The July Ramble – White Coppice/Brinscall
During the temporary absence of our leader, recent walks have been led by a number of volunteers and this month, Bill, from our Bolton friends, offered to lead us on a walk in an area he knows quite well.
The walk started at the cricket ground at the pretty and very English hamlet of White Coppice. As today was match day, the catering corps. were doing a great job in their little hut, which was just as well as someone forgot to bring their dinner with them.
Leaving the cricketers behind, we ascended the southern flank of Heapy Moor to Drinkwaters, where a number of paths merge and from this lofty point, excellent views were enjoyed in all directions, particularly to North Wales as far as Anglesey. From here, our route led us across open moor land to a ruin known as Solomon’s Temple. Apparently, someone called Soloman ran a Sunday School here in the distant past. Then it was more moorland, heading towards the Winter Hill TV mast and descending to fields and our lunch stop overlooking a disused quarry.
After lunch, we continued down to a quiet lane which led us to Brinscall and a brief stop to examine the footpath building programme here and what has been done is quite staggering. The Goit is a watercourse that flows in a southerly direction through the Wheelton Plantation and was followed by walkers along a terrible, extremely muddy path, often avoided in wet weather. However, an all-weather bridle- way has recently been built and we followed this fantastic construction all the way back to White Coppice, noting how fortunate it was that the project avoided the government’s current spending cuts.
White Coppice is a splendid place to end a walk, sitting in the sun with a cup of tea and watching the cricket.
Many thanks to Bill for a splendid walk and for organizing the weather to complement it.
Janet Sommerville