The Other Watery Lane

 I recently discovered Preston has two Watery Lanes - as well as a Water Lane. The better known one is near the docks, and meets the Strand at its the northwest end. The rather smaller one is in French Wood, off Fishwick View, south of New Hall Lane. It heads down to the Guild Wheel.


It is steep - the sign says 60% - and I would worry about slipping when it is wet and there are a lot of leaves on the ground. However, on a nice day it is a good starting point for a couple of interesting walks.

Up river

At the bottom of the lane is a farm, and the Guild Wheel. Turn left, to head up river. The track is a little way from the river at this point. The photo below is looking across the floodplain towards Walton-le-Dale, the river just this side of the tree line in the distance.


The river meanders to the north, to meet the path.


The path then runs along side the river for some distance, the rumble of the M6 getting gradually louder, before we get to the A59, and, on the opposite side, the Trickled Trout.


From here, I turned left, along the A59 up the steep hill into Preston. This half of the walk is not so scenic, though you do pass the entrance to the Preston Cemetery Grounds, with the Hesketh Arms opposite, and shortly after Ribbleton Park.


The round trip took a little over an hour.

Down river

Turning right at the bottom of Watery Lane heads down river. The path meets the river more or less at the A6.



From here you can head into Fishwick Local Nature Reserve. When I was there, the main entrance was closed, but there is an alternative entrance slightly back along the path.

The nature reserve was pretty much deserted when  visited - a Monday lunchtime. There are various paths; I headed north on the more easterly path by the "wetlands". There are plenty of sign-posts early on, but not so much once you get into the part, but there are numerous maps telling you where you are.


To be honest, there is not much to the "wetlands"; it is hardly Brockholes!

A path leads from the main section of the reserve to another section to the northeast. Once in that section, I followed the path that circumnavigates it to the south, giving views across the floodplain, from a higher vantage point that earlier.


It was then up a lot of steps and through an area labelled "Old Allotment" - no idea what I was supposed to see there. I exited the reserve from the northeast, bringing me to the top of the Watery Lane.

This walk was a little under a hour. There were some steeper bits, but it you took another route through the last part of the reserve, you would avoid the worst of it.

I find it amazing how much greenery there is so close to Preston. All of this was with 500 m of the A59, and most of the time there were no buildings to be seen.

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