Midge Walkers

Walk  No. 133

Rufford / Mere Sands Wood

As this was advertised to be a shorter walk, we met at the later time of 2.00 pm which gave those who were in Church that morning a little more chance to have lunch. Eight adults and one child set off from the Hesketh Arms in Rufford to walk up Holmesand Road. We passed Rufford Primary School which was originally built in 1841 but are now enjoying a very smart newbuild School built in 2001

We then took a left turn into Brick Kiln Lane where we came across what used to be Rufford Methodist Church. This building was built in 1893, but is now in private hands and being redeveloped but in a very sympathetic style. We crossed the road and over a river to walk down to walk along a boarded walk along the river until we came to a road which we crossed and walked alongside a cricket field where we encountered a quintessential scene of a field full of cricketers dressed in whites and for our pleasure, we heard the shout of ‘OUT’

Crossing a style, we walked into Mere Sands Wood where we meandered through the trees to eventually come out at the other end into fields. We skirted round the edges and turned left onto a road which we crossed before turning down a cobbled farm track which took us through fields crowing various crops, some of which, we could not identify.. We eventually came to a large building, Woodbank, which had been split up into several units which were all occupied except for one which was on the market foe £687,000 (an increase of £87,000 since 2017) It is a four bedroom property with a garage that is as big as a two bedroom flat, suitable for a gymnasium - Any offers

Progressing down Smiths Lane, we came out to cross the main Southport Road which we crossed and straight down a road coming out at the Leeeds/Liverpool Canal which we have featured on several of our previous walks. Crossing the bridge, we went down to the canal bank where we stopped at some picnic tables for a break

The walking party walked along the canal for about 1 mile emerging onto a road at bridge 7 to walk past Rufford Marina and St Mary’s Church. This Church was built in 1384, rebuilt in 1735 and then again in 1893. As you will have gathered, Rufford is a very old place, but charming. The cars were parked a short distance from here and it was agreed that this had been a very pleasurable easy walk. Thank you Rodney