Barley Car Park for Pendle Hill... by Jayne Ashe, Community Engagement Officer

If you look on Google Maps it refers to the main car park in Barley as 'Barley Car Park for Pendle Hill'. And I don’t really think that it should. Yes, Barley Car Park is a very popular starting point for walking to the top of Pendle Hill, but that doesn't mean it’s the only car park for the Hill. Due to our recent Pendle Summit project, myself and colleagues have been making many trips up the hill from Barley, to check the works restoring the path and the construction of the dry stone wall shelter – but most walkers know there is so much more to the hill than just the popular route up from Barley.

My favourite route up to the summit starts in Downham – just as steep in places but more varied in landscape, and you can circle along the plateau, past the Shelter Cairn and Scout Cairn and back down the sometimes waterlogged paths on the aptly named Burst Clough.  I wouldn't park in Barley to do that route. If you have never reached the summit from Downham I highly recommend giving it a go. If you are coming along to our Meet You At The Top event on Saturday 6^th October, we have the perfect opportunity because we will have volunteer marshals walking all the way up this route so you can become familiar with it.

On some days you can be walking above the clouds!

Beyond that the hill offers so much more than just a route to the trig point. The Pendle Hill Landscape Partnership area covers 122sqkm of Ribble Valley, Pendle and Burnley landscape –with the summit the focus in the middle, but with so much more around it. Over the past two years working for the AONB, I have been lucky enough to walk through woodlands, across valleys and along becks, discovering public footpaths which see very little footfall, some hidden local secrets but most with the hill as a back drop.

We are so lucky to have such a choice of walking routes in our area – and I love them even more when they are associated with local folklore and stories, or features which have colloquial names. Have you heard about the boggarts and treacle mines of Sabden? Or the fairy bridge over Swanside Beck (actually an old packhorse bridge but somewhere along the way I have picked up the name fairy bridge). Other routes are more embedded in our history – the coffin trail over towards Whalley from the Nick o' Pendle or the archaeological mysteries and popular walks and picnic sites at Watermeetings.

The beautiful 'fairy bridge' near Downham. Photo taken by Graham Cooper
(he can take much better photos than me!)

I have met lots of local people - and hope to continue to meet many more – some who have lived in the area for many years or others who have a passion for the history of the area. I have always been very appreciative of my opportunity to trek across the landscape with these individuals: learning new things every day. And I hope that through our work within the Landscape Partnership, we can show others these routes and tell more of these stories.

Through some of our projects, such as 'Volunteering and Learning' and 'People Enjoying Nature', we do get the opportunity to take people to areas of the landscape where they may never have been before, or may not have even considered exploring. By having the support and guidance at certain sites or on routes, the aim is that people will make return visits or have the confidence to explore new walks – even if it may just be a new route to the summit!

Volunteers and staff enjoying a different route earlier this year

So hopefully you may agree with me that Barley Car Park for Pendle Hill isn't necessarily correct – instead it could just be Barley Car Park? Don’t get me wrong, that trip up to the summit is an important one – something that we may first do as a small child, and do again and again either at Easter or on Boxing Day, with family and old friends – but there is also so much more out there that doesn’t necessarily include the steep climb up the steps, but with views and in a landscape that is just as rewarding. I encourage you to go out exploring!

We have a few of these great stone markers across the area

Please always remember to follow the Countryside Code and keep dogs under close control, preferably on a lead. Only ever stick to Public Rights of Way or Bridleways when not in an Open Access area, and please always park safely and considerately to home owners and land owners. There are a number of car parks, some smaller than others, some free and other pay and display in places like Sabden and Rimington, Barrowford and Whalley – all great places to start walking.