Forest Of Trawden

It was raining when I got up but by mid-morning it had faired up so it was nice to get out for a walk this afternoon.  It had taken me ages to decide where to go – eventually picked Wycoller as if felt like it had been a long time since the weather had been good enough to drive over that way without worrying about ice and snow.  Arrived at the car park about two and set off down into the village.  How lovely to get out in the fresh air.  I chose to head off towards the Forest of Trawden, just a slightly longer walk than going around Fosters Leap. 

The sun was shining and the sky was blue for once.  The Hall ruins looked lovely in the sun and shadows across it.  I headed up alongside the beck and turned up into Turnhole Clough. 

  It was all pretty boggy underfoot and I guess it could have been a lot worse if the ground underneath the top layer hadn’t still been frozen from earlier in the week.  As  I walked along a remembered last time I’d stayed too low down by the beck and had to scramble over some walls at the far end of the clough.  This time after going through the gate I spotted the path up the hill side onto Brinks end Moor and the bridleway. 

This was then a clear old packhorse path along the moor top.  Looking left there was still lots of snow on the hill tops – I also passed quite a few mountain bikers – most of them were pushing their bikes (not something I fancied doing).  There were also a couple of fell runners on the way too.  One asked about the path I’d just come up as he was planning on coming back the way I had just walked.  As I walked along Pendle Hill dominated the skyline in front of me until I turned right at a junction in the middle of the moor turning down a farm track to Mean Moss.

From here I turned right again through several very boggy fields to a walled way and then down another set of fields.  On my way down here I passed several groups coming in the opposite direction all with OS maps so where they were off to I’ve no idea.  I dropped down the hill side turning left alongside a wall until it came to a dead end by a house. 

The nice owner asked if I was lost and said I needed to go back through the boggy track to a stile in the wall which would take me on the path to the right of his house and then a path to drop down back into Wycoller.  I will remember that next time I do this walk.

I came back to Wycoller it was about 4 o clock and I popped in the small shop and bought a new walking book.  To say the ground was really boggy there had been lots of people out walking.  Good walk just under 5 miles with lovely views.