LAST Sunday was my first back in East Lancashire following a visit to Australia.

There was blue sky and warm sunshine, although not so hot as in an Ozzie spring.

It was, however, wonderful to be home among green grass and with well-signed footpaths. A friend drove me along the A59 road from Clitheroe through Gisburn to East Marton.

I knew well that I was in Yorkshire but my plan was to walk the canal towpath into Lancashire and meet my lift between Barnoldswick and Foulridge.

On the way I passed a gipsy caravan and this reminded me of some years ago, about this time of year, when I watched a similar family and their horses wandering the roads around Pendle.

There were lots of colourful boats on the canal and the towpath was busy with walkers. In England we treat rambling and strolling as wonderful exercise and we are better organised than anywhere else in the world.

I think that one of the most interesting clubs is based at Spring Vale, in Darwen, which is more than 100 years old and still active.

On my way alongside the Leeds Liverpool Canal I passed the grand old church at East Marton.

Flying around it were large flocks of swallows. These were obviously starting their southerly migration and will eventually reach South Africa.

In the fields alongside the canal were flocks of lapwings, while blackbirds and wood pigeons were feeding on the ripening apple-like fruits of the rowan. The warm sunshine attracted lots of butterflies and I watched red admiral, small tortoiseshell, peacock, gatekeeper and green-veined whites. There also seemed to be large numbers of seven-spot ladybirds.

As I sat quietly on a wall enjoying my breakfast I started to think about the activities of the Darwen Spring Vale Club in the year 1901.

They were much more organised than we would be today. They got up early on their only full day off from the mill. They knew train timetables off by heart, they took their litter home and they made copious notes, many of which were published in the Rambler magazine.

Copies of the Rambler can still occasionally be found in second-hand shops, which is where I found a photograph from 1904.

These lads (there were no lasses those days) were well prepared for all weathers, as were the cyclists who also explored our countryside in the early years of the last century.

My great aunt one told me about a couple she knew who were about to become engaged. She and her boyfriend bought a tandem instead of an engagement ring.

"We got out priorities reet," she remarked with a grin.

How things have advanced. On my stroll I passed through Barnoldswick and saw the Rolls-Royce factory. The company's engines provide us with fast transport but rambling provides us with an opportunity to move more slowly and think more clearly about the value of nature and the need to conserve it.

It is even more important to do this when we think of the recent tragic events in America.

As I approached Foulridge and my transport home I found I was early and was able to sit quietly once more on a wall and pick ripe blackberries as a sort of dessert. A flock of goldfinches were eating the seeds of thistles while a pleasure cruiser eased its way gently along the canal with the aroma of coffee fanning out from its galley.

This is East Lancashire peace and the more that I find of this the better I will feel.