Wednesday 20th August 2025

Wednesday 20th August 2025

Wednesday Walk: Holcombe Moor National Trust Guided Walk and Talk

Thirteen walkers set out from Greenmount old school on a cool and windy August day. We walkedup Holhouse Lane before turning right to walk along the side of the field up to Bolton Road (A676). We crossed the road and continued down Redisher Lane and into Redisher Woods. After crossing Holcombe Brook, we took the steep path on our right before emerging onto the fields. Turning left, we followed the path in an initially north-westerly direction with Holcombe Moor on our right. After the path ascended right, we reached Moorbottom Road, where we turned left before taking the  steep path on our right up to the top of the moor and to Pilgrims’ Cross.

We then took the north west path up to the Trig point on the summit of Bull Hill where we had our coffee stop and met with Nick and Oliver from the National Trust who gave us an interesting and enthusiastic introductory talk to the work to restore the peatland on the moor to reduce carbon in the atmosphere, improve habitats for wildlife and protect our local communities from flooding. They then took us initially over the stone slabs that had been laid across Wet Moss before heading off northwards on a circular route across Wet Moss to Alden Breaks. We stopped at regular intervals as we heard and saw the work that had been undertaken to plant sphagnum moss to create boggier habitats and hold moisture in the soil, and create scallop bunds to make it easier to grow. Also, we were shown how gullies were being blocked by making dams to prevent water from draining away and causing flooding.

 

 

We saw how the vegetation was already starting to regrow and heard how the University of Manchester was involved in monitoring progress over the long-term Peatland restoration at Holcombe Moor | National Trust. We thanked Nick and Oliver for a fascinating walk and talk, which left us feeling inspired by their work.

 

Returning to the stone slabs, we made our way south west on the edge of Black Moss and turned left past the disused works before we followed the path up onto Quarlton Heights. We stayed on the high path as it wound round Lark Hill and back towards Black Moss, taking our lunch break in the shelter of the hill with wonderful views to our right. After lunch we crossed Red Brook, keeping to the high path on Holcombe Moor with Harcles Hill on our left and Moorbottom Road down below us on our right. We were able to look back to the path we had walked, where we had our lunch stop and to admire the purple heather. We carried on upwards to our left, following the path to Peel Tower where we turned left to follow the track leading past Peel Quarry to Deep Clough before we descended right onto Moor Road, passing the riding centre and into Holcombe.

At the end of Moor Road we entered Cross Lane, which we followed down onto Holcombe Old Road and the cobbles to the Hare and Hounds. We turned right to walk along Bolton Road West (A676) and crossed to turn left down Holcombe Road and back to our starting point after a hugely enjoyable, informative and different walk of around ten miles.