Haigh Woodland Park

The reassuring crunch of beech nuts underfoot 

On the way home from Leighton Moss I decided to get off at Chorley and get the 632 to Wigan. There was still plenty of a damp afternoon left and I wanted to do a bit of reconnaissance on Yarrow Country Park, one of a couple of sites near Chorley I've had on my radar this year (the other being White Coppice). It turns out it's pretty easy to get to Yarrow Country Park from either Chorley or Wigan so I'll have to have an explore sometime.

As we were going into Wigan we passed the entrance to Haigh Woodland Park. As we passed through Standish it had become a sunny afternoon so I got off at the next stop and had a wander.

Millstone Grit

I went through the Plantation Gates and walked down to the bridge over the Douglas, passing some very nice bits of Millstone Grit as the lane went through some cuts. Robins sang, magpies and woodpigeons clattered about, squirrels scampered along the path and there was the reassuring crunch of beech nuts underfoot.

Yellow Brook 

The Douglas flowed through a thickly-vegetated valley and was fitfully visible from the bridge. I walked up the other side, reached Yellow Brook and decided to walk upstream rather than following the path crossing it (there were a lot less steps). 

In the event I ended up following the lane up to the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. Given the time of year and the time of day I wasn't surprised it was a quiet walk. More magpies, woodpigeons, robins and squirrels and some more woodpigeons, the occasional dunnock, great tit or blackbird, and a nuthatch sang from somewhere deep in the woods. Black-headed gulls flew overhead. A few mallards and moorhens fussed on the canal. A sleepy teatime woodland walk and none the worst for that.

Leeds and Liverpool Canal

Haigh Woodland Park 

I had a brief foray into the Higher Plantation where I added a great spotted woodpecker to the tally then followed the paths leading to Higher Lane where the surprise of the afternoon was that I was only five minutes' walk from Wigan Road and the 575 bus stop. Haigh Country Park looks further away on the map and seemed a long way out from Aspull that time the bus had to do a detour. The rules are different for pedestrians and motorists and for once they're in the pedestrians' favour.