We wondered, as we gathered at Chipping for the start of this walk, if the weather was going to be as awful as when we had put this walk on for East Lancs. group last year. It certainly seemed so as waterproofs were donned by the 14 people there. Fortunately, the gods were with us today because after only a short while we were able to put them back in the rucksacks for the rest of the day.

After passing Burnslack and Saddle  End farms the long haul up Saddle Fell began but now, at the summit, the path across the top of Wolf Fell has been made up which makes for much easier going. The shelters at Paddy’s Pole were reached with no trouble, the crossing being relatively dry, and we had our coffee break there. Although some consider this to be the top of Fairsnape Fell, the actual summit is a small cairn, 10 metres higher,  ½ mile to the north –east.

Descending down the zig-zags and fields to Higher Fairsnape farm we came across the extremely large white bull we have seen in one field before, but this time he was having a peaceful lie down with some of his harem around him.

Lunch was taken at the Bleasdale Stone Circle where the original ancient timber posts  dating back to the Bronze Age, and not stones as you may think, have been taken to a museum and replaced by some concrete ones now. By now the sun was making an appearance and we continued our walk, ascending Beacon Fell, which was new to some of the group. Most of the fields we passed through on the way back to Chipping had been cut since our recce of the walk which made for quicker walking and we arrived at the cars at 4.00pm, earlier than anticipated.

It was good to see Dave Bullivant out with us again along with the two new members, Sue and Peter, from Chorley, and we hope they will continue coming with the group on future walks.