Walk Leader – Neil Harwood

Number on walk – 5

Distance – 20 miles

Weather – Cloudy and cool initially but a lovely sunny afternoon.

A lovely spring morning greeted us with some cloud but the promise of good day for what would be a long hard walk. At least that was a vast improvement to the previous Thursday when I had recced the route in driving rain and winds so I might actually be able to see those views I had promised.

The route essentially follows the ridge of the Northern Bowland Fells in a west to east direction with an initial climb up to Clougha Pike at 413m with its trig point. From there we have great views west to the coast and beyond including the peaks of the Lake District. You can see why this summit is a favourite of people around here. We then continue to head east to Grit Fell (468m), marked by a cairn and then, after a small descent, it’s the long climb up to Ward’s Stone and its two trig points. At 560 and 561m these are the highest points in the Bowland Fells and the second highest in Lancashire. This is one of my favourite summits in Lancashire with panoramic views in all directions. Then we continue east again to Wolfhole Crag, 527m high, for a well deserved lunch.

For those of you who do not know the Bowland Fells, they are a mixture of bogs and bed rock so paths are variable and bog hopping/jumping/circumnavigating is required frequently and it can be tough going on the legs. The last section on the descent to the Hornby Road is no exception so we are all relieved to leave the bogs behind and of course with all the rain this year they were exceptionally wet!

The sun was now shining bright and we could relax and stretch our legs as we now started back west on the good track that the Hornby Road is. It is also a long walk of well over an hour to the farm at Higher Salter but there are again good views of the ridge of the Bowland Fells to the left and the Yorkshire Dales to the right.

The last part of the walk back to the cars of around six miles is harder than you might think. It is a bit of a roller coaster with steep climbs and descents up and down the steep valleys that the abundant amounts of water have carved in this area. But the weather is still good, warm and sunny, and we make good progress at the end as I opted for a quiet road along the edge of Caton Moor rather than the muddy paths along the valley to Littledale and Crossgill. And then finally, the sting in the tail that I promised at the beginning, a punishing steep road climb back to the cars – not recommended after a very hard walk in the boggy Bowland Fells. But I enjoyed it and I think my fellow walkers did on the whole!?