Rufford to Wigan
Distance 18 miles
Ascent 330m
Weather warm and sunny
Hares, wandering narrow boats, slow pony trekkers, fast cyclists, hordes, religious cottages, ice creams.
Well fed and rested, we left the hotel and joined the canal, walking along behind Rufford Old Hall.
We left the canal and walked through some massive potato fields of bare soil on to grassy bank alongside a ditch, which had lots of insects and butterflies. There were some lapwings in the fields but not much else.
We walked through Mawdesley, where there was a lot of road walking, some with pavements, most not. Also some interesting bungalows to assess. Then we walked up a road up a hill. At the top there was a bench so we sat on it. A lady came and sat with us. Some cyclists stood nearby.
We met some sheep and lambs on a pretty tree lined footpath between fields and in neat parkland. The landscape now much hillier with small woods and ponds. We saw a buzzard and met a friendly spaniel called Rosie.
At the view point on Sparrow Hill we had an ice cream, then walked down the hill and up the other side to Ashursts Beacon. It was hot.
A path that was dry but would have been horrendous in anything other than this dry weather led under the M6 motorway and on to the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, which was very popular. We followed the canal into Wigan having rest near B and Qs yard, and through town to the Mercure Hotel.
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