Rivington Park 08/02/14 & Entwistle Reservoir 09/02/14

I am not one to be sold by advertising, as most of it washes past me in a 'Don't need it / Never wanted it' way, but every so often something will capture your attention, as it taps in to your interests in an almost specific way, as if it were directed to you personally, and that is exactly what Land Rover's #hibernot campaign has done for me. I'm not sure if this is a campaign to sell more off-road vehicles to the suburban middle classes, or if it is a genuine attempt to promote outdoor activity in winter, but the ad perfectly captures what the many tangents of being outdoors in the least clement of seasons can be like, and the associated website does seem to be doing its best sell the idea of enjoying this 'grey and pleasant land', despite being pretty horrible to navigate (we don't all use tablets, you know). So whilst February fails to offer long days and clear passages of pleasing weather, the idea of #hibernot seems like a good way to enjoy the season before Spring finally makes its breakthrough, and as an excess of rain has knocked Pendle Hill from the immediate target list, some low key expeditioning will be handy as I end my week of NIW by staying with My Sis and family on the fringe of the West Pennine Moors.

Rivington Park 3.6 miles, & Entwistle Reservoir 2.6 miles

It's a weekend of almost constant changeability, not as bad as the weather that has sunk Somerset or inundated the Thames Valley, but the sort of climate that has you checking for available windows of opportunity and hurriedly gathering all the outdoor gear before the girls can settle into a morning routine of TV and DS games. So haul all five of us into the car and pound it over to Rivington Park, on the other side of Winter Hill, for a Saturday morning of #hibernot, and a 9.45am start allows us to compare gear with my nieces looking like they almost have matching togs to wear, and can only be easily distinguished by choice of hat (Elder favours s knitted ski cap, whilst Younger prefers her wolf hat & scarf), and once again I feel like I'm underdressed, being the only one who hasn't donned any waterproof trews. Still we're all set to go, not needing too many provisions for a walk to the top of the park and back again, but in this instance it is a very literal top and even with it being only a short circuit. we'll be enjoying around 150m of ascent. So start out from the lane between the Great Hall and the Great House (for deliberate confusion, they both have notable cruck barns too0 and set of gently, due east and onwards through the pinetum to see that the girls are not at all fazed by a hiss of light drizzle, and the gusting wind, they have already grown well into outdoors folks, though we know they are still kids as we have to stop to interact with any passing dogs, and there are plenty of them out too, as few in  this corner of Lancashire have been discouraged by the weather.

The Ascending Path

The Dovecote

The challenging ascents start when we hit the rocky path that ascends around the terraced gardens of Lord Leverhulme's park, mostly obscured by tree cover, and its good to see that the shoulders don't drop as the going gets harder and the pace is maintained even as the wind starts to cut in pretty forcefully and the exposed skin really starts to feel it. Meet the mid height bridleway about half way up, and pause for important watering and to enjoy the views down to the Rivington reservoirs, half hidden in the haze, and allow the horse traffic to pass before continuing up hill, diverting off the path to cross-country it uphill past the Japanese gardens. It's a mash of wintery colours on the edge of the moorland, quite different from the riot of greenery that was alive the last time that I came this way in September 2012, indeed my Sister has to point out that this is a variant on the route from back then, and I can wonder what the pavilions that look animal houses might have been originally, as this park has plenty of explanatory notice boards but not a great deal of specific information. A stepped path leads us up to the high bridleway, and that will be the limit of our ascent as winds are bit too unfriendly for going all the way to the top of Rivington Pike, and I'll speculate about the hardy orienteering types who are littered up here, and I'm informed that they are probably attempting the Three Towers trail, which also takes in Ramsbottom Peel Tower and Darwen Tower, and that seems unthinkable to me in this weather, #hibernot be damned! Tread the bridleway north to the dovecote, the other notable tower up on this hillside, standing above the pleasingly wild Edwardian terraced garden, and offering views toward Anglezarke moor and reservoir, a bit of formal civilisation on the edge of the wild moors.

The Footbridge

The View from the Shore

Our descent starts down through the terraces, which are a bit too slippery for my liking, but prevent all sorts of opportunities for playing castle with all the split levels and battlements, and I'm going to have to find some reading materials about this site so I can make sense of all these caged pavilions and accents of Arts & Crafts style classical order. It's all a lot of fun, picturesque in both sense of the word and one of the more eccentric garden features that I have encountered, so much more satisfying than all the 18th century styling, and the footbridge over the mid height bridleway is easily the highlight, with its multifarious arches. Serious descending hits the stepped path which snakes its way down through the trees and requires extra wits to make sure everyone is secure on their feet, and Younger Niece is the only one to take a spill, but proves her big girl / true walker credentials by not making a fuss, and at the bottom we all stop to water and snack again, before starting back. The body language starts to suggest that the girls might have had enough, and I can't blame them as I'm starting to feel the need for some sustenance, so back into the level section of the park we head, detouring back through the pinetum to find the shortest track possible back to Great House barn, so we can all make inroads into cake and teas, or juice and ice cream if that happens to be your thing. Food does wonders for the spirits of all, as does listening to the tales of others enjoying the West Pennines brand of inclemency, and the girls are happy to take the path down the reservoir to Liverpool castle, as it's their favourite spot for hide and seek, and you'd think they'd have run out of spot to hide, but they can keep that going for much longer than is honestly comprehensible. Return to the car to complete the familiar route around the lower half of the park, satisfied that the worst of the weather held off and I feel that I need to discover an all encompassing heritage trail of Lever Park, just to make sense of the whole thing, and so i don't keep taking the same routes every time I come out here. Still, all done at 12.45pm, and with lunchtime on the horizon once we've returned to Egerton, I'd say that's some good morning exercise and a healthy dose of #hibernot!

~~~



The Outlet

Sunday brings more of the same, low temperatures and heavy cloud, with even shorter windows between the rain, so hopes for a tour around Upper Rivington and Anglezarke reservoirs come to nothing and any venture we do manage has to be kept short as I'll be needing to snag my ride home to Morley in the early evening. This time the whole family will not be swayed as my nieces have delved deep into the Lego box, and are not about to be persuaded out again, but My Sis feels that every day needs some exercise, and that's a good reason to get out after lunch to make some effort to get the weekend's booze out of the system. So over the hill in the opposite direction we head, into the valley of Bradshaw Brook, which manages to sustain three reservoirs on the edge of the West Pennine aquifer, and we will be making a circuit of the northernmost of these, Turton & Entwistle Reservoir. It seems that no one uses the formal name of this reservoir, not the locals or even the noticeboards at the car park, everyone just calls it Entwistle, like the bass player out of The Who, and it's somewhere I've somehow never managed to stroll in all many many visits to this quarter of the world, as I've been around its neighbour Wayoh Reservoir three times, in whole or in part. It's a two and a half mile circuit, and My Sis is determined that we are going to do this with in hour, and at proper exercise speed too, rather than at the post-lunch amble that I would have gone for, just remember #hibernot and get on with it.

The Northern Shore view

Start out from the carpark at 1.20pm, with the skies leaden and the clouds racing, but here at the valley floor the wind keeps off and we have shelter beneath the trees, and set off in an anti-clockwise circuit, heading down to the southern corner of the reservoir where the steep inlet is charging at considerable volume, indicating that a lot of the water off the moorlands is in need of some place to go. strike out over the dam and along Batridge Road, and I'm going to struggle to keep up with my sis as she has a extra pace of speed on me, and my pausing to take photographs isn't going to help. The belief that the reservoir is full is further strengthened by the quantity of water racing through the outlet, and it's good to see a reservoir being dynamic, as all of my previous visits have had them looking somewhat placid. The eastern edge is tree covered and secluded, with a retaining wall all the water's edge, an ideal spot for some nicely level cycling, and nicely dry, unlike the northern edge which is distinctly muddy and puddle strewn as far as the inlet midway along, which presents the only real bit of physical walking as it rises from and returns to the water's edge.

The Overspill

Views from the northern shore are the best, looking down the valley towards Holcombe Moor, as well as offering the distraction of sculpted metal birds off the shore line, and no wall to prevent the careless walker from tumbling into the waters. This makes it look like the walkers on the opposite bank are actually walking on water, and that's a thought to keep me amused as we hit the long inlet down to the western extremity, the sort of detour that you can't see when you set out and adds a mile to your anticipated walk. Still a good pace is maintained, even as the path narrows and features enough overhanging vegetation to make you wonder if they forgot that this is meant to be a family friendly path, and roll around the inlet to cross the footbridge over Cadshaw Beck to hit the homeward stretch. First thing to avoid is a dog running along the path with half a tree in its mouth, followed by a walker warning us of water on the path, and sure enough, in two places the water level has risen to inundate the path, the first can be circumvented, but the second is across a section of causeway and there is no way to cross it without wandering into ankle deep water, and just to add to the fun, it starts to rain, hard. Push on along the southern shore, with grim determination to get to the end, despite the rain easing off, now convinced that more rain is going to start off all sorts of fun and games in this area. Roll up back to our start point at 2.10pm, and easily got round within the hour, probably don't need much more exercise than that when you will be soon returning to work, and end this break of #hibernot with a pledge to make a better effort to engage with the folks in Lancashire in 2014 and aim for a proper excursion or two when winter has passed.

Next on the Slate: Checking a previously un-visited high point off my list!


1,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 938 miles
 (2014 total: 24.8 miles)