Doe Hill 44m SD 676 381
Parsonage Reservoir S 236m SD 704 310
Parsonage Reservoir N 236m SD 701 325
Eden Holme 83m SD 661 340
Weather windows have to be seized.
Way back one would not have set off looking at the lashing rain early this morning but our modern forecasts are pretty accurate and clearance was promised followed only by occasional showers. It was still almost dark when I set off at 7:00am to drive south in driving rain. I generally don't much like going south from Arnside but this project to visit all 76 trigs on OS Sheet103 is proving to be interesting and worth the trauma of driving in industrial Lancashire to find the many areas still providing open country and acceptable walking. A shell waterproof had been replaced by my heavier and warmer Paramo jacket awoken from hibernation.
The very minor road accessing Doe Hill serendipitously provided a large enough gateway for parking within fifty metres of the lane leading to Doe Hill. The rain stopped at exactly the time I switched off the motor.
I met a dog walker with a friendly Labrador who jumped all over me in friendliness and we exchanged a few words . The path leading off the lane was not signed and also hidden by shrubbery. Without the knowledge from its showing on the map it would be easy to miss.
There was an eerie early morning feeling at the trig with the sun trying to break through the lingering billowing rain clouds, and the hint of the earlier darkness still prevailing.
After my half mile there and back I was able to drive the five miles to start the remaining three trigs on their 10 mile circular walk starting from the car park at Tiggi's restaurant on the A59. The River Ribble causes difficult logistics for travelling north to south in this area but thankfully Ribchester Bridge, one of the few crossing places, was well positioned for me today.
So far this project has provided pleasant walking terrain, interesting features and incidents, and on a couple of occasions good company. Today's walk was more mundane and incident free and although I had an enjoyable day it would go to bottom place if I was giving all on this project a rating.
Parsonage Reservoir South provided the best view of the day. Not far from Tiggis, at Harwood Fold, my way was barred by two farm gates, one padlocked and within a few yards the second comprehensively tied up with, guess what, hairy farmer's string. I had to climb them both.
After leaving the trig my way was again blocked by cows with calves and their minder bull and they were showing some signs of irritation. I dodged over a gate and then had trouble in gateless fields trying to get back on path. I headed for a walled corner. It looked like a dicey climb but then I spotted a short ladder on the other side which I was able to entice with my walking pole and pull back over. Even then it was with some difficulty I managed to overcome and get back to my route.
I had already had more than an acceptable amount of road walking and now I had a busy section with no walkway to get me back down to Parsonage Reservoir and the ascent to the second trig on this circuit. The trig was inexplicably bounded by a twenty foot square barbed wire fence with a proud notice attached informing me of its renovation by Wilpshire Parish Council. I wonder how much that cost and how many more deserving causes it ranked above in the spending of what I am sure would be limited resources. I doffed the rucksack and squirmed underneath the barbed wire to have the satisfaction of touching.
Now downhill and at the entrance to Wilpshire golf course a bench was well placed and sheltered (again provided by the wealthy Wilpshire Parish Council) where I lunched in great comfort musing at the Council's success in usurping the use of my portable chair.
More convoluted route finding followed including some crop fields ploughed out to the edges leaving no alternative but gloopy plodding - that is the kind of walking that I just don't enjoy. I at last arrived at the anticlimax of Eden Holme, very low in the league table of all trigs I have visited. I was at the corner of yet another ploughed out crop field, the trig hidden and disheveled in a hedge with no views. My visit only lasted long enough to take the photo. A few more fields and tracks had me back to Tiggis and my car. At just short of ten miles and a bit more than a thousand feet of ascent I was pretty tired - that is about as much as I want to do these days.
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| "Morning has broken..." |
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| Should be no problem to a retired climber but not so easy these days |
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| Looks like this will soon be a tunnel |
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Banking of Parsonage Reservoir left. Trig somewhere on distant skyline |
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| From Parsonage Res. S. |
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| The wider view showing some of Lancashire's industrial sprawl |
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| Stalag Luft Parsonage Res. N. |
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| Loveley Hall - nothing to report from my research - I was just hoping for a blogger's gift |
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| Eden Holme. Only deserves B and W |
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| Hope Hill near Hurst Green, top of map then drive in between |
Sorry I missed that one.
ReplyDeleteLOVELY HALL
ReplyDeleteThis is one of the most picturesque of the old halls in this area and is an ancient gabled structure originally built in the 17th century on the site of an earlier building. Over several generations it was the home of the Boultons and the Parkers who may have acquired it via marriage. In the 18th century it was owned by the Winders and John Winder repaired the building and left his initials dated 1735 on it. Later the property passed to George Nicholas Starkie of Huntroyde who restored and enlarged the property as an occasional residence and for the use of one of his sons who unfortunately died. During the 1950’s/60’s it was the residence of Albert Higham (cotton manufacturer) who developed the gardens and introduced electric lighting. Before the Highams it was occupied by a former Salesbury curate called A. Robinson followed by Mr. and Mrs. Stones and then Mr. and Mrs. Cayley. Mrs. Cayley was the daughter of Sir William Coddington (cotton manufacturer and Blackburn M.P.) Lovely Hall was always a working pastoral farm and could originally have been one of the Salesbury Hall Estates farms. On its lawn could be seen an interesting 17th century sun-dial and today the hall standing off Lovely Hall Lane is a private residence and still has a working farm with farm outbuildings. At one time was the home of the Salesbury family.
Bc -It was one you hadn't ticked on the list I Sent to you I think, so I take your comment with a pinch of salt.
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Alan R - Thanks for that. Looks like I got my blogger's gift anyway.
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A Bushell of salt.
ReplyDeleteBc - It seems a bushel is a measure of of eight gallons, that could be a million pinches!
ReplyDeleteThe perils of writing comments on a dodgy Internet connection. Take 3...
ReplyDeleteI'd love to see the minutes of the Wilpshire Parish Council meeting when it was decided that the newly restored trig point (i.e. a robust concrete structure in its own right) needed the protection of a fence. It seems such a bizarre thing to do that the hypothesis that the fence is to keep trig baggers away from their objective starts to look plausible (insert tongue in cheek emoji here).
Gayle - I was just glad it wasn't electrified.
ReplyDeleteIs there some conspiracy to isolate trig points with barbed wire fences?
ReplyDeleteI don't ever remember this occurring in the past. Maybe all the farmers are following your blog and joining forces to obstruct your mission.
I'm still licking all that salt.
BCX - I often wonder why the use of barbed wire is so prolific. Is it to keep animals in or humans out? It must be nasty stuff to handle and presumably would cost more than plain wire. If it was to keep humans out this example was a feeble attempt. It was so easy just to crawl under, even for me!
ReplyDelete