This group has two places available on the mini bus on 27th April . The group will be walking from Cowling Bridge to Riley Green. The walk is approx 7 miles long. We also have places on the May walk which is from Riley Green to Whitebirk Bridge, again this walk in approx 7 miles. If you are interested in joining the group on either or both of these walks please contact Brenda McKenzie on 0151 531 0207 or come to Group Support Table on a Tuesday morning.
April Walk -Chorley enjoys an excellent reputation for its lively markets which date back to at least to 1498, In the Middle Ages the parish church is said to have had a reliquary containing some of the bones of St Laurence. Close to the town is Astley Hall, the Elizabethan former home of the Charnock family, well worth visiting and entry is free(check opening days/hours first) and contains the bed where Cromwell slept after the battle of Preston in 1648.
The next two bridges 76 and 77 recall now demolished local buildings Crosse Hall and the Workhouse, which became the local hospital. Strangely the canal didn’t serve the town centre as the canal companies offices and wharves which where located at Knowley over a mile north of the town in an area known as Botany Bay beyond the M61 overbridge, A little further on is the junction between the Lancaster Canal and the Leeds Liverpool Canal. The Lancaster continues left towards Walton Summit where a tramway took cargoes over the Ribble but it now terminates in less than a mile by the M61
The Leeds Liverpool continues in a more easterly direction up Johnson’s Hillock flight of locks raising 65ft to 363 ft above sea level. Close to the beginning of this flight is the Howard Arms otherwise known as the Heyes Arms where Whittle Springs spa water were discovered by Mr Heyes when digging for coal in the 1840’s It became a popular day tripper destination by barge in the late C19. Whittle Springs Brewery was developed using the spa waters later taken over by Mathew Brown. This section of the canal becomes quite attractive from the top lock with countryside opening out as the canal passes into a shallow valley with Withnell Fold Nature Reserve on the left and the industrial village on the right. Its worth leaving the canal here to look at the village which was based on a long closed paper mill, complete with workers cottages, chapel , small park, school and village stocks by the square.
Returning to the canal it continues on to Riley Green with a small marina, turning left off the canal is but a short walk to Riley Green itself, a small settlement around the crossroads with a pub. There are several waymarked walks in this area, including a path which leads to Hoghton Tower. It is one of the most famous Lancs country houses and has its place in English folklore as where in 1617, King james was so delighted with a joint of beef served to his table that he knighted it as “sirloin”
If we have time( and the strength) I have a 2/3 mile circular walk in the countryside around the Hoghton Tower from “Curious Lancashire Walks” by Graham Dugdale