Tuesday 22nd. January. Rivington Bottom Barn.

 Some may complain about the weather when it's cold and there's snow on the ground. To others, like the 12 who were on today's walk, it was a beautiful day.

Our route headed upwards almost immediately, past the 'top' barn and up a slippery track to the Pigeon Tower or Dovecot. Built in 1910 by Lord Leverhulme, the upper floor of the tower was used by Lady Leverhulme as a sewing room, whereas the lower two floors once housed pigeons.

Climbing now over for a while, we then followed the snowy track to Horden Stoops, before dropping down to a park in Belmont for lunch.

 Lunch over 'Mac', our walk leader, led us down through the village, then abruptly turned uphill for the long ascent to the top of Winter Hill. Once there, we re-grouped and paused for a while to take in the 'Winter Wonderland'. Such a welcome change from the nasty conditions we sometimes get up there. Descending now, we took the tarmac track past the television mast, then skirted Twa Lads on our way back to Lever Park and finally through the park to our cars.

The GPS's told us we'd done just short of 10 miles. Our smiles told us we'd had a lovely walk. Thanks 'Mac'.