Pilgrims' Way - Day 3

Day 3 - Radcliffe to Manchester Cathedral

Distance: 11miles

Weather: damp start, becoming warm and sunny 

From the tram stop, we joined the Manchester, Bolton and Bury canal (dis) to go and look for one of the sculptures on the Irwell Sculpture trail of some bullrushes, but we didn't find it. We did find some slippy cobbles and drama ducks.

After following the canal for a bit, we followed a footpath alongside some horse fields and woodland to join the disused railway track into Drinkwater Park. We walked along the reservoirs and through some lush grassy parkland, coming out along the River Irwell by the cemetery.  We walked along the flood defences, stopping for a coffee and toast and to change our socks, before heading down to go around the Kersal nature reserve. Lots of birdlife here, including a kingfisher, cormorants, little grebe, great crested grebe, heron, little egrets, goosanders and a lot of ducks and geese. During the day we also saw a kestrel, buzzard and heard a nuthatch.

It was definitely grass cutting day in Salford. We walked along a quiet lane for pedestrians and cyclists between the river and blocks of flats into the city centre to the cathedral and the end of our Pilgrims Way Walk. We sat in the new Glade of Light memorial gardens, which are lovely, and then went to the Printworks to watch the new Resident Evil movie.

Pilgrims' Way - Day 2

Day 2 - Haslingden to Radcliffe

Distance: 14 miles

Weather: warm and overcast, wet at times

We took the tram to Rochdale and then a bus back to Haslingden for day two of our pilgrims walk. This section was very different to the first day, much more off road and less well trodden. A nice rocky path took us up on to Holcombe Moor to the Pilgrims Stone, a memorial to a stone cross which had stood there for centuries (allegedly) before being removed (stolen).

There were some fight-y sheep, a geese fly-by and views of Peel Tower and Manchester and the Pennine Hills in the misty distance.

We entered the firing range area, no flags or warning lights today. We headed across the bogs and down into the valley along a pleasant stony path where thankfully the red sign was just for horse riders to dismount across the stream and not a footpath closed sign. The rain clouds over the nearby hills came to meet us and it drizzled a bit. 

We crossed the road in Hawkshaw and had a sit down outside the pub to eat some toast and wished we'd brought the flask.

The path from here crossed fields and meadows alongside a golf course. There was a very wet gate and a lot of nettles, some snipe flying up out of the water as we passed. Grassy paths alongside a stream led to a lane into Radcliffe where we had a look for some sculptures on the Irwell Sculpture trail in Close Park and went to look at St Mary's church and the remains of a tower - from many angles but not up close because gates.

Pilgrims' Way - Day 1

Day 1 - Whalley to Haslingden

Distance: 13 miles

Warm and sunny

We were an hour later setting off than planned, due to the train in front of ours breaking down, and it was about 1pm when we set off walking. We visited the Church of Saint Mary as it was on the route we were following, but we did not visit the abbey or gatehouse, which was probably a mistake for pilgrims.

Leaving town, the path went up a steep hillside along the edge of woodland, with meadows, sheep fields and views over the valley and the River Calder. Pleasant farmland, quite parkland-y, led to Great Harwood where we joined the Leeds Liverpool canal, which was quite a surprise. The canal was very green and soupy, but there were plenty of ducks, fish and a cormorant.

An aqueduct took us over the M65 and into Accrington - passing a very precariously parked van. Leaving the canal we joined a disused railway greenway, crossing over near a roundabout which was home to a million rats. At least six.

We had a sit down near Tesco for a foot faff and backache break, then continued along the greenway. We saw some deer and got very distracted by the smell from the Holland's Pies factory. The route into Haslingden avoids the main roads by going up along the hillside along quiet lanes. Another sit down at a playground before heading down into Haslingden where we had a short wait near the war memorial for our bus.