling of Greylags.

On investigation I discovered that geese have numerous names depending on where they are and what they are doing. What have geese got that other birds haven't ? "Group" being the commonest and easiest to remember.

The search continues.  No suitable exit is found.😕😧

Then a ray of hope as there appeared to be a footpath alongside this area where "Burrow Beck" (I think) flows down from  Scotforth to join the Lune. But - again we could find no access to it.

By now we had done several U-turns and had passed a large house on the river side of the track three times. The house - Waterloo Cottage - obviously used the bridge as a driveway to come and go.

 As there was no access to it from the track we decided , as a last throw of the dice, that we would cut through to the riverside path and follow that in the hope of finding a way to the Hall.

The lady of the house was in the garden mowing the lawn and in spite of pathetic pleadings  🙏  she insisted that this was PRIVATE PROPERTY and there was no way she would allow four sweaty (the sun was HOT by now) old reprobates access to her private driveway to the hall.

So we continued our tramp along the shoreline back towards the cars. This was not without it's pleasures  e.g. the wild flowers and a cooling breeze coming off the sea. As we walked we passed large clumps of Common Sea Lavender. A salt marsh species.

As we approached the car park Mike spotted a gap in the hedge which allowed us back on the track and back to the cars.

Mike shows us the way off the shore to the track and Anthony brings up the rear.

By this time your writer's brain was completely addled with most of it's synapses fused. From here on he completely forgot to take any more photos as we drove round to Ashton Hall, our days destination.

So No Photos of.........The lovely garden centre

                                     The beautiful flowers within it 

                                     Some friends of John's we met

                                    The incredibly expensive secateurs (£80 to £100+)

                                    And the lovely lunch we enjoyed.

Ah well.....  you can't win 'em all

and so to home                                   

THE END

JW

p.s.  John has a pair of those ridiculously expensive secateurs which he "acquired" about twenty years ago. 

A bit battered now but still working very well and certainly the best of the three/four pairs he has.  Made in Switzerland.  But £80 + . Not likely to buy another pair.