Length : 130 miles
Started : October 2008
Finished : 12th June 2011
Companions : I haven't got a full record of all those attending the various walks but the following people were leaders of individual sections : Paul D'Alessandro , Mark Billington, Graham Webster, Colin Whittaker, Serena Armstrong, Chris Cooper, Helen Smith and Andy Roughley. Mark Billington completed the walk with me but did a couple of sections individually not with the Group.
Guide : The Thirlmere Way - Tim Cappelli (Sigma 1992)
This was my next LDP project with the Group. It was intended to be the follow-up to the Cumbria Coastal Way but actually started with two stages of the CCW still to go to take advantage of the current interest in LDPs in the Group. This time though I wanted it to be a shared endeavour with different members leading individual sections of the route.
You might recall from earlier posts that this was the one I was planning to do with the previous girlfriend back in 1994 so in a sense it was unfinished business for me.
The Way was the brainchild of a water engineer called Tim Capelli who devised a route in the early 90s roughly following the line of the underground aqueduct constructed in 1894 to take water from Thirlmere to the city of Manchester. The walk was never officially adopted by anyone the only waymarking being provided by the black iron gates indicating the line of the aqueduct below. The book suggested a sort of I-Spy game spotting all these gates but we never took that seriously.
I decided that I would lead the first couple of sections through Greater Manchester then hand over to others until we got to Kendal when I'd take over for the final legs. It was decided early on that we'd do the last two sections as a weekend away.
Day One in the book immediately presented a problem as it ended at Chequerbent after 14 miles, a place which seemed to be unserved by buses on a Sunday. Day Two was then an unappealing 18.5 miles long. My solution was to split Cappelli's two days into three so that the first walk was from Heaton Park ( the terminus of the aqueduct ) to the A575 on the edge of Atherton. This still meant a convoluted return to the start ( bus into Bolton, train to Manchester, tram to Heaton Park ) although some of the party were able to avoid this because two of them actually lived near the finish and had a spare car to go back to Heaton Park. There was also a potenial problem in the final stretch as a number of footpaths in the Hulton area had been closed / diverted to allow opencast mining and I visited the Bolton MBC Rights of Way office to get a new map detailing the variations.
It was quite a nice day for October and the route was better than expected using country parks to get through the urban landscape as much as possible and one or two areas had been improved since the book was published. When we skirted Little Hulton we were eyed up by some loitering chavs who evidently decided we were too many ( around 14 ) to tackle and so we came away unscathed. Blackleach Country Park made a pleasant lunch spot but the dispersal at the end meant we didn't have the usual pub stop bringing the day to an unsatisfactory close.
The bulk of the same people turned up for stage two six weeks later but the overall attendance was the best of the whole walk , ironically given it was the least appealing section. We started from Atherton station , walked back to the A575 then went as far as Horwich. The initial pleasant walk through Hulton Park was about as good as it got then it was all either road walking or drab farmland alongside the M61 until we got to Middlebrook. There I had to figure out the route through what was farmland when the book was written. This entailed some trial and error ; that, plus an unavoidable bit of marshland around a stile which gave everyone wet feet, killed off the idea of going a bit further towards Rivington for a more pleasant finish. We terminated as planned at Horwich then took a long bus ride back to Atherton with a further mile's walk back to the station from where we alighted. This time we did have a pub stop though.
The next stage was in March 2009 where I handed over the baton to Paul D'Alessandro. This was much more scenic running past Rivington , Anglezarke and Healey Nab then a stretch of canal walking near Wheelton before heading east to Abbey Village , somewhat off the route of the aqueduct but necessary ( at the time the book was written ) to give those doing the walk in one go an accommodation option. This was a long section done at a slow pace but the weather was superb for March. For this and most subsequent sections we did a car shuffle
That wasn't the case in July when Mark led Stage Four from Abbey Village to Longridge. In the morning it was opressively humid and the afternoon saw a thunderstorm and then prolonged downpour. There was a sharp contraction in the attendance with just 8 of us having done all the previous sections. We had an early drama when some guy approached us near the M65 crossing and asked Mark for help rescuing a cow which had fallen into the canal. He was directed to the nearest farm while we crossed the canal seeing no sign of any distressed bovines. I think everyone was wilting by the time we reached the outskirts of Preston near the Tickled Trout and relished the opportunity to replenish liquid stocks at the garage. Just as we got there a thunderstorm broke and we sheltered there for over half an hour witnessing all sorts of mad behaviour including a car full of kids who didn't look old enough to drive and a woman who was smoking while she filled up. One of our own party contributed to the mayhem by phoning for a taxi and abandoning the walk. Eventually Mark persuaded us to venture out into the rain and carry on. Most of the remaining route followed the Ribble Way before heading north to Longridge the rain eventually stopping as the walk ran into the early evening.
Cappelli's next stage was 17 miles long so was split into two, the first led by Graham Webster in November 2009 . I think Graham would admit that he'd lost interest in the project by then and was just keeping his promise. It was a horribly wet day and 6 of the 100 % ers opted out at this point leaving just Mark and myself as the completists. This stage ran from Longridge to Beacon Fell and although relatively short presented a considerable navigational challenge as it ran through featureless grass fields on paths that were invisible on the ground. Despite an obvious lack of enthusiasm Graham led it very well and we were finished before two.
Colin's section took place in March 2010. The weather was much better and the route had a bit more variety, passing through Calder Vale and Grizedale before ending at Dolphinholme. We also had a very pleasant coffee stop at Cobble Hey Farm.
The next stage was led by Serena in June , the 11 mile stretch from Dolphinholme to Caton taking us over the halfway mark. It was the highlight thus far with a moorland crossing over Grit Fell linking the Wyre valley to that of the Lune, all of it very pleasant.
The baton then passed to Chris Cooper for what Cappelli says is a 16-mile walk up the Lune valley from Caton to Kirkby Lonsdale. Having reccied it Chris thought it was nearer to 19 miles and toyed with the idea of splitting it in two but eventually decided to go for it in August. Mark , Colin and I were his only takers on a hot summer's day. We parked in Kirkby Lonsdale then caught the bus to Caton. It was a hard day's march with no opportunity for refreshment after the first mile. Most of it I had already done before on different walks and the linking bits were uninteresting but I did enjoy the finish through the limestone pastures into Kirkby Lonsdale and we had a decent meal at the Whoop Inn before we came home.
Helen Smith did 2010's final section from Kirkby Lonsdale to Kendal in October , a 14 mile stretch mainly alongside the Lancaster canal. Julie and I took the opportunity to have a weekend away in a converted barn at Burneside. The weather was pretty good with only a brief shower when we first hit the canal to worry about. Andy Roughley who hadn't been involved up to then now offered to do the next stage for me.
Before his walk ( from Kendal to Windermere ) came round in February this year I knew it clashed with a pop quiz so I asked to accompany him on his reccy a fortnight earlier instead. Mark also came with us although he did it with the Group as well. It was an excellent walk on a day that was fine but bitterly cold with the grass frozen beneath our feet. When Andy did it with the Group the weather was worse and one member had to drop out because, having stayed in Kendal overnight, his car had been vandalised.
I took charge again for the final two legs. Ten of us stayed at Fallbarrow Park in Bowness with three more staying at B & Bs nearby. As the two days' walks were advertised individually on the website four more came up for Saturday's walk from Windermere to Grasmere. It was a lovely day and we made good progress over Orrest Head, across the Troutbeck valley and over into Ambleside. I had decided to give people an hour there to choose their own lunch arrangements which seemed to work well, myself enjoying a drink and sandwich at the Old Bakery House with 4 other members. We had a minor mishap in the afternoon when one member who'd popped into a cake shop after setting off missed the turn off into Rydal Park but we steered him back for the easy saunter into Grasmere.
The following day began with a drive into Grasmere. No one new joined us so 11 started the final section in bright sunshine. There was a minor scare early on when a notice warned us that a bridge was down but we got across the beck without too much difficulty. At Grisedale Tarn I offered a diversion up Seat Sandal which 7 took up led by Mark. The rest of us found a lunch spot in the valley of Raise Beck and awaited the others' return. We had just about finished when the rain came and settled in for the rest of the day. Fortunately most of the remainder of the route was in the dense forestry plantations on the east side of Thirlmere so we stayed tolerably dry. When we re-encountered the A591 at Swirls the end was only a mile and a half away but one of the drivers had parked in a field at Grasmere which closed at 5pm and it was now 3.40pm. As they had to make sure they got the next bus the majority took the excuse to drop out at this point and walk the shorter distance to Thirlspot for the bus. So Mark and I had just 3 companions for the short scenic walk along the lakeshore to the official end point at Thirlmere Dam.
