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.
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