So as per a previous post I had decided to drag poor Chris up Great Hill for a much needed walk in the country, Great Hill was (for me) an obvious candidate owing to its proximity to Southport, lack of altitude and I’d read that there was a stone causeway with which we could traverse the moorland without geting full of mud / peat / silege!

Setting off from the well maintained car park on Tockholes Road (Crookfield Road) I instantly spotted Great Hill due west with its’ summit wind shelter:so we headed off on what started out as a wide, grassy path having first squeezed through two stiles less than twenty yards apart.

The broad grassy track soon became less broad and substantially less grassy as the traditional West Pennines peat, heather and bog combination kicked in! Before long gulleys seemed to simply appear in front of us and we had to attempt a route which facillitated staying on our feet as opposed to falling down any of one of various ditches and mini ravines. The ascent was fairly unstrenuous, straight forward and afforded moody views of the surrounding landscape and some dramatic views across to Winter Hill…but as for the ground! What appeared wet was in fact, wet. What appeared dry was..wet, what looked to be quite muddy was in fact a darkly coloured skating rink!

I never knew that there was a stone circle around here!

Soon it became apparent that although we were not lost – we didn’t know where we were! Correction, Chris knew where we were not … on Great Hill! The single worded statement “Plonker!” followed by “I think that is Great Hill to our right, with the cairn-thingy on it…and the people!”, was next to be slapped my way (sorry Chris but those words were like a slap across the face – no matter how accurate 🙂 ) Indeed it was true, in the distance we could easily make out the forms of several people atop this mighty hill to the right of us. We continued to fight our way to the summit, any summit and decided to aim for what looked like a stonce circle hundreds of yards ahead of us.

DOH!

After passing through a gulley – voluntarily, we eventually found the media upon which we had assumed (but had no visible proof) that people had been walking. And what a revelation this was!

Yes this was the fabled path that leads over the top of Spitlers Edge and Redmond’s Edge to the base of Great Hill. Nowhere from the road was this visible but given its’ snake-like twisting and the length of the thing I had expected to have seen it from down below. The stone circle now revealed its’ true self also – a very old looking drystone wall in desparate need of repair! On the bright side it made a good place to sit and have our lunch – at least it did for Chris! Every segment that I sat on began to move beneath me! A couple that were on an hike informed me that the hill to the right that I was pointing to was Great Hill and suggested that perhaps someone could get me a GPS device for my birthday (apparently map-reading is not one of my strengths)!

We spent some time eating and taking on board refreshments and made the joint decision to take the path up to Great Hill, having picked up so much mud en route it seemed pointless to turn back – so we marched on at some pace. Within twenty minutes we were at the stile at the base of Great Hill.

Not for the first time today was I to receive "the finger!"

The going was such a delight after all of that mud and peat that it took no more than a couple of minutes to get to the cruciform shelter at the very summit of the hill. The finger-post had left absolutely no doubt where we were heading. The views from the summit were somewhat muted as the weather on this day (Sunday 6th March) was sunny but hazy, we knew where the Lake District, Forest of Bowland, Yorkshire Dales and the Pennines all were – but there was no definition to what we could see. The view of Winter Hill, Spitlers Edge and Redmond’s Edge however was to me fantastic, a defining moment, a scene that I hope I will always be able to recall.

A last look back at Great Hill

We took the broad, sometimes a tad sketchy, path down off the hill and headed eastwards towards the A675 that was visible atop Great Hill and from just about most angles thereafter. To say that the path up was difficult is an over-statement compared to the downhill path to the A675. There were many fordings of streams of filthy water and micro-bogs I slipped on some mud that was cleverly hidden under some bone-dry grass and by the time we hit the road my legs felt like they had done some kind of obstacle course – which they had! The walk back up the roadside was thankfully uneventful although how many bikers going past well in advance of the speed limit made me jump I couldn’t say.

In summing up we had a great walk up Great Hill even if the going was a bit rough. I’d certainly do it again – just not straight after rain. I will be incorporating this walk into a much larger one that will include Winter Hill and Rivington Pike. Hopefully in won’t be too long before I next see in person this view that meant so much to me:

Winter Hill, Spitlers Edge and Redmond's Edge

The Royal Wedding will be on April 29th and this conflicts with my basic desire to never ever watch such an event – it will be on all the main T.V. channels all day long and this innevitbly forces me out of the house. Not that I have anything against HRH and Kate Middleton but I’ve never met them – more than likely I never will and most weddings are a bit of a boring affair anyway!

This leads me in (rather clumsily) to the reason behind this post: I am in a delightful quandary of not really knowing where to go for a walk that day. I could go back to lovely old Pendle Hill again and perhaps explore the lesser summits of Barley and Ogden hills along with Stang Moor Top.

I could drive a long way over to North Yorkshire and either do Pen-y-ghent on its own or the much fabled Ribblehead – Chapel le Dale route taking in the summits of Park Fell, Simon Fell, Ingleborough and Whernside.

I could aim local(ish) and get covered in mud, peat and dank water on various stretches of moorland doing the mammoth walk that goes over Rivington Pike, Crooked Edge Hill(two lads), Winter Hill and over to Great Hill and back again.

Another candidate is the wonderful stroll up, across and over Saddle Fell, Wolf Fell, Fair Snape Fell and Parlick – it really is that good!

Or as a last alternative, you could advise me! I would have to stipulate though that it has to be within 60 miles radius of Southport and anyone that suggests the Peak District will have their IP Address blocked!

The poll is here:

…of January that is. Ever since December – yeah I know that wasn’t very long ago but humour me please, I have been counting down to the next time that I can get the chance to do Pendle Hill – the long way again. I had set a date of (you’ve guessed it) the 29th of January – a Saturday no less. Well having just looked at the date I am thrilled to see that it’s not that far away at all. The plan is to go the same way as we did on Halloween – with the exception being that this time I am going to actually climb up the hill instead of having the constitution of a jellyfish and backing out at the last minute.

Going originally straight up Cross Lane I first call in at  Witches Galore perhaps to get one of their fantastic flapjacks to snack on at the summit! Then I’ll head off down and up Spenbrook Road until I get to Little Tynedale. Next it’s a right hand turn to follow the track down to the little row of buildings that features Tynedale Farm and Tynedale Cottage. Having made my way along the rather wet and muddy path I eventually hit harder substance parallel to Bull Hole Farm before heading up to meet Well Head Road where I shall turn left. After an hundred yards or so it’s well of the beaten track as I’ll join the Pendle Way and head up an incredibly steep little hill (let’s hope that it’s free of animal carcasses this time!) towards Fell Wood.

If I have to divide the walk into sections (and believe me – I do) then this next part is probably section 3. Making my way carefully through Fell Wood as it does get rather slippery in there I then head north west where ultimately lies a series of tiny steps leading down and over Lower Ogden reservoir. Once on the opposite bank (as it were) I’ll turn 90 degrees left heading towards delightfully named places such as Fox Holes and Cat Holes before turning right and beginning the assault on the southern aspect of the hill. This path is not as sturdily built as the one that leads up the eastern face from Barley – as such the increment should prove to be more natural as opposed to the lunges needed to ascend the afore mentioned eastern approach!

After much climbing I should see the summit and the merging of the other paths before not much time has passed whereby it will be time to take a break by the ordnance survey column (time for that flapjack). The final stage (has anyone been keeping count?) will see me heading north towards the boundary wall for Downham where I’ll turn right once more and head down the dreaded steps down the eastern side of the hill. With a bit of luck there will be no twisting of ankles and the descent progress should be about half the time that it usually takes me to ascend this cobbled path of wood and stone. At the bottom of the ‘staircase’ I go through the first of what will be many ‘kissing gates’, turn right once more and traverse a field full of black sheep and white sheep.

That was the first field of what I have come to refer to as the four field challenge – when the route is reversed these four fields can be unbelievably energy sapping, these are not the soft, gentle slopes of the Yorkshire Dales, these fields are hard and unrelenting but the environment itself offers up fantastic views of the surrounding countryside – including a distant peak at Darwen Hill’s Jubilee Tower. I’ll keep on walking past  Ing Head Farm andIngs End, over not one but three footbridges and more kissing gates until finally reaching Barley Lane in Barley where I’ll turn right towards the village and the visitor centre café where a much needed coffee will be bought and savoured over.

I figure that this whole walk (weather permitting) should take no longer than four hours. I will report the exact figures at a later date. One thing is for sure – I am really looking forward to it!