After my recent failure to conquer Pen-y-ghent, I sought out something a little easier to climb this weekend and also a little closer to home.
Darwen is closer and the tower an easier climb for sure. The weather was also lovely and sunny unlike last weeks’ gloomfest.
This tower is quite prominent from anywhere around the region and is not so far from civilisation to make it inaccessible for the casual walker. It is around 1.5 miles to get to the top from a parking spot.
The walk started via Bold Venture Park and ascends into rugged moorland. I visited this tower around a year ago but it was blowing a gale and at that time, I daren’t climb to the top part in fear of being blown over.
The walk starts quite gradual with lots of trees and greenery but thins out as parkland turns to moorland and a barren heath.
We came across a stone marker that has seen better times. Considering the tower that it is referring to is over 100 years old, the marker is likely to be of the same age.
As we ascended I took a few photographs of Darwen and the surrounding areas. A little digging on the tower, reveals:
It was built in 1898 to commemorate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee and also to celebrate the victory of the local people for the right to access the moor.
It seems the top dome has been blown off several times over the years, the last time being in 2010. I can believe this after experiencing the hurricane weather that I witnessed last time I ventured up this hill.
On approaching the tower I tried to entice my Golden Retriever ‘Shadow’ up the stairs with me. He tried 5 or 6 steps but wimped out and retreated back to the base. The winding staircase was easy enough to climb but quite dark in parts. The top section was metal, tightly spiralled and well used.
You always seem to get graffiti, vandalism and people scrawling their names in these places wherever you go.
This time there was little wind and besides experiencing my familiar vertigo on the top section it was uneventful, and I gained more landscape photographs of the moors and surrounding areas.
I was hoping to be able to see the west coast of England from the top section, and although I thought I could see it, I couldn’t spot Blackpool Tower.
Hopefully these walks I’m doing will strengthen my legs a little so that I can start running again. I felt that familiar strain on my calf while descending but it didn’t ‘snap’ in the same way I get when running.
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