Bolton Walking and Outdoors Appreciation Society

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Bolton Walking and Outdoors Appreciation Society Volunteer organised community walking group with free informal walks around the wider Bolton area, covering South Lancashire and Great Manchester. EST 2011.

All ages and abilities welcome, lots of fun guaranteed. Volunteer organised community walking group with free informal walks around Bolton and Lancashire. New members are always welcome. The group operates as a cooperative with input from various individuals. Walks are NOT professionally guided.

๐Ÿ“ข MONDAY 26th OCTOBER - ๐™…๐™ช๐™ข๐™—๐™ก๐™š๐™จ ๐™๐™š๐™จ๐™š๐™ง๐™ซ๐™ค๐™ž๐™ง ๐™›๐™ง๐™ค๐™ข ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š THE PLOUGH, ๐™ƒ๐™–๐™ง๐™ฌ๐™ค๐™ค๐™™.โ›ฐ๏ธ 8km, or 5 miles - 130m of ascent - 2 hours.๐ŸŸข๐ŸŸข ...
22/10/2026

๐Ÿ“ข MONDAY 26th OCTOBER - ๐™…๐™ช๐™ข๐™—๐™ก๐™š๐™จ ๐™๐™š๐™จ๐™š๐™ง๐™ซ๐™ค๐™ž๐™ง ๐™›๐™ง๐™ค๐™ข ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š THE PLOUGH, ๐™ƒ๐™–๐™ง๐™ฌ๐™ค๐™ค๐™™.

โ›ฐ๏ธ 8km, or 5 miles - 130m of ascent - 2 hours.

๐ŸŸข๐ŸŸข A little longer than our usual distance, FAIRLY EASY route with mostly FLAT, WELL SURFACED PATHS. Some short lived inclines, UNEVEN SURFACES and MUD.

๐Ÿฅพ STURDY FOOTWEAR is essential, dress appropriately for the weather and consider using poles.

๐Ÿ”ฆ DO NOT FORGET A TORCH!!!

๐Ÿ“ The Plough, 157 Lea Gate, Bolton BL2 4BQ - ///cattle.agrees.pepper - SD 73956 12127

๐Ÿ•– Meet from 18:30 to leave at 19:00. Social drinks afterwards from 21:00.

๐Ÿš— It is possible to get the 507 bus service from Bolton town centre to and from this location. There is no car park available at the venue but on street parking can be found around the local area. If parking around the local area, please take care not to block access for local residents and businesses, ALWAYS check signage before leaving your vehicle.

๐Ÿ”” Book from 18:00 on Thursday 22nd October via
https://www.tickettailor.com/events/boltonwalkingandoutdoorsappreciationsociety/2442216

โ„น๏ธ Anybody with good mobility and even a basic level of fitness is welcome to attend.

๐Ÿบ Social drinks after the walk from 21:00.

Cheers,
David & Catherine

On Sunday, I had the pleasure of leading these ladies along the ๐Ÿ„๐Ÿ‚ ๐“๐ก๐ž ๐†๐ซ๐ž๐š๐ญ ๐‘๐ข๐๐ ๐ž ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐„๐๐š๐ฅ๐ž ๐Ÿ๐ŸŒฒ route, including the summ...
22/10/2026

On Sunday, I had the pleasure of leading these ladies along the ๐Ÿ„๐Ÿ‚ ๐“๐ก๐ž ๐†๐ซ๐ž๐š๐ญ ๐‘๐ข๐๐ ๐ž ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐„๐๐š๐ฅ๐ž ๐Ÿ๐ŸŒฒ route, including the summits of ๐‹๐จ๐ฌ๐ž ๐‡๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ, ๐๐š๐œ๐ค ๐“๐จ๐ซ, ๐Œ๐š๐ฆ ๐“๐จ๐ซ and ๐‹๐จ๐ซ๐'๐ฌ ๐’๐ž๐š๐ญ. This was a chance to step back into various periods of history, discussing ancient geology through to how neolithic tribes and the industrial revolution shaped the area as it is today. It was also a very immersive day out in nature and we were treated to fantastic weather conditions.

To keep up to date with future ๐ข๐ง๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ๐ฆ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž ๐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐๐ž๐ ๐ฐ๐š๐ฅ๐ค๐ฌ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ ๐ซ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐ฌ, more challenging ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ญ๐š๐ข๐ง ๐ž๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ž๐ซ๐ข๐ž๐ง๐œ๐ž๐ฌ and ๐ง๐š๐ฏ๐ข๐ ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง, please visit www.moorstomountains.co.uk and add yourself to the mailing list very easily.
Thank you for reading and for all the interest and support throughout the year.

๐Ÿ“ข ๐–๐ž๐๐ง๐ž๐ฌ๐๐š๐ฒ ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ–๐ญ๐ก ๐Ž๐œ๐ญ๐จ๐›๐ž๐ซ ๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ” - ๐‡๐จ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐ฌ๐ก๐ž๐š๐ ๐‡๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐Ÿ๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐‘๐จ๐ฒ๐š๐ฅ ๐€๐ซ๐ฆ๐ฌ, ๐“๐จ๐œ๐ค๐ก๐จ๐ฅ๐ž๐ฌ.๐ŸŽƒ ๐Ÿ‘ป ๐•ณ๐–†๐–‘๐–‘๐–”๐–œ๐–Š๐–Š๐–“ ๐•พ๐–•๐–Š๐–ˆ๐–Ž๐–†๐–‘ ๐Ÿง›๐Ÿป ๐Ÿ‘น - appropriate...
22/10/2026

๐Ÿ“ข ๐–๐ž๐๐ง๐ž๐ฌ๐๐š๐ฒ ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ–๐ญ๐ก ๐Ž๐œ๐ญ๐จ๐›๐ž๐ซ ๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ” - ๐‡๐จ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐ฌ๐ก๐ž๐š๐ ๐‡๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐Ÿ๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐‘๐จ๐ฒ๐š๐ฅ ๐€๐ซ๐ฆ๐ฌ, ๐“๐จ๐œ๐ค๐ก๐จ๐ฅ๐ž๐ฌ.

๐ŸŽƒ ๐Ÿ‘ป ๐•ณ๐–†๐–‘๐–‘๐–”๐–œ๐–Š๐–Š๐–“ ๐•พ๐–•๐–Š๐–ˆ๐–Ž๐–†๐–‘ ๐Ÿง›๐Ÿป ๐Ÿ‘น - appropriate fancy dress encouraged and expect spooky goings on!

โ›ฐ๏ธ 7km, or just over 4 miles - 150m of ascent - 2 hours.

๐ŸŸ ๐ŸŸ  A walk of MODERATE difficulty with UNEVEN TERRAIN across moorland and woodland trails, some ROAD CROSSINGS, mostly GENTLE INCLINES and occasional STEEPER SLOPES. Suitable for anybody with GOOD MOBILITY and even a basic level of fitness.

๐Ÿ“ The Royal Arms - Tockholes, Tockholes Rd, Ryal Fold, BB3 0PA - thrillers.symphony.paint - SD664215.

๐ŸšŒ There is NO PUBLIC TRANSPORT to or from this location on Wednesday evenings.

๐Ÿš— There is plenty of free parking adjacent to the venue. Car pooling is encouraged where possible. Wherever you do park, please take care not to block access for local residents and businesses, ALWAYS check signage before leaving your vehicle.

๐Ÿฅพ Please wear STURDY FOOTWEAR, dress appropriately for the weather and consider using poles.

๐Ÿ”ฆ DO NOT FORGET A TORCH!!!

๐Ÿ•– Meet from 18:30 to leave at 19:00. Social drinks afterwards from 21:00.

๐Ÿ”” Book from 18:00 on Sunday via https://www.tickettailor.com/events/boltonwalkingandoutdoorsappreciationsociety/2437245 -
๐’๐ž๐ญ๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐š๐ง ๐š๐ฅ๐š๐ซ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐š๐๐ฏ๐ข๐ฌ๐ž๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐š๐ฏ๐จ๐ข๐ ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐š๐ฉ๐ฉ๐จ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐ฆ๐ž๐ง๐ญ, ๐ฐ๐š๐ฅ๐ค๐ฌ ๐ก๐ข๐ญ ๐Ÿ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐œ๐š๐ฉ๐š๐œ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐œ๐ค๐ฅ๐ฒ.

Cheers and see you all on Wednesday!
๐‚๐Ž๐‹๐ˆ๐ - ๐๐–๐Ž๐€๐’ ๐‚๐Ž๐Œ๐Œ๐ˆ๐“๐“๐„๐„ ๐‚๐‡๐€๐ˆ๐‘๐๐„๐‘๐’๐Ž๐.

WEDNESDAY 21st OCTOBER - Borsdane Wood from The Gerrard Arms Aspull.โ›ฐ No summits, high point 225m.๐Ÿฅพ 7.5km, or just unde...
22/10/2026

WEDNESDAY 21st OCTOBER - Borsdane Wood from The Gerrard Arms Aspull.

โ›ฐ No summits, high point 225m.

๐Ÿฅพ 7.5km, or just under 4.5 miles, with 90m ascent.

โฑ 2 hours.

Thank you to all who booked a space and chose to brave the rain to join last night's walk through Borsdane Woods and along some countryside trails around Wingates. As it happened, the forecast held true and the rain eased off after 19:00, allowing for a very enjoyable albeit muddy trek with tons of interesting chat and banter. Hope everybody had a nice time!

โš ๏ธ EXTRA THANKS TO...

๐“๐ก๐ž๐ฌ๐ž ๐ฐ๐š๐ฅ๐ค๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ก๐š๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ž๐ง ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ฌ๐ž ๐ฐ๐ก๐จ ๐ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž ๐ฎ๐ฉ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ข๐ซ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฆ๐ž ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ž๐ง๐ž๐ซ๐ ๐ฒ ๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ž๐ž๐ค ๐ญ๐จ ๐ก๐ž๐ฅ๐ฉ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐จ๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ง๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐š๐ฅ๐ฌ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐š๐ง, ๐ซ๐ž๐œ๐œ๐ฒ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ๐ค ๐š๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐ž๐š๐œ๐ก ๐ซ๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ž ๐ฐ๐ž ๐๐จ. ๐Œ๐ž๐ ๐š ๐ฌ๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ ๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ฌ๐ž ๐ข๐ง๐ฏ๐จ๐ฅ๐ฏ๐ž๐.

๐Ÿ‘ Volunteers Angie, Jenni, June, Marcus and Noggy joining me on radio and group management duties, and those others who stepped in to help along the way.

๐Ÿ‘ Liam, the tuck shop vendor.

๐Ÿ‘ Everybody at the Gerrard Arms

๐Ÿ“Œ NEXT WEDNESDAY, 28th October, we are off to visit Maggie and the gang at The Royal Arms - Tockholes for our annual ๐‡๐€๐‹๐‹๐Ž๐–๐„๐„๐ ๐’๐๐„๐‚๐ˆ๐€๐‹. Stay posted for spooktastic goings on! ๐Ÿ‘ปWOOOOOOOO!

Cheers everybody,
๐‚๐Ž๐‹๐ˆ๐ - ๐๐–๐Ž๐€๐’ ๐‚๐Ž๐Œ๐Œ๐ˆ๐“๐“๐„๐„ ๐‚๐‡๐€๐ˆ๐‘๐๐„๐‘๐’๐Ž๐

TONIGHT, the ๐๐จ๐ฅ๐ญ๐จ๐ง ๐–๐š๐ฅ๐ค๐ข๐ง๐  ๐†๐ซ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฉ will be heading through ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ฌ๐๐š๐ง๐ž ๐–๐จ๐จ๐ and over the surrounding countryside from the ๐†๐ž...
21/10/2026

TONIGHT, the ๐๐จ๐ฅ๐ญ๐จ๐ง ๐–๐š๐ฅ๐ค๐ข๐ง๐  ๐†๐ซ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฉ will be heading through ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ฌ๐๐š๐ง๐ž ๐–๐จ๐จ๐ and over the surrounding countryside from the ๐†๐ž๐ซ๐ซ๐š๐ซ๐ ๐€๐ซ๐ฆ๐ฌ in ๐€๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ฅ, on the border between Westhoughton and Wigan.

There are FREE community walks every Monday and Wednesday evening that take place across ๐’๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ก ๐‹๐š๐ง๐œ๐š๐ฌ๐ก๐ข๐ซ๐ž ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐จ ๐†๐ซ๐ž๐š๐ญ๐ž๐ซ ๐Œ๐š๐ง๐œ๐ก๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ. If you are looking for a friendly, inclusive and supportive bunch of people to get outside and enjoy walking in a safe environment, please head to www.boltonwalking.co.uk to find out more.

Some readers may also be interested to learn about professional outdoor services provided by www.moorstomountains.co.uk - you can easily sign up to the mailing list for future updates of guided walks and navigation tuition operated by a ๐ช๐ฎ๐š๐ฅ๐ข๐Ÿ๐ข๐ž๐, ๐ž๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ž๐ซ๐ข๐ž๐ง๐œ๐ž๐ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ค๐ง๐จ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ž๐๐ ๐ž๐š๐›๐ฅ๐ž ๐Œ๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ญ๐š๐ข๐ง ๐‹๐ž๐š๐๐ž๐ซ.

Thanks for reading and hope to see some of you out on a walk really soon. ๐Ÿ˜Ž

Autumn was well an truly in the air on Saturday for my ๐Ÿ„๐Ÿ‚ ๐•๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐–๐ก๐ข๐ญ๐ž ๐๐ž๐š๐ค ๐Ÿ๐ŸŒฒ guided walk that led from ๐‚๐š๐ฌ...
20/10/2026

Autumn was well an truly in the air on Saturday for my ๐Ÿ„๐Ÿ‚ ๐•๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐–๐ก๐ข๐ญ๐ž ๐๐ž๐š๐ค ๐Ÿ๐ŸŒฒ guided walk that led from ๐‚๐š๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ž๐ญ๐จ๐ง and took in various points of interest including ๐‚๐š๐ฏ๐ž ๐ƒ๐š๐ฅ๐ž, a section of ๐“๐ก๐ž ๐‹๐ข๐ฆ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐ง๐ž ๐–๐š๐ฒ, ๐๐ž๐š๐ค ๐…๐จ๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ, ๐„๐ฅ๐๐จ๐ง ๐‡๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ and ๐–๐ข๐ง๐ง๐š๐ญ'๐ฌ ๐๐š๐ฌ๐ฌ.

Conditions were absolutely perfect and while it was a smaller group than expected due to folk having no choice but to cancel, everybody had a great time and it was a pleasure to lead these four ladies and share tons of local knowledge about geology, history and folklore with them.

To keep up to date with future ๐ข๐ง๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ๐ฆ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž ๐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐๐ž๐ ๐ฐ๐š๐ฅ๐ค๐ฌ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ ๐ซ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐ฌ, more challenging ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ญ๐š๐ข๐ง ๐ž๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ž๐ซ๐ข๐ž๐ง๐œ๐ž๐ฌ and ๐ง๐š๐ฏ๐ข๐ ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง, please visit www.moorstomountains.co.uk and add yourself to the mailing list very easily.

Thank you for reading and for all the interest and support throughout the year. ๐Ÿ˜Ž

20/10/2026

Visitors are in for something special after dark later this month... โœจ

๐Ÿฎโœจ Monday 19th October โ€“ Rivington Pike & a Festival of Light sneak peek!Thirty moochers joined us this evening for our ...
20/10/2026

๐Ÿฎโœจ Monday 19th October โ€“ Rivington Pike & a Festival of Light sneak peek!

Thirty moochers joined us this evening for our Rivington Pike walk, setting off from Horrobin Lane to tackle 6.3km of paths and 237m of ascent.

The uphill sections certainly gave the legs a workout, but we had an extra treat along the way โ€” a glimpse of the lanterns and initial lighting setup for the Rivington Festival of Light! โœจ๐Ÿฎ

The Terraced Gardens are coming to life, and tonightโ€™s little preview offered a tantalising taste of the magic to come. If you havenโ€™t booked your tickets yet, consider this your friendly nudge!

๐ŸŽŸ๏ธ Festival details & tickets:
https://www.rivingtonterracedgardens.org.uk/fol/

Back at The Bay Horse in Heath Charnock, 11 moochers stayed on for refreshments and a catch-up, rounding off another enjoyable Monday evening.

A big thank you, as always, to our volunteers for helping keep everyone together and safe, and to everyone who joined us for tonightโ€™s walk.

David & Catherine
BWOAS Admin & Planning

As many of you may be aware we are celebrating our 15th Anniversary in 2026, we've held a walk already this year but we ...
19/10/2026

As many of you may be aware we are celebrating our 15th Anniversary in 2026, we've held a walk already this year but we are pleased to announce tickets for our 15th Anniversary Party and end of year Celebration are now on sale.

The party is open to both Past & Current walking group members/walkers

To find out more info and to book your ticket go to our booking link here https://buytickets.at/boltonwalkingandoutdoorsappreciationsociety/2444541 or go to our website www.boltonwalking.co.uk and click 'Book ont a walk'

Massive appreciation to David and staff at Turton Tower Woodland Cafe for hosting my navigation course participants on S...
15/10/2026

Massive appreciation to David and staff at Turton Tower Woodland Cafe for hosting my navigation course participants on Saturday. The cafe is an absolute gem and a quintessential place to start or finish walks in the Turton area, or just call be mid route for a breather. Really friendly service guaranteed and a range of snacks and drinks to please everybody.

Have a call by next time you are in the area, you won't be disappointed!

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