The walk of Saturday July 17th, 2021 – Pendle Hill and Ogden Clough from Barley

I never did have that final chance in 2020 to visit Pendle in between lockdowns, I played by the rules, even if they did appear to be made up on the fly. Of all the hills that I have ascended in the last twenty years, Pendle is the Queen, the summit of all summits, quite simply, I love this hill. To be denied the opportunity to be in her presence, did feel like a  part of me had been eroded, it hurt.

So, given the chance to once more visit my most favourite place I was all over it, the evidence of this was the fact that I set off to Barley on Saturday morning at…05:45! Damn straight!

Of course on route I took a wrong turning, it’s part of the itinerary for me these days, I’ve done something wrong if I don’t screw up, how’s that for a parody? All the same, in spite of some fairly robust language, aimed at my own incompetence and a couple of miles’ worth of stone chippings as me and the car ascended Noggarth Ridge, we both finally made it to the Barley visitor centre for around 07:05. And to my surprise, they’d put the bloody price up! It was inevitable really, formerly the car park was a simple ‘payment via honesty box’ and I’m not sure how “honest” most people were. As I did not have enough cash for the maximum charge – £3, I quickly fled the car park and opted for the road instead, along with several others. Barley was quiet, I had not expected anything to the contrary, I did see two girls kitted out head to toe in lycra, and I believe I would encounter these two ladies a little later in the day. The route of old holds no interest for me anymore, I simply don’t get on with the field in between Brown House and Pendle House farms so instead I take the road (Barley Road) all the way up to the turn-off for Pendle House. It’s not exactly the stuff of which most walkers dream but it does make me appreciate the scenery more when I finally get some.

My first sight of the slanted path filled me once more with awe, currently I don’t fear this path because I know I have climbed this way so many times and to be honest the astonishingly good weather was elevating my spirits beyond description.  I glanced over occasionally at the poor souls struggling their way up the stepped path and inwardly smiled, my route is far nicer. I did have to stop a few times, well it’s been a while since I’ve done any ascents – twice up Winter Hill this year is regrettably no comparison, plus, it’s Pendle – you just have to stop and admire the astounding beauty of this environ. I did manage to exchange greetings with everyone whom I encountered on route, two mid 30’s rather beefy looking men, an older man and wife couple and yet another lycra-clad younger woman who was belting down a path which usually has me descending a lot more gingerly, the young are braver…until one day they too, fall over! A few moments later I encountered a rather unexpected spectacle. Strolling down the hill was a man flanked by two more lycra-clad ladies – who I recognised as the two from the car park. The man was carrying a huge exercise bike of the kind that would not look out of place in a gym. I commented that I’d “seen some sights on this hill…” and we all had a wry laugh. It was a little bit tempting to ask what was the reason for the elephant on the hill – the bike but then aren’t some mysteries just better off kept as mysteries?

 

Soon enough I had most of the steepest section behind me and entered “Big End” essentially that tiny part of the massif where lies the trig point. It’s always tempting to try and hurry up to the trig point but today I really wanted to just savour the experience, I hadn’t been here since 2019 so it was nice to just take everything in. The views to the north were pretty much hazed out. I could see something which looked like Pen-y-Ghent but it seemed to be too close, who knows maybe it was. {Update, in fact mapping using Bing OS and Google Earth has revealed this mystery peak to be: Ingleborough!} The neighbour hills were all lined up nicely, Beacon Fell, Longridge Fell and Parlick Pike forever look so close that it always instils in me a desire to make a circular route to encompass them all, one day… of course Pendle will have to be part of that loop, my isolationistic phobia would not allow otherwise! I took the obligatory summit photos and selfies and exchanged greetings with everyone who appeared – as this was pre ten a.m this was not many. One very friendly woman even took my photograph – not on my phone I hasten to add but we did exchange opinions about our respective routes – she agreed that my sloping path had much more in its favour than the countless steps she had just ascended.

Having decided that I couldn’t make out exactly where the infamous “Scout Cairn” resided, and I certainly did not want to repeat a former mistake of dropping down into Downham in order to find it, I opted for a long and pleasant descent towards Pendle Water and then Ogden Clough. Oddly enough this would be only my second crossing of this ‘grand ravine’ – my words not anyone else’s! First of all I had the steps downhill to descend, you have to put the brakes on or before you know it you’re at the bottom of the hill facing the infant Pendle Water and having missed out of the lovely views of the Bleasdale Fells, Longridge and Beacon Fell, I have a thing for the latter because it’s just so cute. I was a little tempted to veer off to the right on crossing Pendle Water but recalling previous similar actions – in this environ and jut how well this had not gone…I went left instead as I was familiar with that route and its vertigo-inducing capacity! If one were to fall from the highest point of the ridge path to Pendle Water I’d imagine this would involve only a small drop, in reality it can terrify you! When i walk quickly on a ridge such as this it does leave me with a near-vertigo sensation whereby my peripheral vision gets all messed up on the side nearest to the drop. Lord knows how I would fair on Striding or Sharp Edges…and I’ll never discover that!

I was glad to have given myself a liberal spraying of “Skin Soft”, technically it is meant to repel Mosquitos, of which there are no reports in the forest of Pendle. However, it’s also rather nifty at keeping away most other flying wildlife…once they’ve had a chance to smell it and for some critters, namely bumble bees, this did involve bumping into my forehead first! I didn’t keep a count but I’m guessing it would have been around the thirty mark.

All things considered, this was not a bad place to be, the scenery seemed to be on a mission to impress me, it just kept on getting more and more stunning, I felt greedy! Of course I had to keep one eye on the path as every so often a rogue rock would erupt out of it with the express intention of sending the careless walker to a watery grave. I saw just a handful of people on route, even that was more than I had anticipated, this must be the post pandemic effect, people still want to be outside, this I am in favour of. I opted to take my lunch stop overlooking the stream next to the side of a magnificent view of Ogden Clough, quite how they have fell races in this vicinity without contenders falling to their death or just stopping and starring in awe at the scenery is beyond me. I had a quick chat to a lovely local woman about any trepidation I may possess over the coming descension and she allayed my fears by reassuring me that “it” was “dry down there” – ‘Oh great I’ll injure myself on dry rocks not wet ones then?’ I foretold with a wry smile. A this point, having descended into the realms of “Dry Clough” where as fate would have it, the going was wetter under foot (they say Pendle was once in Yorkshire, the humour is apparent!).  I always find trees standing solitarily somewhat depressing, but then I lived a large part of my life wishing to be anything but alone so perhaps I’m not being realistic in that regard and over empathising. This tree however does get a fair bit of web coverage and is referenced in at least two of Jack Keighley’s guidebooks so perhaps we ought not feel too sorry for it! I rounded the corner and although the path did vanish for a few yards was by now on very familiar turf, but still managed to stumble often as I think by now I’d exhausted by body’s supply of carbs.

Fell Wood has various adjectives applied to it: creepy, eerie, sombre…all revolve around a certain hue of darkness, as for verbs I think it’s safe to say that it ‘looms’ over the adjacent landscape in a domineering, threatening manner. Originally I had toyed with the notion of walking through this mal-forest but by now my knees were getting a bit shaky so I decided cowardice and sloth were the better sides of valour and enterprise and continued in my direction along Barley Green which would ultimately take me to…Barley Green. Why does this road / path not get more than one name for the entire distance it covers? Don’t know! Owing to a certain water shortage, the normally mundane and pedestrian Upper Ogden reservoir looked a bit more picturesque today with its shores more visible than on previous visits. The Lower Ogden is seldom less than a visual masterpiece and today it was in exaltation, truly beautiful, instilling in me the will to linger…for ages. But I was on a mission by now, I wanted a sit down somewhere that I would not be constantly fending off bumble bees with a bit of sun cover if you don’t mind! The car parked amidst the shade afforded by numerous trees of all sizes was beckoning me and I desperately wanted to be out of this searing sun, after all I had been here since 7:05.  I noticed with some appreciation that the water pumping station of old at the bottom of Barley Green has now undergone a radical transformation and is now host to a series of Mews-type dwellings. The building always had the potential to be something truly striking, let’s see how well this is received as I don’t think all of the units are occupied yet. A careful crossing of the road and I was back in sight of the car. I paused for a moment first; as this was my first visit for such a long time that I just wanted to savour…I also wanted my head to stop burning so I quickly passed by the now full to capacity car park and immediately, yet privately allowed myself to bask in the glory of a successful walk at Pendle. And that’s never to be sniffed at.

 

Summary

I have yet to discover a word,  a phrase or a sentence, to adequately describe just how much I had missed this iconic massif of millstone and peat. Even now, several days later I stem the flow of thankful tears that will always well inside me whenever I reflect on Pendle, it’s in my genes, my very core.  There will be other, bigger hills and mountains which will engage my passions this year and onwards but Pendle is my base, it’s the one  to which I always, sooner or later return.  Pendle manages to inspire and ground me, to fill me with aspirations and at the same time to be thankful for all that has passed, all the places that I have walked, all that we have lived through since March 2020.  I can’t say this was a hard walk, in spite of the heat, my lack of fitness and all other factors, this was quite simply a great time outdoors which is now catapulting my wish to regain my walking pastime.  As Chris said to me via instant messenger “…my walker is back…”

Song of the walk: Glory, Glory, Hallelujah – not the Man United version!

Distance covered around 6.25 miles over 1,100 feet – I tried plotting this on plotaroute.com … it didn’t end well!

Route map for Pendle From Barley Returning Via Odgen Clough by Mark Wild on plotaroute.com

The walk of Saturday July 17th, 2021 – Pendle Hill and Ogden Clough from Barley

Distance	10.294 km	Total ascent/descent	335 m / 339 m
Lowest Point	221 m (at 7.56 km)	Highest Point	553 m (at 1.53 km)
Uphill	3.96 km (38.5%)	Downhill	5.67 km (55.1%)
Flat	0.63 km (6.1%)	Height Gain	332 m
Steepest Uphill	+23.3% (at 0.63 km)	Steepest Downhill	-20.0% (at 3.69 km)
Longest Uphill	1.98 km (at 8.19 km)	Longest Downhill	3.60 km (at 1.53 km)
Ascent Rate	33 m/km	Descent Rate	33 m/km