Walking in Lancashire: 40 walks throughout the county including the Forest of Bowland and Ribble Valley

By Mark Sutcliffe

A guidebook to 39 circular day walks and one two-day trek in Lancashire. Exploring the varied scenery of northern England, the walks are suitable for beginner and experienced walkers alike.

Day walks range from 8 to 16km (5–10 miles) and can be enjoyed in 3–5 hours. The Bowland Traverse trek is a longer more challenging walk that takes 2 days and covers 46km (29 miles) between Wennington and Giggleswick across the Bowland Fells.

• 1:50,000 OS maps included for each walk
• GPX files available to download
• Detailed information on planning, facilities and public transport
• Local points of interest are featured including the Ribble Valley and West Pennine Moors
• Easy access from Preston, Burnley and Lancaster

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cicerone Press
• Release date: Oct 6, 2022
• ISBN: 9781783628629

Mark Sutcliffe

An experienced outdoor writer and editor, Mark Sutcliffe is a former editor of Country Walking and Lakeland Walker magazines and an occasional contributor to some of the UK’s leading outdoor magazines – including Countryfile , Landscape and Trail . Mark has explored extensively in the UK and Europe on foot and has in-depth knowledge of the Forest of Bowland, where he spends much of his spare time hiking, bird watching and taking pictures. He completed the Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge in 2016, raising funds for dementia research.

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

Pendle from the foothills above Downham (Walk 33)

From the wide-open expanses of Morecambe Bay to the limestone fringes of the Dales; from the rich industrial heritage of the West Pennine Moors to the wild vastness of the Forest of Bowland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), Lancashire offers some of the most varied walking anywhere in the UK.

Blessed with two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, 160 kilometres of coastline, several chains of sparkling upland reservoirs, some internationally important nature reserves and two of England’s largest river catchments, when it comes to natural assets, Lancashire is one of the wealthiest counties in all England.

With rolling foothills, verdant valleys and some of the most scenically stunning untamed landscapes in England, Lancashire has it all. Explore the gritstone moors, intimate valleys and bleak beauty of the lonely uplands of Lancashire, earning outstanding panoramic views from the summits of some surprisingly challenging hills in this varied selection of walks across the county.

Gragareth, the highest peak in Lancashire, is a proper mountain – just. Using the traditional mountain measure, at 627m high, Gragareth just sneaks over the bar and is eclipsed by the hulking 736m giant just a few kilometres to the east: Whernside (which is in Yorkshire).

On a clear day, Gragareth offers a pleasant and quite challenging walk worthy of a county high point. The views out over Morecambe Bay and the Cumbrian peninsulas are extensive, but offer a wistful reminder of what Lancashire lost several decades ago. Look carefully over the flanks of Barbon Low Fell from the summit plateau and the Old Man of Coniston looms tantalisingly on the horizon to the northwest. Until 1974, this iconic peak was once the highest mountain in the County Palatine of Lancashire.

In 1974, Merseyside, Cheshire and Greater Manchester swallowed up the urban fringes to the south of the county, while Lancashire annexed several bits of Yorkshire and vice versa. It was to the north that the Red Rose County suffered its most egregious losses. The area beyond the River Kent, including the low-lying fells of Furness and both Windermere and Coniston were all subsumed into Cumbria – a county forged from bits of Westmorland, Cumberland, the West Riding of Yorkshire and a large slice of Lancashire.

But make no mistake, the current borders of Lancashire still make it home to some very fine hills well worthy of walkers’ attention: Pendle is a classic and the Bowland Fells provide a wonderful backdrop for a long weekend of exploration.

This carefully curated selection of walks offers something for everyone: from wild weekend adventures for committed hikers and challenging routes for seasoned walkers, to engaging urban hikes and shorter wildlife-rich walks for active families to enjoy.

This collection has been two years in the making. The first walks were undertaken just as the infamous ‘Beast from the East’ struck in the spring of 2018. Some of the early walks had to be abandoned as the snow lay in thick drifts on some of the scheduled routes.

Less than six months later, during the lengthy summer heatwave, I found myself exploring the parched uplands of the West Pennine Moors between Blackburn and Bolton. The very next day, these heather-clad slopes were consumed by wild fires as the tinder-dry peat went up in smoke. And that, in a nutshell, pretty much sums up the full spectrum of terrain and weather you can expect to encounter in Lancashire – sometimes all on the same day.

The beauty of this great county lies in the diversity of its landscapes, the warmth of its people and the depth of its history. From charming rambles along a canal-side towpath in the heart of a mill town into the countryside beyond, to challenging treks to the top of rugged mountains to earn outstanding views – the Red Rose County has it all.

The complex crinkles and creases of the Hareden Valley (Walk 6)

History

Some 50 years ago, Lancashire was significantly bigger than it was today and I could share an even greater range of walks than the compelling crop of routes collated here. Prior to the local government reorganisation of 1974, parts of what is now Cumbria (not to mention a few bits of Yorkshire) belonged to the Red Rose County.

In those days, the highest hill in Lancashire was the Old Man of Coniston – and a large swath of the southern Lake District fell within the county borders. This segment of the county – known as ‘Lancashire over the Water’ included much of the Furness Peninsula.

Go back even further, to the Middle Ages, and the County Palatine of Lancashire was an even larger entity which would today probably be likened to a semi-autonomous region such Andalucía or Catalonia.

Edward III awarded this special status in 1351, in response to the House of Lancaster’s strategic importance as a bulwark against marauding Scottish raiders. In those days the Duke of Lancaster enjoyed greater powers than the ruling classes of other counties and the Palatine covered much of the northwest of England, including what is now Merseyside and Greater Manchester.

Palatinate status became hereditary in 1362 upon the elevation of the most famous holder of the Dukedom: John of Gaunt, son of Edward III and de facto ruler during his father’s illness. John of Gaunt’s younger brother, Edmund, became Duke of York.

It was the ongoing dispute over the succession between John of Gaunt’s descendants and his younger brother Edmund’s heirs that pitted the House of Lancaster against the House of York in a series of violent convulsions which shaped the monarchy for the next century and a half – known, of course, as The Wars of the Roses.

The intrigue and internecine skirmishing continued throughout the latter half of the 15th century, until opposition to the ‘tyrant king’ Richard III rallied around the House of Lancaster.

The Lancastrian Henry Tudor became the focus for the rebellion, returning from exile in France to defeat Richard at the battle of Bosworth in 1485. Henry married Elizabeth of York and thus united the two factions to rule as Henry VII. To symbolise the nation’s new-found unity, Henry fused the Red Rose of Lancashire with the White Rose of Yorkshire to create the Tudor Rose – which remains a powerful emblem of England to this day.

The legacy of the Palatine’s primacy persists today: the full text of the Loyal Toast salutes ‘The Queen, Duke of Lancaster’. They are, in fact one and the same person, affirming the ties that bind the red rose of Lancashire to the red rose of England.

Another legacy that anyone visiting the further flung outposts of the county will quickly appreciate, is a profound sense of local pride and a fierce spirit of independence.

The mill towns of East Lancashire, Blackburn, Burnley, Nelson and Colne, were the crucibles for the noise and heat of the industrial revolution and the social and political upheavals that accompanied it.

As social reformers laboured to improve the lot of the millworkers, hard-won rights, such as shorter working hours and even the occasional paid holiday, provided the emergent urban working class with recreational opportunities.

Many spent their free time in the inns and taverns that occupied every corner of the mill towns, but others sought solace and sanctuary by exploring the moors of the West Pennines – bringing them into direct conflict with local landowners. The seeds for the set-piece confrontations of the 1930s on Kinder Scout were actually sown on the moors above Blackburn and Darwen nearly 50 years earlier.

And yet in the north of the county – particularly in the Forest of Bowland – the landscapes have scarcely changed for centuries. This is a side of Lancashire which few people outside the county fully appreciate: that beyond the industry and the urban sprawl lie hundreds of square kilometres of largely undiscovered country.

Lonely barn on the fellside below Bowland Knotts (Walk 4)

Landscape and geology

The West Pennine Hills and the uplands that stretch from the Bowland Fells to the Ribble Valley and from the Lune to the Calder largely comprise millstone grit – a type of sandstone which, as its name suggests, was tough enough to be used to mill flour and the oats that fared better in the north.

Out to the west, the fertile flatlands of the Fylde and the West Lancashire Plain are largely silt which more closely resemble the Fens, but in the north-eastern corner of the county, where the sandstone meets the limestone, the geology is more complex, with the occasional limestone outcrop erupting through the gritstone.

In the south of the county, the mill towns sprawl along the valley floors, but the sunlit uplands of the West Pennines are only a short, sharp climb away. The gradients can be punishing – especially in the steep-sided valleys (or ‘cloughs’) eroded by the swift flowing streams and rivers draining the uplands. To some, these moorlands are a bit bleak, but for anyone with an interest in industrial archaeology, the legacy of the mills and mining hereabouts provide a number of rich seams to explore.

To the north, the quality of the views increases in direct proportion to the altitude. Iconic Pendle Hill, which can be seen from most of Lancashire’s principal towns and cities, can claim summit views to Snowdon, Scafell Pike and The Roaches in Staffordshire.

But actually, the best views lie further west, on the edge of the Pennines and the fringe of the Bowland Fells, where the vistas can also encompass more comprehensive views of the Lakeland fells, the Isle of Man and – very occasionally – the Mountains of Mourne in Northern Ireland.

The causeway to Sunderland Point (Walk 18)

Wildlife

Lancashire is something of a birdwatchers’ paradise, offering some notable coastal birding and more than its fair share of nature reserves. The Lancashire Wildlife Trust covers what could perhaps be loosely regarded