RAMSBOTTOM Round - including Holcombe, Mount Pleasant, Summerseat and Holcombe Brook.

My Ramsbottom round is a Lancashire amble along old remote roads connecting a number villages. We capture a fairytale landscape, visit an industrial model village, pass through a pre-industrial village, appreciate the preservation society railway stations and lastly relax at the waters edge of Holcombe waterfall.

The walk begins at Holcombe Bottoms as we head upwards on the cobbled road of Old Holcombe Road. At the top of the road we will come across the village with it's collection of old houses and cottages from the 17th and 18th century. As we head of the village we will view the Primary School that was built in 1846 by local voluntary labour quarrying local stone. This school suffered a Zeppelin raid in 1916 and I will share a story related to the death of a bird.

We then descend a very steep hill to Ramsbottom, but before reaching the centre we visit Old Devils Lodge. Here we admire the ducks who we are informed have their own bank account!

At the centre of Ramsbottom we admire the sculpture 'Tilted Vase' and the surrounding shopping area. Onwards and we appreciation the work of the East Railway Preservation Society, who have invested in the reopening of the Ramsbottom station and 12 miles of railway track.

Passing through Nuttall Park we then head up to the ruins of Grants Tower. We stop and admire the view before moving onwards to the old toll road of Bury to Burnley. From here at Nangreaves we enter Mount Pleasant village. This village in Lancashire, was a model industrial village for the local mill which at its peak was exporting quilts to Canada and USA. In 18888 it was one of the first factories in the UK to have electrical lighting. In the woods near the village, we come across little fairer tale model homes where we read a poem by A A Milne.

We cross over the top of the M66 motorway to achieve our ambition of reaching Summerseat station which is another link of the ELR. Here we walk along the platform and consider the history of this railway. We exit into Sumerseat village and head up Robin Road into Holcombe Brook woods. At the waterfall we spend some time on self reflection and we draw our adventure to a close.

I have provided the main landmarks that I have used but a good OS map should be used to confirm the various footpaths and roads. All the land marks are generally well know by the locals and I found all the people I spoke to were willing to help. Also, I came across a number of Village-Link signs on the footpath and these can be used for quite a bit of this route. If you visit their site you can follow various routes that are local to Ramsbottom and some of the other villages mentioned.

This walk is approximately eight and half miles with about 1,100 feet of ascent. Conditions underfoot are generally good as we are doing a lot of walking on old remote roads including a fair amount of cobbled roads. However, we also cross a number of fields and these tend to be quite muddy, especially in winter.

Enjoy the walk, and I am happy to respond to any question or comments.