Winter Hill Mountain Biking
Sunday started with such a blue sky, clearing from a very wet night, so I had to get the bike out for a long spell around Winter Hill.
Two Lads on the Edge of Winter Hill, looking towards the coast
From my house, it’s up through the delightful village of Barrow Bridge, across Colliers Row cottages and then onto Winter Hill. There were some rock climbers on their way up to Brownstone Quarry, carrying their mattresses; must have been the first visit of the year as the rock warmed up.
Over the side of the moor to Holdens Farm, where I surprisingly overtook a group of bikers, struggling up a 2 metre drop, just as I always do. Then onto the open road to the masts on the top of the hill. Many groups of hikers, bikers and even push chairs, gathered around the summit. Giving the short but steep and eroded Belmont path a miss, I sped down the road and across the moor to Two Lads and dropped down the steep track to the Dog Hotel at Pike Cottage.
It’s just a steep push around the rocky path up to Rivington Pike, with many people taking the direct ascent for the great views. Then it was down to the Ice Cream van path, which is now frankly too full of rubble to be a way down I can do without stopping. A biker speed passed me at speed and crashed at the feet of two shocked walkers; he jumped up and hared off down the rubble, must have been flying to do that.
Past the car park, with no Ice Cream van in sight, around the corner onto Sheep House Lane, always a decision point for me, is it back along the road through Belmont, risking being flattened by a motorbike, or through Rivington Park? This time it was through the park, past the Great House Barn, keeping the height before dropping into Horwich, before a drag along the road home. 25 km in all with a fair amount of hill climbing.
Antondotreks 