Tuesday 19th March 2024 The Hodder Valley

Walk Leader – Neil Harwood

Number on walk – 12

Distance – 12 miles

Weather – Cloudy for most of the day but a nice temperature – perfect walking weather!

I was a little apprehensive about the walk as it had been raining hard all night and although the rain had cleared, the streams and rivers would be full and the ground wet under foot. My first task was to stop off at the Inn at Whitewell on the way to Dunsop Bridge to see if the stepping stones were passable but unfortunately there were not so I had to start thinking about a detour!

The walk begins with a section of the Hodder valley east of Dunsop Bridge from Thorneyholme Hall to Giddy Bridge, passing Knowlmere Manor. The route then heads south, over Birkett Brook, past the two Birkett Farms and up on to Birkett Fell. It’s not the best of paths with drainage being poor and there was a stream to cross, which was in full flow, but we managed and you do feel that you are in the wilds until civilization re-appears in the form of the road at Marl Hill. A short road section and then we turn west past the property called Crimpton, through the remains of a forest and then over a ladder stile to see the Hodder Valley again below us. It is the first of several great views across this part of the Hodder, which is one of my very favourite parts of Lancashire. There is something exceedingly pretty about it, it is just very agreeable on the eye. The late Queen, Elizabeth II, thought so too apparently.

We continued our descent to the Inn at Whitewell, where we had lunch in the grounds of the Parish Church next door. Of course, I had to go back to the stepping stones over the river in the hope that the water levels had subsided since early morning. I got halfway across but it wasn’t easy and I was certainly not going to propose that the group tried it! So suitably refreshed we headed north to the Burholme Bridge, which does have the advantage of a nice stretch along the river just after the Inn. We then followed the quiet road SW ignoring some field paths and then took the track which serves the farm called Whitmore but before we reached it, we came off the track to take the bridleway that heads through the forest know as Whitemore and then on to and around the side of the hill known as Mellor Knoll. The views on this stretch are fabulous with the Hodder valley to our right, the summit of Totridge to our left and ahead of us the Bowland Fells, with the Trough snaking its way north through the centre.

We are on the homeward stretch now with a steep descent to Hareden Brook and its farm and then to the Trough road. Rather than follow the road back into Dunsop Bridge we come off and head through a series of very muddy fields to access the service road up to Brennand and Whitendale. Finally we cross the River Dunsop and then it’s the very pleasant tourist path back into Dunsop.

It’s a lovely walk especially if you want to savour the Forest of Bowland and the Hodder valley without heading over the tops and sampling the dreaded Bowland bogs, although we did have our fair share of mud!