Holcombe Hill with Laura - 27.09.08

The Road to Wigan Pier: 9 Mile Orwell Walk - 6.08.08

With us becoming so enthusiastic about this hiking business I thought it a good time to invest in a really sturdy pair of walking shoes, so what better way to walk them in than with a 9 mile walk. The walk we chose was listed in the AA book as a tour around Orwell country, starting in the industrial working class town of Wigan and winding along the Leeds-Liverpool canal to Haigh Hall, set out in the Lancashire countryside. I had never really thought of Wigan as a hiker's destination (my family had only ever been there to visit the Wigan Pier museum, which has now closed due to a decline in visitor numbers) but it really was lovely. I always find it amusing to see people out on their canal barge holidays, trying to navigate the endless stream of locks in the hilly regions of Britain. I had thought that 9 miles on the relative flat would be quite gentle, as I usually find steep descents to be the real killer, but it was suitably tiring and we slept well afterwards.

Moor Walking: Darwen Hill - 31.07.08

Three days after Shannie's visit we decided to pick a hill from our West Pennines Ordnance survey map and walk up it. The chosen one was Darwen Moor, with its rather futuristic looking Jubilee Tower. The weather was, well, British and was certainly windy from the top of the tower (as demonstrated by our windometer, Cody).