Post: I should just mention that for a very long time we have heard nothing about rowing, a subject which certainly is near to Charlie’s heart in normal times. He doesn’t sound as though he went rowing today either, although he has been critical of the facilities !
Saturday, June 13 Parbold CTC run
Turned out for the club run, Four Lane Ends for 2.30pm. By 3.0 there were only nine of us, and we started together along Westhoughton road, via Chequerbent etc, to Blackrod, where we slid off the hills and rattled down into Adlington. After a 20 minute dawdle on the grass by the wayside, we got along many lanes, eventually finding ourselves at Standish. A pretty run followed via the fishponds to Parbold. The rather excellent view from here was hopeless today (it looked like rain, and I had discarded mudguards and cape owing to the heat wave). Came the sudden descent to Newburgh, then a mile or so further on, we reached our tea place, the Delph tea gardens. It was full up with a chara party, but they soon shifted, and we were able to have tea in peace and comfort.
Ben and I tried to scale some cliffs then, but they were mostly too sheer for our poor abilities, and what we did climb was not worthwhile. Then we joined the club and proceeded to the boating lake. Ye Gods! It is all island, and I think that we should soon all go dizzy with twirling round and round, or at least the dull monotony of that ‘vicious circle’ would soon pall. The afore mentioned chara parties were busy on the field playing ‘in and out the window cricket’, and I think that some were racing for prizes. Anyway, as we passed we heard a young woman of about 23 summers say “I want something when I run, I’m not racing for a box of paints, not I”.
After a ramble round, we made a move, pottering up Parbold Hill to Wrightington Fishponds, near where the club turned off, presumably with the intention of returning partly the same way as our earlier route, but Ben and I carried on ourselves via Shevington Moor to Standish, and by the same route then as last week, arriving home quite early. 46 miles
