Walking in the Forest of Bowland and Pendle. Terry Marsh
consist of an upland area of heather moorland with deep wooded river valleys, and together with the Bowland Fringe and outlying Pendle Hill they have considerable conservation interest. Dominated by blanket bog and heather moorland, there are also upland pastures here. The fells are incised by rapid-flowing rivers, giving rise to steep cloughs (steep-sided ravines or gullies) with occasional trees and lush wooded valleys on lower slopes. The valleys and cloughs provide a transition between the exposed moorland fells and the rural lowlands, and include an attractive mosaic of woodland, unimproved meadows, rush-dominated pasture and flushed grassland slopes, with marshes and streams at lower levels.
The surrounding Bowland Fringe has a diverse landscape of undulating herb-rich hay meadows and lush pastures, broadleaved woodlands, parkland and water bodies, such as Stocks Reservoir.
Retrospective view of Stocks Reservoir from the north (Walk 23)
The Pendle Hill outlier is geologically linked to the main upland block, but separated from it by the broad valley of the Ribble.
The Forest of Bowland supports a considerable area of semi-natural vegetation forming important wildlife habitats. The upland massif with its vast expanses of unenclosed heather moorland and blanket bog is of international importance for breeding bird populations. The in-bye (i.e. land within a farmed area) grasslands and herb-rich hay meadows are important features of the Bowland Fringe, and semi-natural clough woodlands survive where they are inaccessible to sheep.
For the birdwatcher, the area is simply superb. The moorlands support important populations of hen harrier, peregrine, red grouse, lesser black-backed gull, merlin, golden plover and curlew. The area is also important regionally for short-eared owl and ring ouzel, and eagle owls are known to have bred here.
Pendleside and the Ribble Valley
Pendle will forever be linked with tales of witchcraft – indeed, it was once said that witches filled the burrows alongside the rabbits, so numerous were they. The myths and legends that grew up around these claims prompted an excellent book by Harrison Ainsworth, The Lancashire Witches, which makes ideal supplementary reading for anyone coming to this region for the first time.
The River Ribble, for the most part a majestic river, rises far away in Yorkshire, but it is not long before it becomes Lancashire’s river, and flows through idyllic countryside into Pendle, on by Ribchester – where the Romans had a fort – and onwards to meet the sea near Preston.
NOTES AND ADVICE FOR WALKERS
Walled ‘occupation’ lane, Twiston Moor (Walk 38)
None of the walks in this book presents technical problems in good weather conditions, especially in summer, and the vast majority may also be tackled in winter by competent walkers. However, some of the walks traverse bleak and featureless moorland where mist becomes a major hazard, and others involve a measure of road walking where you will need to take care against approaching traffic (although road stretches have been kept to a minimum).
In addition to the commonplace yellow, blue and white waymark arrows, the countryside around Bowland and Pendle is dotted with beautifully carved waymarks in stone, made by local craftsmen.
For all the walks I have assumed that readers possess navigational skills, are conversant with map and compass technique, and know how to clothe and protect themselves effectively. In winter, with snow and ice on the ground, an ice-axe may become an essential item of equipment on some walks, but it is useless without the knowledge to use it properly.
At the start of each walk a box provides information on the start/finish point (including details of refreshment and toilet facilities), distance, height gain, the terrain along the route and the relevant Ordnance Survey maps. In the appendix at the end of the guide there is a route summary table, which is useful for comparing routes when you are planning days out.
In the text, key landmark features appear in bold to assist with route finding.
Maps
As well as including details of the appropriate Ordnance Survey map(s), each walk is supported by a map outlining the route. In the main you will need three OS maps, or the new walking and cycling map from Harvey Maps:
OL21: South Pennines
OL41: Forest of Bowland and Ribblesdale
Explorer 287: West Pennine Moors
Harvey Maps: Forest of Bowland
Distances and Height Gain
These are approximate and have been rounded up or down, but they are sufficiently accurate to allow calculation of times using Naismith’s (15 minutes for every 1km of distance plus 10 minutes for every 100m of ascent) or other rules.
Paths
Waymark – one of several dotted around the moors (Walk 8)
There are numerous paths throughout Lancashire’s countryside – the county is well stocked with rights-of-way – but it should be noted that any reference to paths or other lines of ascent does not imply that a right-of-way exists.
Access
The author has walked without challenge throughout the Lancashire countryside for many years, and most walkers enjoy the same liberty. The Countryside and Rights-of-way Act, 2000, however, made a great deal of what was technically a ‘no-go’ area freely accessible to walkers – go to www.gov.uk/right-of-way-open-access-land. You’ll see that Access Land areas are marked on the latest maps. This general freedom, however, must be exercised responsibly, and is not a licence to clamber over walls and fences indiscriminately, causing damage, or to tramp through fields of crops.
The Hodder at Burholme Bridge (Walk 19)
The reality is that while the freedom exists to wander wherever you want, the conditions underfoot often counsel against doing so – footpaths evolved where they did for a reason, and often that reason was to do with the nature of the land. If you want to go ploughing through a bog, and it is on Access Land, then you can do so – but this book doesn’t take you that way.
Dogs
A good deal of the northwestern part of the Forest of Bowland – land used for breeding and rearing grouse – is a dog-exclusion zone. Elsewhere dogs may be banned on land used in connection with lambing, and enclosures of less than 15 hectares, for up to six weeks a year, and from areas important for ground-nesting birds.
Otherwise the new access rights include the right to walk dogs between 1 March and 31 July (and at other times near livestock or nesting birds) as long as they are on a 2-metre lead. Frankly, this lead-length restriction can make walking with a dog rather awkward, and here I write from experience – the dog is often just a bit too close to you for comfort. Not everywhere has such an exclusion, but where a walk falls within a dog-exclusion area, the information at the start of each walk will say so.
LUNE VALLEY
WALK 1
Crook o’ Lune and Caton
| Start/Finish | Crook o’ Lune car park (refreshments, toilets) (SD521647) |
| Distance | 6km (3¾ miles) |
| Total Ascent | 45m (150ft) |
| Terrain |
Riverside paths and old railway trackbed; be aware that the river often |