Pendle Hill

Thursday 30th August 2012

After spending the morning walking around the Ribble Valley I drove over to the Nick of Pendle for a walk over Pendle Hill. Pendle Hill is in the designated Forest of Bowland ‘Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty’ but is actually a separate hill away from the upland moors that are the heart of the area, nevertheless Pendle Hill manages to be not only one of the highest points in the Forest of Bowland but also one of the most popular. I started at the top of the pass of the Nick of Pendle, on the road between the towns of Clitheroe and Burnley, and immediately dropped downhill taking a roundabout route through the fields to the south of the hill before taking the tourist route up to the top. This plan gave me a rather tedious first couple of hours with few highlights, but with a fabulous end to the walk over the back of the hill. As I’d found over my previous couple of days' walking in Lancashire, the signposting is poor on footpaths (compared with the excellent, highly visible signposts in Leicestershire), so my biggest challenge at first was simply finding the route.

The walk started, after the initial, steep beside the road, along a track through moorland at the foot of Pendle Hill that led me to Churn Clough Reservoir. A footpath beyond the reservoir left me flummoxed and standing in the middle of a field unable to work out where the footpath was, where I was, or where I was supposed to be. Eventually I found my way to Ratten Clough where I was able to continue on my course with the sleeping giant of Pendle Hill to my left. This was a more pleasant walk than that I’d taken on the previous Tuesday when I’d walked for a much further distance below the Bowland moors; this time I had bright sunshine to enjoy and firmer ground underfoot. The highlight and surprise of the walk was at Sabden Fold, which is a wooded ravine where the Sabden Fold Field Archery Club meets. Luckily the archers weren’t firing when I was passing so I was able to enjoy the natural wonders of a steep-sided ravine that felt like a bit of old-world England when the wild-wood reigned throughout the country and where bears, wolves and wild boar still roamed the land.

Not far from there I came down onto a road and followed it through the village of Newchurch-in-Pendle and steeply down into the witch-crazed village of Barley. The victims of the most famous witch trial in Britain came from this area and in recent times the village has made the most of its ghoulish associations. I was not interested in the tourist nonsense so I made my way through the village and onto the popular path that makes its way up to the top of Pendle Hill. Part of my reason for taking this route was because it’s actually the steepest and hardest way up. The highest point on Pendle Hill is at its eastern end, or Big End, as it is known, and the steepest terrain is immediately below that. The only reason I can think that it’s become the tourist route is because it’s the shortest route to the summit. The route starts from the village of Barley and climbs on excellent paths (thanks to its popularity) beside the small Pendle Beck past several houses that must all enjoy stunning views. Eventually I reached Pendle House on the edge of the moorland and the start of the steepest part of the climb where a long series of steps unrelentingly climbs the steep hillside all the way up to the top.

Due to my late start, by the time I got to the top it was 5.30pm and I had the summit all to myself with clear views all around the hill. It was a tremendous sight in the good weather with the whole area laid out before me, but the most enticing sight of all was of the moorland that makes up the bulk of the hill. With much delight I made my way west across the broad heather-covered plateau to a flag-stoned path that provided me with an easy route through the ridiculously boggy moorland. I was really disappointed to find that there wasn’t much heather at the top of the hill and what there was wasn’t in flower; the distinctive purple flowers of heather is one of my reasons for walking in this sort of landscape at this time of the year. Maybe the poor summer was to blame. The path took me down into Ogden Clough where a great path follows the infant valley before striking out across the moorland over Black Hill. The ground underfoot was surprisingly dry and nowhere near as muddy as I’d found in the Ribble Valley earlier in the day, which contributed to making my onward progress an absolute pleasure. It was great to walk over such a good hill in such good weather, which seemed to have gotten better as the day progressed with almost clear skies while I was atop Pendle Hill and the sun beginning to descend as I made my way slowly down the spine of the hill towards the Nick of Pendle. I may have been in Lancashire for only three days but I’d really enjoyed myself in the variable terrain despite some really muddy ground. I must revisit the Forest of Bowland’s high moor again, returning after a prolonged period of drought.