Monday 13th January 2020

MONDAY 13th JANUARY 2020

Monthly Short Walk: Ramsbottom Circular Countryside Walk

 

Holcombe Old Road

This was the first of the monthly short walks in 2020 and sixteen walkers started the walk setting off from Greenmount Old School, our aim was to be back before 1.00pm as that was when bad weather had been forecast. After going through the stile onto the golf course we turned right and headed through the fields to Bolton Road, which we crossed into Redisher Lane walking as far as Redisher Farm before turning right through a kissing gate and following the footpath that overlooks the new housing development. Once in Holcombe Brook we turned left past the wine bar and the pub before turning right onto Holcombe Old Road and walking up the cobbles as far as Darul Uloom School.

 

 

 

 

 

Difficult Stile

 

At the school we turned right down Branch Road and after crossing the main road we walked down the Private Road until we reached, The Farmhouse Little Holcombe and climbed up the steep stile on our left that consists of short stone steps sticking out of the wall.

 

 

 

 

 

Heading for Tagg Wood

 

Once we were all safely over the stile we joined a footpath on which we had clear views over Ramsbottom and that took us into the attractive valley known as Tag Wood. The path brought us onto Dundee Lane where we turned left and followed the road into Carr Road.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Buckden Wood

After passing the Rose & Crown pub we turned left into Springwood Lane and headed up to the Old Mill Hotel once through the car park we joined a track that passes through an area known as Kibboth Crew which is the oldest known industrial site in Ramsbottom with the original fulling mill dating back to 1628. The existing building is much later; 1850 to 1859, fulling is a cleansing process used in the production of cloth.

Continuing along the path we made our way through two wooded areas, Top Wood and Ox Hey Wood where the paths where very steep and muddy and eventually arrived in Higher Stubbins where we joined another track that took us to Buckden Wood. On crossing the bridge over Buckden Brook we stopped to admire the waterfalls which were in full flow due to the recent heavy rain.

 

 

 

 

Coffee Break in Strongstry

After turning right, over the bridge, we headed down to the small hamlet of Strongstry where we took advantage of the picnic benches to enjoy our morning coffee. Once refreshed we joined the very wet footpath into Stubbins and continued to follow the river Irwell into Ramsbottom. After crossing Peel Brow, we turned right into Nuttall Hall Road and headed for Summerseat where we joined familiar paths back to Greenmount having cover a robust 9 miles.