May Ramble – The Jumbles to Affetside
The dear leader has recently been neglecting his duties due to house renovations, so our Bolton division kindly stepped in to provide us with a good walk in their home territory.
The Jumbles is a wooded valley to the north-east of Bolton that was flooded some years ago and is now a pleasant nature reserve, popular with Boltonians.
From the car park, we started walking northwards along the bank of the reservoir, the water being large enough to support a sailing club and this was followed by a walk by a connecting stream, quite fast flowing, until we arrived at Turton Bottoms. Here, we changed direction to easterly and started a long steady climb across fields, good paths and farm tracks, skirting Walves Reservoir on the way until we arrived at the village of Hawkshaw. In the distance we could see the Peel Tower, dedicated to Sir Robert Peel, overlooking Bury. We now turned south-east to the village of Affetside, on the Roman Road. Affetside used to be a remote community relying on hand weaving and the products carried by pack horse. For the Millennium, the locals converted a ‘bus turning point into a pleasant garden and it was here that we stopped for lunch.
On our way again, it was all downhill. The weather up to now had been pleasant with a breeze, but we now headed directly into a fierce, bitterly cold gale all the way down to Bradshaw. From here, we entered the woodland which gave us some shelter and headed back to the start. However, we have a strict rule that we never finish a walk with a steep climb, a rule that was broken when we had to scramble up a very steep path to the car park!
Many thanks to Bill for yet another good walk on their home patch. Hopefully, we will be able to show them what we have to offer on the next walk.
Linda & Eddie Grange