Withnell Fold, Great Hill, Darwen Tower. Wed 10 Nov 2004

Parked up on cricket field at Withnell Fold and walked to the top of Great Hill, I sat there at 7.45am and watched the sun come up on a lovely clear day.

Walked across the moor to the Belmont road under very wet underfoot, in some places the footpath is ten feet wide where walkers have tried to get out of the boggy conditions. I crossed the road and then through the woods to the road to Tockholes, then across a stile that took me over the hill that joined the footpath to Darwen Towers.  I was stood on the top of the tower at 9.30am, it was blowing a fresh wind, but otherwise a lovely place to be.

Back down to the road near the public house and across back into the woods, there are a couple of paths, I took the one that takes you back to the Belmont road.

On reaching this it was a matter of finding the path that takes you to the top of the quarries at Brinscall. This is a lovely field walk and I stopped at the ruins of an old farmhouse where I got my flask out and my bacon butties. I often wonder what life must have been like for the people who lived in these isolated farmhouses, I know without doubt that it must have been a hard life especially in winter, but at the same time it could have been a happy one.

Article by Eric Bell