Midge Walkers

Walk  No. 31

Worthington Lakes 29-01-12

The weather for the walk on Sunday afternoon, the 29th January, was almost perfect: a little nip in the air, which disappeared as we got moving, with bright clear visibility. It was a short walk around Worthington Lakes and surrounding areas. (The car park is just beyond the Kilhey Court Hotel). Rodney had done a recce and promised a beautiful and varied walk – and so it turned out to be!

The group were in excellent form; without being too personal, the average age must have been on the wrong side of 50 (and little Alice at age 4 or 5 must have pulled the average down quite a bit!) – yet the atmosphere was almost ‘youthful’ amongst friends and colleagues: lots of jovial laughter and jokes in the expectation of what was promised. And it was almost a record turn-out – not quite, there were 26 of us today against a record which I’m led to believe, is 28. That’s going to be broken as we move into the summer months, no doubt!

Worthington Lakes is a reservoir supplying water to the population of Wigan. Rodney tells me that when it was built, it cost £25,000 but that was some time ago probably when Great Britain was still on the Gold Standard – more likely, £25 million if it was built today.

We started with a gentle stroll around the southern end of the Lakes, then a short scramble up to the Leeds-Liverpool canal, passing by the golfers from Wigan Golf Club. It was fascinating to see the dis-used railway track and Worthington (Jacobean) Hall and the River Douglas tunnel diversion. The pathways are well marked and well-used, with water, either the lake or the canal, visible from all points.

A lovely short walk – a bit of geography, a bit of local history and lots of interesting conversation with friends. Well done, Rodney.

N.R.F.