Our walk began at the main car park (£1 all day) next to the gold course, where we were greeted by hundreds of noisy geese and ducks gorging on scraps of burger buns being thrown to them by some equally noisy kids. Leaving the car park to follow the obvious path round the shoreline and past the bird hides we were soon away from the crowds and following well made paths next to a huge area of rough grassland where the dog was able to have a good half hour or so playing with his ball. Continuing onwards we reached the far end of the park, where there was plenty of evidence of fly tipping as well as rubbish left by inconsiderate anglers and dog owners, before working our way back around the shoreline to our start.
Our route was probably no more than a mile and a half, mainly on good tracks, but the dog must have run at least 10 times as far endlessly chasing his ball.
Some places need a sunny day to see them at their best. I think Pennington Flash is probably one of those places. Although I'm glad we've been, it's not a place we'll be rushing back to and we'll leave the twitches to enjoy the wildlife in peace.
Doggy rating 5/10
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2 comments:
Pennington Flash, sadly, does attrcat people who just come top let their dogs run wild, together with the resulting mess, but if you knew the original Flash, as I did as a boy over 50 years ago, you wouldn't recognise it from those days. Then it was surrounded by railway lines taking wagon loads of coal back and forth from the nearby Parsonage Pit for distribution at the yards. On the side nearest the roas was a huge refuse tip that smelled awful and attracted thousands of seagulls. Following closure of the pit and tip the whole area was completely renovated to becaome the great place it now is. It is a haven for walkers and the best way to experiance the walk is to park up in the car park and take a clockwise direction around the lake for a full circumference. You will see lots of wildlife, squirrels and the occasional fox and a wide variety of birdlife including large herons. The flora has been allowed to develop in it's natural state with a proliference of Rose Bay Willow Herb and foxglove amongst the ubiquitous nettles. A greta walk even if you have to put up with the swan feeders and hamburger guzzlers. Well done Wigan Metro for at least at Pennington, spending ratepayers' money wisely.
Well said. Its easy to forget how much effort has gone in to making places like Pennington Flash worth visiting. I think I was guilty of that in my post. I can think of other sites like Yarrow Valley in Chorley and my local Preston Junction which also show how our local authorities really can help to breath new life in to former indusrial sites.
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