Walking in the Forest of Bowland and Pendle. Terry Marsh
that needs a clear, settled day if you are to avoid the potential for confusion. It takes in high Bowland landscapes with far-reaching views, and visits the highest point in the Forest of Bowland.
Begin from the parking area at Little Crag above Littledale. Walk to the nearby road bend just above Cragg farm, and there leave the road for a footpath that finds an easy way across farmland to Skellow Barn, and here turn right, beside Sweet Beck, to reach the edge of Access Land and the open moors beyond.
A fairly clear path now climbs the moors, and rises to meet a broad track. Cross this and continue in the same direction, through gritstone outcrops and heather to intercept a path linking Clougha Pike to the west with Grit Fell to the east. Turn onto this and head for Grit Fell, and then basically keep going in a generally eastwards direction to reach the little rocky plateau of Ward’s Stone, unusual in having two trig pillars – that to the east is marginally the higher.
From near the easterly trig pillar, a fence sets off for High Stephen’s Head, which is the next objective, but you should only take this direct route if you enjoy floundering in peaty bogs. A better choice is to continue along the original line for just under 1km, to a fence junction.
Now turn northwards to reach High Stephen’s Head, a lovely vantage point on a fine day. From it, press on in a northwesterly direction between a fence and a wall, descending a broad moorland ridge.
When the wall takes its leave and heads off towards Mallowdale, continue beside the fence, above Ragill Beck, continuing the northwesterly direction. Briefly the fence becomes a wall, and here cross Ragill Beck to find a track that slips down the remaining moorland shoulder to a farm gate above Deep Clough.
Go down into the steep-sided clough and up a track on the other side where you intercept a public footpath. Turn left along this and descend to a ladder-stile and footbridge about 50m beyond which you reach the turning point of Walk 4, through Littledale, and now share the same route back to the start.
NORTHWEST AND WESTERN MOORS
WALK 6
Clougha Pike
| Start/Finish | Birk Bank car park, Quernmore (SD526604) |
| Distance | 8km (5 miles) |
| Total Ascent | 350m (1150ft) |
| Terrain | Good paths and tracks, but some untracked heather moorland, and a rocky descent to a large boggy area (no dogs) |
| Maps | Explorer OL41 (Forest of Bowland and Ribblesdale) |
This energetic walk makes a splendid ascent to one of the finest viewpoints in Lancashire, concluding through a delightful wooded ravine and across a stretch of marshy ground bright in spring with bog-loving plants. There is a small amount of trackless wandering, which presents no difficulty in clear weather conditions.
Leave the rear of the Birk Bank car park by walking to a gate giving onto a broad track at the edge of Access Land. Follow the track through bracken, and when it forks, branch left.
When the track later curls to the right, leave it by branching left onto a narrower path that continues easily to pass a stone pillar, and then reach Ottergear Bridge spanning a gully near a disused quarry. Over the bridge, bear left on a broad green track that heads round to a T-junction. Here, turn right, climbing gently for a while and then levelling as the track passes through a gully. Cross a ladder-stile, and climb steeply out of the gully onto an ascending shooters’ track rising onto the moorland.
The track on to Clougha Pike is popular with cyclists too
The track casts about to ease the gradient, and offers a splendid range of views that improve with every step. Follow this for 2km (a little over a mile) to its highest point as it reaches the 400m contour near another small quarry area. This is where you now leave the track by simply stepping into the adjacent heather, heading in a roughly southwest direction to locate and cross a low step-stile in a fence, about 300m to the east of Clougha Pike. The heather is not especially deep, and a rash of gritstone boulders ease progress a little, but this is trackless walking and care should be taken.
Over the stile, bear right now to the trig pillar and shelter that mark the top of Clougha Pike. On most days you can see the fells of Lakeland, and the peaks of Yorkshire, the Isle of Man and the Clwydian Hills of North Wales.
Set off from the top of Clougha Pike by following a broad peaty path, punctuated by gritstone, that roughly follows the edge of the escarpment on the left, and aims first for a large cairn. Then descend, again on a clear path, with a fenceline converging from the right.
Where the fence and wall meet, bear left to clamber down a short rock step. Follow the wall for about 400m until it reaches a more level stretch, and here look for a path branching left (ignore the tempting ladder-stile ahead). Drop through bouldery terrain, and then continue the descent, now across a sloping rough pasture to a gate in a wall corner.
Through the gate bear right through reeds, still descending. The path winds round to Windy Clough. Windy Clough is an ice-age ravine, and Little Windy Clough, also ice age, is seen clearly a little higher.
Windy Clough, Clougha Pike
At the edge of Windy Clough go left to a ladder-stile and descend through a shallow gully flanked by bilberries and bracken. The path is often overgrown but easy enough to follow, and descends through light woodland of oak, ash, birch, willow and hawthorn. Later, the path runs beside a stream, and passes through an area of gorse and on to a stretch of boardwalks around the edge of a marshy area, filled in spring and summer with rafts of bog cotton and bog asphodel.
The summit of Clougha Pike is a fine viewpoint
The path soon meets a track beside a gate. Turn right, and when it forks a short way further on bear left over a slight rise to a track junction, and there go left again to descend to the car park.
WALK 7
Ward’s Stone from Tarnbrook
| Start/Finish | Lee Bridge; limited parking (SD567552) |
| Distance | 17km (10½ miles) |
| Total Ascent | 475m (1558ft) |
| Terrain | Good upland tracks and clear paths; a little minor road walking |
| Maps | Explorer OL41 (Forest of Bowland and Ribblesdale) |
Even before the introduction of Access Land laws, this fine traverse of Ward’s Stone, the highest of the Bowland summits, was available to walkers thanks to the imaginative use of a concessionary path across the high ground. In a way it is a mirror image of Walk 5 from the north, and likewise shows these lovely moorland fells to good advantage.
You start from Lee Bridge, from where a surfaced lane follows the Tarnbrook Wyre to the hamlet of Tarnbrook at the confluence