Slaidburn

Sunday, 2nd Sept  2012
10.8 km (6.7 miles) - 3hrs 7 mins
Map : OL41 Forest of Bowland and Ribblesdale

A wonderful walk in the heart of the Forest of Bowland.  The walk was published in the  August edition of "Country Walking", who have now joined up with Trailzilla.com, so that walk details and gps downloads of the walks they publish are available.  At £25.00 for a year's subscription this seems pretty good value for money and I'm hoping that we will be able to download a lot more walks during the coming months.

As the title suggests the walk starts in the hamlet of Slaidburn - about 40 mile from where I live. Plenty of parking is available (GR : SD713523) with the added advantage of toilets and a cafe right next to the parking area which seemed a particular favourite of motorcyclists.

The aim of the walk is fairly straightforward - to get to the top if Sadler Hill (approx 350m) and then back to Slaidburn but, of course, you have to get to the top first !
From the car park a short stretch of road walking is required before cutting back and across at a finger post (GR : SD715521).  The easily followed path cuts over the flank of Gaughey Hill before dropping down to Broadhead Farm.   Thanks (and a mention) must go to the owner of the farm who guided us through gates and around the sheep he had just separated with good humour, pointing us in the direction of Skelshaw (GR : 722505).

Here you pick up a rough track that slowly and inexorably gains height as you ascend Sadler Hill.

At approximately the 330m contour line the track is discarded and a "route 1" approach is adopted, straight up the hill side until the cairn on the top of Sadler Hill is spied and provides a focus for the ascent.  Here we decided to stop for some lunch and, it has to be said, there aren't many "restaurants" that could boast this view. 

After walking along the ridge a cairn appears (approx GR : SD717491) and the descent (which takes another "route 1" approach drops you directly down to a farm marked as Smelfthwaites on the map.

From hereonin the walking is much gentler and the river Hodder is soon encountered just by the village of Newton.(GR : 698502).  The remainder of the walk couldn't be simpler as the river is followed all the way back to Slaidburn and the car park.

A delightful Sunday afternoon with variable weather - despite the forecast cloud kept rolling in and the threat of rain never felt very far off.  It also has to be said that the middle stretch from Skelshaw to the top of Sadler Hill is a reasonable climb.  However, the reward is the magnificent views from the top of the hill.  Hopefully the pictures in the on-line album will reflect this.  Stiff legs but a happy heart this evening!

Another short video showing the view from the top of Sadler Hill.  (I MUST learn how to turn the sound off !!)

Forest of Bowland

Sunday, 28th August 2011
16.7km (10.3 miles) - 5hr 20mins
OL14 - Forest of Bowland and Ribblesdale

In my youth the Forest of Bowland was forbidden country, privately owned and inaccessible to all. So, when Country Walking Magazine published a walk in the area I could not resist - in retrospect I wish I had ! Described as a "challenging" walk it proved to be at the edge of our capability and, whilst the weather contributed to the challenge, it became a chore rather than a challenge. Looking back we probably shouldn't have set off for this exposed and wild location given the amount of rain that has fallen. Our reward was trudging through peat bog, almost shin deep in places which extended the time taken to cross the fell and turned "challenging" into strenuous.
Anyway, the route. We parked at a surprisingly populated layby just North-East of Dunsop Bridge (GR SD632511). The first part of the route was on well-made tracks and took us alongside Langden Beck to the strangely named LangdenCastle, a ruined shed, and the discovery of a cache. It was here that we encountered our first downpour of the day, but luckily we were inside the "castle" and escaped it. Clear skies ensued as we went further up the valley before turning up Fiendsdale (GR SD 598500). Here, a clearly defined path climbed the side of the dale gradually climbing 200 mtrs to Fiendsdale Head (GR SD588484)

It was at this point (moving from footpath to open access land) that the going got really tough.  The landscape was open fell with peat hags  and shin deep peat bog made the 4/5 kilometres extremely hard and slow moving. Added to this was driving rain and an absolutely howling gale. It was a great pity since the scenery was aboslutely magnificent, especially as we climbed to the high point of the walk with the cairn at 520mtrs.
Eventually, we reached the trig point at the top of Totridge (GR SD635487), although by this point the wind was so strong it almost blew us over. Both agreed that the preceding section was not enjoyable and was a slog through the relentless bog picking our way around the pools at the bottom of the hags.
From Totridge the route went virtually straight down hill (another challenge since both our calves and thighs were aching by this point) and dropped us to Hareden Farm where two very weary people then struggled along the riverbank and back to the car.
Certainly, the most strenuous walk we have done this year. As stated, given the amount of rain that had fallen in the preceding days we can't really complain about the conditions and I'm sure that looking back the magnificent countryside will outshadow the peat bogs !  We all live and learn !
Group of photographs available from this link - amazingly this doesn't show the extent of the peat hags and bogs. In fact, it looks quite idyllic but be warned the middle section was hard going !