A very blustery day didn't stop us heading to the hills above Darwen today to try out some of the upgraded footpaths which are now bridleways making up part of the West Pennine Moors Loop.
We left the Leeds Liverpool canal near Ewood to follow the undulating, tarmac of the River Darwen Greenway which pops out in Lower Darwen. We had a long wait for refreshments at the services as bus loads of West Ham fans unloaded before the Rovers game. After a short stretch on the main road, we climbed up above Sunnyhurst Woods to join the bridleway that skirts the moorland below Jubilee Tower. The track is interspersed with the fringes of civilisation creeping up as far as it can get up the hillside. We enjoyed the lovely views over Darwen and of the fantastic chimney at India Mill. With some deliberation a few upgraded bridleways were explored off the main route. After Bold Venture we descended behind Bull Hill accidentally on the footpath. Turns out that the bridleway signs on this bit of the route are so poor you really can't tell when you're on the WPMLoop or not with the many footpaths that snake around the hillside.
We skirted round Grainings Wood and the cemetery then a brief spell on Watery Lane. This section of the loop is complete according to the website, but in reality the signs are not there and I'm really unsure where the route is supposed to go. But I had a contingency plan and we headed for an area called Rosehill where we followed a path that rejoined the bridleway on the climb up to Hoddleston after some confusing signage. From here there were two lovely stretches of bridleway back down to the next valley and Waterside.
We followed the lane up towards the reservoir. I've ridden this on my own in the past when it was still a footpath and access to the properties. It's lovely as you follow the river up towards the reservoir. Then on to some new ground as we continued up past the reservoir. Its clear that the farms here aren't happy about the footpaths being upgraded to bridleways- a lack of signs and lots of signs telling you it's a private road before we saw the evidence that this is the intended route. Although there are bridleway signs that have been erected, the actual track was so muddy and overgrown it was not rideable for much of it. Such a shame that the alternative footpath hadn't been upgraded as that access lane / footpath, albeit steep is rideable. At least there were lovely views to stop and admire on the ascent. At the top the track was good again all the way into Belthorn.
Due to the significant winds, we descended back rather than carrying on to ensure headwinds on the canal. We cycled through Guide and onto the shared use path that goes past the hospital. A grand on road downhill through some residential streets and we were back on the canal and riding around a mile back to the park. And in time to beat the matchday traffic exiting town.
Hopefully the poorer sections of the WPMLoop will be worked on more and be improved as there are some really lovely sections here interspersed with bobbins bits. It would be lovely to have another long distance bridleway to encourage people to the area and something to challenge us that live in the area to attempt it in one go.