Denham Hill 07.06.26 leader Aly

On a cool but dry June morning 10 ramblers met at the carpark next to Denham Hill Quarry, a former sandstone quarry and now a favourite spot for rock climbers. The path skirted the foot of the quarry which later became Hough Hill Quarry. Six intrepid explorers, then made a short detour up to view the trig point, from where – on a good day extensive views can be seen – over to the Lancashire Coast and beyond.

A good track led us round to Top o’ th Lane, where we noticed a small plaque on a wall, in memory of to the paupers who had passed through the doors of Brindle Workhouse

From here we crossed Denham Lane to walk through fields, followed by a short stretch of lane walking. Our route then turned onto a farm track for a short while, then descended to the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. After crossing the canal, we made our way up through the hamlet of Withnell Fold, once the site of a paper mill, but now a quiet rural village.

A short walk, through fields led us to Higher Wheelton where a bit of walking next to a road was required to lead us on to field paths to take us to Lower Wheelton, crossing back over the main road in to the village. From there our route went through South Hill, where we had our lunch stop, then a short stretch down a lane, back on to the canal, where we descended past the flight of locks at Johnson’s Hillock, stopping along the way to ‘gongoozle’ a narrow boat rising through the locks.

Our route then took us on to a short stretch of disused canal, once the southern reaches of the Lancaster Canal, more can be read about it here

After which a path led us round to Lower Copyhurst, (along an unreccied section – rather than taking the original route which involved 2 subways under the M61, I decided to turn right and follow a well -trodden but overgrown and rather muddy path-see photos!!) then a short stretch of walking up Birchen Lane, before turning onto a good farm track leading us past Denham Hall. With one last uphill we were back at Denham Hill returning to our cars.

Thanks to everyone who came on the walk today, for the good company and usual banter. We were very fortunate with the weather, the few spots of rain never troubling us.

Thanks to Jan for taking the photos and to everyone for backmarking.

Stats:

Distance: 7.5mile approx. (although some recorded it at 8 miles)

Elevation gain: 750ft

‘If you wish to see a static view of the pics all in one go, then click here‘

Continuously running slideshow below – you can see it full screen by clicking in top left of picture