Monday 13th September 2021
Monthly Long Walk: Rivington and Winter Hill Walk
This month’s walk started on a rainy misty morning at Wilderswood car park, Horwich, with five hardy souls making their way along George’s Lane in the direction of Rivington. After a short distance we turned right onto a footpath which climbed steeply over Wilder’s Moor and joined the access road to the Winter Hill masts. Turning right we walked down the road until we reached a footpath on the left leading to Holden’s Plantation and Holden’s Farm, where it joins the top of Coal Pit Road.
Walking down the road we ignored the West Pennine Way markers on our left, where the routes passes through Roscoe’s Settlement and instead joined the WPW route further down the road walking up to the attractive but small reservoir on Smithills Moor, the water not looking very inviting on a dull mist morning.
Reservoir on Smithills Moor
Continuing over the moor we turned left when we arrived at Dean Ditch which we followed in the direction of Winter Hill. By this time the mist had started to clear, and we could see Belmont and Delph Reservoirs in the distance so we took the opportunity of admiring the view whilst having morning coffee seated in the bronze age stone circle.
Morning coffee stop
After coffee we headed for the Winter Hill masts taking a left turn after the final mast in the direction of Rivington.
Trig point on Winter Hill
By the time we had strolled through the gardens looking at the progress that had be made in renovating the buildings and pathways it was lunch time, so we took the opportunity of having our lunch on top of the restored building overlooking the Great Lawn.
Pigeon Tower Rivington
Refreshed we completed our final challenge for the day by climbing the steep slope up to Rivington Pike where we again enjoyed the views.
Rivington Pike
Having descended the hill onto the track we headed back towards the car park but not before we stopped at the Rivington Pike Snack Shack, which must have one of the best views for a snack bar, stretching from the northern hills of Wales to the hills of the Lake District. Arriving back at the car park we had covered a comfortable 9 miles.