Photo-a-Day  (Wednesday, 27th August, 2025)

Its the summer winds we should be worried about, when the trees are in full leaf.

Looks like a very nice place to walk but as you say Dennis a bit dodgy in high winds especially after the dry summer we have had. Here the woods are always closed if high winds forecast. Never heard the term before but the hazard is ''sudden branch drop''due to the dryness of the soil.

Photographs of the Loop have certainly been given some ‘Whelley’ over the last few years.
A very tempting photo Dennis, I really must make an effort to walk it from start to finish.

I want to walk this old railway track before Winter sets in, it looks lovely but steep. I'll give it a try.

Nature is a powerful force and nothing is more powerful. I hope the trees survive high winds. Looks a good walk too.
This is a really good photo Dennis thanks.

I had a quick look at today's p-a-d when I went to the bathroom in the night. It was still pitch black outside and I imagined what it would be like along that path at that time, with the darkness and the wind, especially on a stormy night! Just looking at it now at 7.55am with the morning sun coming through the window and it looks so serene and peaceful. What a lot our imagination can conjure up!

Not be long before the Autumn winds arrive and some trees won't survive, Dennis. This has been the hottest and driest Summer on record. Let's hope we don't have the worst Winter on record.
Beautiful photo that Nature has claimed back from the railway.
Love this photo Dennis.

Well Dennis, most of these trees have very thin trunks, so I would imagine they would sway in high winds and hopefully survive.
Excellent photo Dennis.

This old trackbed looks very steep, it must have been a challenge for steam trains in its heyday. I would think heavy freight bankers being used often. Dennis is this heading to Standish?

I suppose I need to find a ‘Goldilocks’ day to undertake the walk. Not too hot, not too cold, not too wet, not too windy. Although I bet it looks magical after a heavy snow fall.

Good photo but too lonely looking for me to walk through.
I think it’s older trees that break down in stronger winds not so much the pliable younger trees.

Soon be coved in leaf, then frost and snow. I didn't realise the gradient was that steep.
Good one Dennis.

Irene, if you had been paying attention to Pads over the last year, you would have seen one of my photos showing some workmen installing solar-powered lights, so it won't be as dark as you thought.
When you said you went to the bathroom, did you have a bath? Or did you actually go into your lavatory for a pee?
I can't stand Wiganers trying to be post by saying Bathroom and going out for Lunch.

Mick your barking up the wrong tree calling Irene,great photo Dennis as usual and a very good surface on that stretch, there’s loads of trees down with winds in Borsdane Wood.

Showing how thick with ignorance he is this morning!

Good point Mick.
You'll be okay walking with a dog Veronica. You could take me if you have a lead. Mutt.

John Boy, I'm not calling anybody; I'm only pointing out that she is coming across as a bit of a tottymaud fake by saying she went to the bathroom when she actually went to her lav.
Back to Haigh plantations, I've been in touch with the authorities, telling them how many rotten trees they have in the plantations that could easily kill people if they just happened to be underneath them when they come crashing down.
There have been a few deaths recently due to falling trees in different parts of the country.
Anyhow, the good news is they have started inspecting them and painting dots on the dangerous ones, which will soon be cut down.

Dennis, my apologies for straying from your lovely photo but I feel the need to stick up for myself over a totally uncalled-for criticism that came out of the blue today. I had said nothing to invite such rudeness. The only "Wiganers trying to be posh" on here are those who incessantly remind us that they own a detached four-bedroomed house with two garages in a village that is far superior to any other in the Wigan area. My little terraced house has five rooms , (it only had four at one time until a tiny bathroom was made from part of the back bedroom). That tiny bathroom is where I was going to in the night. I wasn't going to the living room, or the kitchen or the back bedroom....I was going to the bathroom, and that's what I said. I'm sure the good people on photo-a-day don't want or need to know why I was heading there. Also, I have never in my life used the word "lunch" and I would like to know how the person accusing me of doing so has got that idea that I do. One reason I don't go on cruises is because you have to get dolled up to have your tea, and you have to call it your dinner....I would refuse point blank to do either. It would be good if a certain person on here got their facts right before opening their gob. Apologies to Dennis and everyone else. Sorry, folks.

Mick, with the greatest respect please give it a rest, you’re embarrassing yourself and ruining Dennis’s PAD.

I'm not really one for getting into bickering...but just leave off Mick, I think everybody has had enough now.

He’s certainly reached
‘bottom’ today with his clap trap.. Forgive the pun.
There was no need for that outburst.
Where are the fans now?.
Relishing the ‘ fun’ probably.

Helen I agree totally. What has Irene and Mick supposed to have done anyway?
Most of its banter....I think.
Great photo Dennis, I need to walk it sometime.

Robert, no, it wasn't "banter" at all. It was personal and rude and totally uncalled-for. But anyway, let's get back to Dennis's photo now....I'm just sorry it had to be interrupted but I am only human and can only take so much. Thanks to John, Veronica, Colin and Helen for your support.

Colin and Helen, it wasnt banter, it was just straight talking.
When a certain person has never had Lunch or Dinner at Teatime, I found it unusual for her to be going to the bathroom for a pee.

In civil circles it’s just not done to disclose personal bodily functions in the bathroom. No matter what takes place in Shevvy Bottoms’ communal backyards with loudspeakers on the way to the Lav. Most of us on this site had outside toilets but we didn’t broadcast what we were about we had too much about us and acted with decorum reading the newspaper squares!

lunch sounds much better than Dinner anytime, its a more professional word to the ears. Dining out is more professional than going for a meal.
I'm visiting the bathroom sounds much better than the toilet. But one may have a separate bathroom and toilet like my good self.

I find today's photo a bit creepy - I wouldn't be able to enjoy the walk because I'd be looking over my shoulder all the time. Sorry Dennis, I'm just a wimp! I do appreciate that it's a lovely photograph of the trees and greenery though, and thank you.

Well, Americanisms do get an emotional response, don't they.

Strange really that 'Septics' need a euphemism for a euphemism, Both lavatory and toilet literally mean place to wash!

Alas disappointment if in USA when you find no place to have a bath in a bathroom.

Back to Whelley Loop, Had I known in advance, I would have returned to Wigan to have a place on the 'Guard's Van Railtour' of Whelley Loop prior to its closure,

Yer con caw it “The Petty” or even “The Closet”
Tha con say tha gooin’ up Yard fert make a deposit
Yer con say that tha gooin’ fert empty thi “Clog”
Un grab Daily Mirror un read it on’t “Bog”
But if tha livin’ in Wiggin don’t let Mick caw thi a fool
Tha con caw it owt tha wants except bloody “BATHROOM”

I walked along there in 1977 not long after the tracks had been lifted, and all of the railway infrastructure was still in place, the signals, signs etc, it was just missing the railway lines, and we went up to the two 'bridges' and walked across the Douglas Viaduct which is still there today, although it is blocked off, and then I went on my own for walk on to the other viaduct, which was on the old line to Blackburn from Boars Head which closed in 1964, whence I realised that it was in a pretty precarious condition, owing to the fact that I could see through to the bottom of the Douglas Valley through gaps in the wooden planking and what remained of the track ballast, it looked to be very dangerous, so I tip toed back to safety, and by about 1980 that bridge had been removed, just leaving the support piers, which remain there to this day.

Oh my.....what a day! Thanks Veronica, that was brilliant!.....we had newspaper too in Ince, and my Dad used to just ram the whole News of the World onto a great big nail that wouldn't have looked out of place in the Tower of London! I remember reading about The Profumo Affair in that hallowed place.....as a young girl I didn't really know what all the fuss was about, but I have often wondered since what those glamorous ladies involved in it would say if they knew I had read of their exploits sitting on the toilet, (we didn't have a bathroom in Ince and our toilet as "down the yard"!).
I'm afraid Mick's comment , "I found it unusual for her to be going to the bathroom for a wee" didn't make much sense.....where did he THINK I was going to "go".....in the kitchen sink??
Thanks, DTease, for a bit of fun with your brilliant poem.....our "Glug" would be proud of you if he was still swimming round in his fish-tank!
Howard... "Dining out is more professional than going for a meal"??? It's the same thing, lad! And bully for you, Howard, having a separate toilet .....pity the News of the World isn't still going.....you could have spent a couple of hours in there, especially if Mrs. Howard had cut it into neat squares hung on a string and you had to search for the next exciting instalment as we did in my childhood.
Apologies once again to Dennis, a lovely and patient gentleman who shares so many beautiful photos with us.

We had an outside lav that rained in, so it was always damp and cold.

We had a lav with mushrooms growing out of the bricks next to the dust bin..
But mi dad still whitewashed the inside.
Still it was our own - not a communal yard like wot Shevvy Bottoms folk had. They had to share theirs with another six families. There was always a queue waiting. Some times the bus was passing and folk got on the bus instead of waiting their turn and went to the Pictures instead. It was quicker….