A WALK DOWN MEMORY LANE

This visit to Scorton in the beautiful Trough of Bowland recalls childhood holidays

- John Lenehan

Scorton is a beautiful small village that attracts many visitors. It is beloved by cyclists, motorcyclists and car drivers wishing to take the road to the scenic Bowland Fells and Trough of Bowland. It also attracts a lot of walkers as there are many good walks around the village, some really good cafes and a hotel.

1 Leave the village centre and walk up the road to the Trough of Bowland, Factory Brow, and just before the left turn at Sandwell Brow there is a footpath sign on the left saying Wyre Way to Cleveley Bridge.

NOTE:

Scorton holds particular memories for me as this area is where my grandmother’s family, the Kelsalls, came from. She brought me here when I was about six-years-old to stay in a caravan at 6 Arches Caravan site. The site is still there at the 6 Arches viaduct along Station Road, so named as up to 1939 Scorton once had a railway station on the West Coast Line that passes by the village. I distinctly remember watching the steam trains shooting past the caravan site and, at night, the glow from the firebox illuminated the engine driver’s cab and the light from the carriage windows looked like fairy lights. My family carried on the tradition and mum and dad and us four kids went on holiday there in the 1960s.

2 Take the footpath and then cross a footbridge then follow the path as it crosses a stream and goes through a gate stile. With the stream on the right, keep on the path, then recross the stream and now with this on the left keep on the path. Reach a stile and cross this then keep to the left of a ruined corrugated iron building before bearing diagonally left to reach a wire fence in front of a lake.