Wigan & Standish -17/06/26 – Leader Stephen D

14 ramblers gathered at the parking area on Hall Lane, just west of Haigh Hall Country Park.

It was a warm, dry and sunny day with a cooling breeze at times – much better than expected.

Walking down the lane we turned right into Lady Mabel’s Woodland which is managed by the Woodland Trust. Reaching the canal at the far end, we walked along the towpath to the first bridge and walked down the full length of Sennicar Lane. Eventually we reached the busy main road (Wigan Lane) which we walked up and crossed to turn left into Walter Scott Ave (housing estate), crossing the railway line into Gidlow Cemetery (a nice stroll through well-kept grounds), we followed the path to Gidlow Lane and into Beech Hill Playpark where we had our elevenses….and fun on the zip wire!

Following paths between houses we reached Standish Wood Lane where we turned right, up this tree lined lane to emerge into open countryside and reached a pretty cottage called ‘Speckled Holly’ where we turned left, to walk to the end of this next road which seemed a dead end. At this point Paul whipped out his secateurs whilst I took over the camera duties as he snipped away at all the prickly plants between the barbed wire fence and the hedge. We emerged into a field, then, turned right onto a dismantled railway path, this eventually took us onto a vast area of open ground which was once occupied by the Wigan Coal and Iron Company, now reclaimed by nature.

We observed a curious stone structure which was a monument to the men who worked in the pit and who died in the Great war. The memorial plaque for Taylor Pit & John Pit had been stolen so a replica was made, this being stolen also, so now a new plaque is on show at a church in Shevington.

We walked into the heavily wooded twin woods of Birley Wood and Elnup Woods which are part ancient woodlands and just a few weeks ago were fully carpeted with bluebells which looked magnificent. On the far side of the wood, we were back in open countryside and then tackled our first hill of the day, a steep pull up a country lane to arrive at Beech Walk. We had lunch shortly after in the grounds of Green Lane Pumping Station which is a towering concrete monstrosity!

The path that followed after brought us out onto Wigan Road which we walked up to reach the Standish war memorial where we turned right into Grove Lane and walked down it into another housing estate. A sneaky path between houses took us into woodland for a fair distance emerging at a railway line, and bridge where we crossed over the line. The path ahead took us across a field
and through woodland to reach Chorley Road at Worthington. Turning left we walked along the pavement and crossed the road to walk up Red Rock Lane (another steep hill!). Reaching the canal once again we ignored it and carried on, turning right between farmhouses and between fields and farmland. The long exit road from the farm ended at Pendelbury Lane, which was the longest,
steepest road of the day to reach School Lane which we followed into the grounds of Haigh Hall Country Park where we visited the café for ice-cream and sat in the sun in the courtyard, it was bliss! From here it was an easy walk of 1.1 miles back to the cars.

The walk distance was 10.7 miles

Write up by Stephen   –   Paul S. took the pics   –   Back marking by Jean x