Favourite Walks and Rambles

[Stanley]

Nice seeing that walk, I used to do it regularly but those days have gone... Gave my German boots to son in law Mick at Earby. I think he goes to bed in them.... I forget the name but a bloke once offered to swap his for mine and he'd give me £100....

[PanBiker]

Here's the confirmation received via email for the broken way mark post I reported from our walk around Stock.




LCC Fault Reporting

[PanBiker]

Out walking today, we went down to Ghyll then over the golf course to the trig point near the radio mast. Down to the style opposite Thornton Church then through the churchyard. Skirted Risebrigg Hill and crossed Ghyll Syke on the footbridge. Up onto the road and through the copse up onto the canal bank and back up to the top lock. Home via Greenberfield Lane, the allotments and back of the park onto Westclose Road and home, 5.5 miles easy going with a couple of climbs up to the trig and round Risebrigg.

We came across two damaged waymark signs both on the canal bank on designated footpaths. Sign from the towpath marking the path up behind the Ghyll brow factory is damaged with missing pointers. Further along at the turnover bridge the route pointers are missing from the post which itself is rotten and will need replacing. I have reported both of these on the LCC reporting site.

[PanBiker]

Did my Weets circular this afternoon 45 minutes faster than the last time I did it. Easier walking underfoot on the whole but a bit clagggy in some parts. I had light rain most of the way round so had to break out the cagoule, not hard enough to warrant the waterproof trousers though.

[Wendyf]

Feeling jealous Ian. My ankle is much improved and we did a couple of short, flat walks last weekend. On Saturday I managed a mile and a half along the canal from Salterforth and on Sunday we walked on the railway track from Earby to Booth Bridge then back on the bridle way past the sewage works which was nearly 2 miles.
Col has been laid low by an infection again this week so I have been forced into using the ankle hard on all terrain walks round the fields and despite being very sore by the end of the day it has recovered by the next morning. I'm really looking forward to getting back to regular walks!

[PanBiker]

Sounds like it's mending up Wendy but sorry to hear about Colin, take is steady though and you will get there. My wobble at Christmas has ended up setting me a challenge from the doc. I started off with slightly high BP and slightly high cholesterol. Doc suggested a Mediterranean diet and regular exercise. I know I laid off a bit after the coast to coast bike ride as we had our daughters wedding to focus on just before Christmas and it was hard at first getting back into a routine. We are active everyday with longer walks as often as we can get them in. It should make a big difference once I get back on the bike when it warms up a bit. It's a lot easier to get a 15 to 20 mile workout in on the bike. I know my BP is coming down as I now have a monitor and am tracking my progress. I have to go back to the doc around March / April for my bloods running again. I was happy with my romp today though a step (or a few thousand) in the right direction.

We are contemplating doing a section of the Cleveland Way over a few days in summer. Not looked seriously at our options yet but intend to do so. Not going to take the car, we'll pack up and go on the train, then B&B it along the route, should be fun. We have our Ruby up for next week so will have a look after half term.

[Stanley]

There seems to be a lot of infection about Wendy. Susan and Mick at Earby have been struggling for weeks, they are recovering now but feeling the effects.... Give Colin my best and tell him if he has the peeing broken glass syndrome I sympathise... I've been there and have the Tee shirt!

[PanBiker]

I hope Colin gets on the mend properly soon Wendy and your ankle eases up as well.

Our walk today was a bit bracing to say the least. We did a Weets circular this morning but with a different way back to my normal over the side down to The Edge. The wind on the way up the ridge was always in your face, very cold and strong enough to take your breath away. It started snowing that hard stuff with partial hail mixed in about half way up. We did not hang a round for too long once on the top. We came back via Gisburn Old Track down as far as Coal Pit Lane then turned right along Brogden for about a mile and then back into the fields. We returned via Jack House and onward to Hollins. Buttercup field was waterlogged so we took the side path down to Cow Pasture and home via Calf Hall. No broken stiles or way marks to report on this one, part of which on the Beating the Bounds route and a total of 6 miles. We were ready for our dinner when we got back and glad we went out in the morning, we missed the worst of the weather.

[Wendyf]

We managed our Weets circular on Saturday morning and had some quite good weather, though we didn't spend too much time at the summit either! Really pleased with my ankle, it was sore on the way down but no lasting effects. I was a bit stiff this morning, but to say its been 6 weeks since I did any decent walking I'm quite encouraged. Col had a worrying dip in energy and turned a bit pale as we reached Gisburn Old Track, and I was beginning to wonder what to do if he flaked out on me, but he wanted to push on and by the time we got to the summit he seemed OK again....thank heavens!

[PanBiker]

Not surprising if he was still carrying an infection Wendy but good that he picked up. Do you carry a mobile when you are out? You can't always rely on them completely though depending on terrain or location but better than nothing. It's easy to let your guard down particularly on the walks we consider as just a local ramble, but you can fall or have an accident anywhere. Even the top of Weets or down Harden Nick in your case would become remote if a walk went bad. You are well aware of the risks though of that I'm sure. Nice to hear that your ankle seems to be mending up though. Get Colin properly back on track and you will be away.

[Stanley]

The wonder is that Colin managed the walk considering. His body's defences must have kicked in, a hopeful sign and I have no doubt good for his overall condition. Glad it was OK.

[PanBiker]

Sally found a guide book brought into the Bosom Friends shop. It is published by the AA with 50 circular walks around the Yorkshire Dales. Some of them are on the periphery such as the one that includes Pendle summit but apart from this digression into darkest Lancashire all the rest are in Yorkshire and all are circulars so you can drive park up and then do the walk. All are between 2 and 10 miles in length and for all abilities (measured as two, four or six pars of boots to indicate difficulty). The guide gives suitable watering and eating places and is very detailed with it's descriptions of the routes. We have done walk 32 today which was a Lothersdale circular and shown as 4 boots.

We parked up at the pull in at the side of the road on the Colne to Carleton road over the tops just past the cattle grid overlooking Elslack. The route took us up the green lane towards the trig point but then sent us right towards a small copse. We the traversed the moor for a short while and then started the descent through the fields down into Lothersdale. The route should take you over the front edge of the lodge in the village on Lothersdale Beck. We had to detour here and find another way of crossing the beck as the amount of water coming off the fell had the beck about 4" deep teeming over the front edge of the lodge. The parapet is only about 9" wide and in summer with a minor trickle would be traversable but not today with beck partly in spate. It's quite drop down into the beck below the lodge as well. We took about a half mile detour up through the field and exited onto the road into the village at the bridge. Down to the Hare and Hounds where it would have been rude not to enter and have half an hour and a bit of a relax over a pint! The route then took us back up out of the village following the Pennine Way climbing upwards through the fields and eventually out onto the moor and on to the trig point on the summit of Pinhaw. We then came off the top and rejoined the green lane and back down to the car. The route is indicated as a 4 mile circular, it was actually 4.6 with our beck detour. Steep in places climbing back out of Lothersdale but a nice walk.

[Stanley]

Lovely little village Lothersdale....

[PanBiker]

Weets circular today, my 4.5 mile route. Folly, ridge to summit, over the side down to Brown Hill, The Edge and Dark Hill and back home via Calf Hall.

On another matter, I have received emails from LCC for each of the reports I made for faulty or damaged stiles and waymarkers. I have reported four that I have found in the last 6 weeks or so. The emails all say that the faults have been passed on to Pendle Borough Council for action. I thought that LCC themselves were responsible for the footpaths but that would not seem to be the case. The reporting website shows each of my flagged faults as "received" on the interactive map.

[Stanley]

I used to do that walk every day when I was revising for my finals at home. It's a brilliant work out....

[David Whipp]

Ian, Pendle Council has an agency agreement with the county council to provide the countryside access service. As well as the borough council putting extra resources into maintaining footpaths, LCC has provided more resources as well. The result is that, although far from perfect, footpaths in Pendle are generally in a far better state than elsewhere in the county.

Last year, Pendle was the only district council still carrying out the service on behalf of the county. LCC served notice on PBC to end the agreement on 31st March this year. However, after a lengthy battle, no, rather extended deployment of diplomatic skills, the county council has agreed a compromise where Pendle keep the Countryside Access service with a new agency agreement.

Tom Partridge is the person at Pendle who deals with footpaths and bridleways and I hope he'll continue to do an excellent job under the new arrangements.

At Pendle Council's budget meeting, we managed to fend off a proposed cut of the £10,000 that the borough council put into footpath repair work at the centre.

In the greater scheme of things, this may be a minor victory, but it's one I'm quite pleased with!

[PanBiker]

And rightly so, thanks for the explanation David. When I'm out and about walking our local lanes and footpaths there is no sadder sight really than a waymark pointer without a pointer, it's pointless really (sorry for the pun, but couldn't resist).

I do like the LCC reporting site though its a good initiative.

[David Whipp]

I too like the online reporting on LCC site Ian, it allows greater precision and there is some feedback (which you don't get automatically with email). The one problem I've had is that it stops responding after I've submitted a few reports. When I reported that issue, I was advised to use email...

[PanBiker]

Reverse route around Stock and Bracewell this afternoon, quite mild when walking. I went down through the park and on to Greenberfield then over to Gilbeber and down to the bridge. Climbing the hill towards Stock the sheep in the field on the right thought I was going to feed them and started bleating and following me, that set the ones off in the next field and also those in my field on the hill. They decided to all come and have a look at me, they followed me all the way to the wall stile. The waymark post is still detached but propped up against the wall, along with a sign wedged in the top stones saying "Beware of Bull", not very prominently. There was no sign when I entered the field at the bottom so I could not determine whether the sign applied to field I was just leaving or the one I was just joining? In any case, there should not be a Bull in a field bearing a public footpath (unless aged less than 10 months old or accompanied by heifers or cows) and definitely not if a dairy Bull, (looked that up on DEFRA). Expectantly at this time of the year there were no cattle in the fields anyway.
Onward over the hill and down to the bridge then up into Bracewell village. I walked up the road a bit to pick up the gated stile back into the fields to return via the old stone bridge on Cloggers then up the hill onto Brogden. Lots of new lambs with attentive yews in the last field before Brogden. I could see the two fields ahead over to Fernbank were both full of new mums with their lambs, (most of them sat on the path) so instead of disturbing them, I dog legged down the lane a bit and took the lower path through two empty fields to bring me back over lower down Fernbank. Just over 4 miles by the time I got home.

[Wendyf]

A cool but pleasant walk this morning starting in Earby. We parked by the Mines Museum then walked back into Earby, through Wheatlands Cemetery and up Gaylands Lane almost to the Mount before heading down the hill towards Booth Bridge. We then came back along the railway track and back to the museum. It was probably about 3 miles, but reasonably dry underfoot most of the way.
Any one who hasn't seen the Mines Museum should nip along there quickly....it won't be around much longer!

[Stanley]

I'm sorry to hear that the Mines Museum is in danger. Question that occurs to me is what happens to the Old Grammar School? Such an interesting building....

[Wendyf]

It is very sad that the museum is finding it hard to continue. It is run entirely by volunteers and has probably suffered from a lack of youthful enthusiasm. The building, for which the museum pays a "peppercorn" rent, belongs to the Robert Windle Foundation Trust, which was established to help local children with their education.

[plaques]

I spent a good hour at the museum last Sunday. For the £2 entrance fee it was good value for money. The volunteer staff were very helpful and were a mine of information (sorry about that). It all appears to be down to the lack of funding that its now under threat. I don't know what amounts we are talking about but there are certainly no CEO salaries in there.

[Wendyf]

They used to get a grant of £2500 a year from Pendle which covered insurance costs, but that was withdrawn last year.

[Stanley]

The amounts needed must be very small. Approach local industry? Sounds as though they need an energetic fund-raiser!