Ali and Chris were the hosts for our usual early cuppa; toast and butter were on offer too; it was lovely and warm as we sat beside the roaring stove chatting, eating and drinking.

All too soon it was time to leave; the first section of the route was to take us uphill for almost four miles; at times a little walking was called for.

The route we traversed has had many uses, both now and in the past; quarrying, farming, and as a grouse moor too, but today I’ll talk about its use for coal mining.

After we climbed through Horrocks Fold we rode alongside what was an old narrow gauge mine railway, a coal truck is displayed on it. Just after this we continued climbing up to Scout Road, to join Coal Pit Road. Colliers Row Road and Coal Pit Road are synonymous with the extensive mining of the area. The south side of Winter Hill is riddled with old levels and shafts from the remains of coal mine workings. The mines worked the lowest of the coal measures - the Sandrock or Mountain seams. Mines on the hill included, Burnt Edge Colliery, Montcliffe Colliery, Wilderswood and Wildersmoor Collieries, Winter Hill Mine and many more. I still recall the miners working Montcliffe Mine in the early sixties, pushing the coal trucks as they emerged from the pit head.The coal seams outcropped in many places and were probably initially worked by individuals for personal use and for small scale sale, before industrial commercialisation. It is known from archives the seams around Winter Hill were worked from the late 18th century onwards through to 1966 when the last mine, Montcliffe closed. It is also probable they were worked in the late 17th century and possibly earlier as abundant outcrops encircle the hill. The seams were accessed via drifts and shallow windlass and ladder shafts. Around fifty shafts and 20 drifts are known to exist; the true figure may be twice as many. There is no official access to any of the underground workings and only surface features remain, but be warned, the whole of Winter Hill is littered with shafts and tunnels.

At the end of Coal Pit Road, just after Holden’s Plantation we took the bridleway along Burnt Edge, past Slack Hall and crossed Fleet’s Moor to join the bridleway through Bolton Old Links Golf Club and down to Barrow Bridge.

Leaving Barrow Bridge, and just after Victoria Lake we climbed the cobbled track to Smithills Hall and then on to Harricroft Farm, a working farm now open as a tourist attraction. Of course its attraction for us was its café! Eric tried his hand at tractor driving too, but couldn’t get the machine to start (see pic on Flickr).

Leaving the farm we ascended the path through what were once the kitchen gardens of Smithills Hall to join the bridleway just above Horrock’s Wood to retrace our tracks downhill back to the start.

You may view the photos I took here on our Flickr account.The route had been a little more challenging than is usual for our Saturday runs, but it took us to a side of Winter Hill we had previously not explored, and of course we did attempt to keep to the valley sides, rather than the hill tops. We covered ten miles, I did say we would only do eight, but it was such a glorious spring day to be out and about; please forgive me.

See you all at Curley’s next week, Brian.