Monday 6th June 2022

Monday 6^th June 2022

4^th of 9 circular walks to complete the West Pennine Way

Today’s walk was scheduled to start at the Pigeon Tower Car Park, at Rivington but due to the inaccuracies on different satnavs some of our walkers found themselves at the Higher Barn Car Park, however, as we were heading that way, we agreed to meet them on route. Once all twelve walkers were together, we headed along the waymarked route of the West Pennine Way (WPW) into Rivington Village where we turned right and followed a footpath through the fields, having we had clear views of Yarrow Reservoir on our left.

On reaching Alance Bridge we walked along the road for a short distance before continuing to follow the WPW into the fields overlooking Anglezarke Reservoir. We were soon joined by two curlew’s who were obviously trying to keep us away from their nest, so we kept close to the path. As we walked through the fields, we were lucky enough to see lapwings, oyster catches, and what we thought might be a cuckoo. Later in the day we also saw sky larks and several wagtails.

Once through the fields we arrived at Jepson’s Farm and walked a short distance, along the road to The Manor House, where we turned left and headed down into the woods for an early coffee stop.

Our next stop was in the beautiful village of White Coppice where we made use of the facilities, at the cricket club for an early lunch as the remainder of walk took us across the moors with no suitable facilities.

After lunch we started the long steep climb up towards Great Hill, not a good idea after lunch, stopping at Joe’s Cup in the ruins of Drinkwater Farm to check on the donations. Before reaching the summit of Great Hill we left the waymarked route of the WPW, to be resumed on the next walk, and turned right on a narrow path leading to Spitlers Edge.

By this time the day had heated up and brought out the midges which remained a problem until we had crossed the moors and dropped down to the Belmont to Rivington Road. Once across the road we joined a footpath that took us back to the Pigeon Tower Car Park having covered 10.5 ornithological miles.