Or should it be the Woodnook Wetway, it rained for the whole ride, but at least it was warm. We arrived at Accrington’s Tesco for our early cuppa in the dry, but as we left the rain started, but did it dampen our spirits? No!

We left the town centre on NCN6 and continued on it up the Greenway, an ex-railway route, which when fully open will give an off-road cycling route to Bury. It’s nearly done, just a few missing sections to join up, one of them being the end of the Greenway near Rising Bridge.

So to get to Winfields near Acre we left the route at Hurstead Street, Baxenden, which is now part of the West Pennine Moors Bridleway. After crossing Manchester Road we did a little jink through a couple of streets to Back Lane which we followed to Rising Bridge.

We then climbed Northfield Road to join the Kings Highway at Sherfin and at Mangholes Farm followed the track down to Acre to arrive at Winfield’s Café for our brunch stop. After dining and admiring the classic motorcycle and cycle collection therein we left the premises to enjoy an extra heavy rain shower; very refreshing it was too!

After the climb back up to the Kings Highway the route was almost all downhill (where have I heard that before?) past Sherfin Nook to Rising Bridge. We now re-joined the ex-rail route at it’s, at present, end and started the descent to Accrington. Now, you may be thinking it wouldn’t be much of a down-hill being an old railway incline, but not so. On this incline the trains had to be double headed for the ascent, so it was a decent descent for us.

You may view the photos I took here on our Flickr account.

A wet and dismal day, but in good company and with good cheer, brilliant. Thank you all for your excellent company. See you all at Moses Gate Country Park next week, Brian.