WALKS FROM A LANCASHIRE VILLAGE ST. MICHAEL’S GRIMARGH LOCKDOWN WALKS 2021 By Ruth Buckley
The story behind the book
Another book of walks? No, this is a book full of special places to discover all from a Lancashire village!
A
s newcomers to the area in 2014 Michael, my husband, and I would come from the M6 to Longridge passing through Grimsargh without much of a glance. Just a long linear village without much character, and a strange name we thought! But how wrong we were! In time we were to discover a closeknit community of caring, considerate people with an eye open for each other as well as for the wider world. We settled into the area and joined St. Michael’s church.
The Covid years hit everyone in many different way, from isolation, separation from their friends & families to suffering bereavements alone during those hard years. This little walking book was born out of those years. It is a celebration of good coming from something very sad. It started at a small caring church community, at St. Michael’s church Grimsargh, supporting each other by simply walking in pairs, socially distanced, for the permitted time. Then slowly the idea was hatched to write down the walks (all from their village) into book to allow more people from the village, for newcomers, as well as those who had been there all their lives, to safely access and enjoy the
beautiful area on their doorstep in families or on their own! As the book developed, more family members and friends from the next village were involved - walking, planning, proof reading, following the directions and adding their advice and comments to ensure the walks were logical and easy to follow. Then the nature of the maps developed, originally it was just to be a simple sketch taken from the OS map, but after a kind offer to draw them
Then at the end of 2019, all changed. First, with the passing of Michael for me, and then in early 2020, Covid arrived and everything changed for everyone. It was then, during Lockdown, I became very conscious of the loving community in Grimsargh, as I, like many other people, discovered the joys of walking and exploring in the local area, so I hope that through this book, you too will discover many new walks in this area and all the benefits from walking.
Nellie 40
Karen
Ruth
Peter
LANCASHIRE & NORTH WEST MAGAZINE
Ka e
Dot
Edward
Eliza
Joy www.lancmag.com
