Parbold Hill and Ashurst Beacon (23/08/20)

Ian and I went south from Penwortham this week, following initially Route 55 through Cuerden Valley Park, then Buckshaw Village and Astley Park into Chorley.  We encountered our first traffic as we traversed Chorley to Cowling, following the A6 for a while to Heath Charnock, where we joined Route 91 heading south and west.

Having started out overcast, the clouds dumped a shower on us as we headed across country to Charnock Richard then Wrightington, where the rain came down heavily, requiring full waterproofs.  We took a brief break as we looped into Parbold, and then climbed Parbold Hill from the west to return to Route 90 as it entered Appley Bridge.

The rain turned lighter as we followed our route on the climb of Ashurst Beacon and we found ourselves taking lunch under the front porch of a shuttered pub on the ridge road.  Typically, the rain eased as we descended from the hills on to the Lancashire plain, still following Route 90 (fortunately avoiding Skelmersdale).

Route 90 also bypasses Ormskirk, by travelling through Scarth Hill and Aughton, where it turns north again.  This brought a previously contrary wind more behind us and allowed us easier progress through the agricultural scenery.  Both of us managed to scrump (a hedgerow tree!) some apples before heading past the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust property at Martin Mere.  We carried there on and took a pm break at Mere Brow.

The route from Mere Brow crosses low lying land on its way to Sollom.  This stretch seems to be in the throes of “improvement” at the moment; the surface, previously subsiding in places, is currently surfaced by loose broken tarmac in places and is difficult to ride.  However, we reached Sollom safely, where the section onwards to Bretherton, which has been closed for some weeks for a bridge repair, was now open.  We were able to cross the River Douglas at the metal surfaced Red Bridge and observe the river at an extremely high level after recent rain.

We finished our ride with a pleasant cross country meander via Much Hoole, Walmer Bridge and White Stake with good views of the West Pennine Moors, which bought us back to Penwortham.  It had been a very pleasant ride given the weather, finishing in sunshine, with a total of about 70 miles.

Mike Bridges