The April Ramble – Wigglesworth
This month’s walk, led by John Dixon, was, as usual, one of his Yorkshire adventures, but this time a little closer to home.
Starting from the Plough Hotel at Wigglesworth. (The Plough IS Wigglesworth, the place is so small), our party of five plus two from the Bolton section started walking up-hill past the hotel along a short stretch of road before we entered the fields. The layout of this walk consisted of a steady climb up a south facing slope followed by a decent further to the west. Consequently, we were able to take advantage of the pleasant sunshine that lasted throughout the walk.
Climbing steadily, crossing field after field, we were able to admire the excellent views opening up ahead, including Whernside in the distance and noting that the Ribble Way passed closely to the east of us. Naturally, we crossed many stiles of every variety and it was sad to note that some of these had been obscured by thoughtless farmers placing barbed wire across them. Arriving at the top of the hill, we stopped for lunch, having discarded much of our winter clothing on the way up as it was now tee shirt weather.
The second part of the walk was now downhill, with views to the south. We started walking along a farm track leading down to Tod Holes Lane where we came across a vintage farmer driving an equally vintage tractor with considerable verve. Obviously, he was very proud of the old girl.
The final part of the walk was along lanes and tracks leading back to the Ribble Valley road and down to Wigglesworth.
Many thanks to John for organizing a very pleasant walk before leaving us to take up his other life of cricket for the summer.
Eddie Grange