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| A Hameldon Round |
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Date : 28th February 2010
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Leader : Sue Larder |
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Report by : Sue Larder |
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Photos © : Howard Ashworth |
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| Pendle from the summit of Hameldon | |
Eleven walkers set off on Sunday which was a testament to people’s enjoyment of walking in spite of the weather forecast which was for high winds and driving rain. After meeting at Plantation Street car park and organising lifts for non car drivers the walk set off proper from the picnic site at Childers Green off Burnley Lane, Huncoat. From the picnic area we walked through the woods past the picnic tables negotiating the kissing gate at the end of the small copse and keeping to the right of the farm and between the chicken huts in the field we made our way towards the main gate and Burnley Road. Crossing the road we entered Burnley Wood and after about 200yds took a left hand path exiting the wood onto a farm track. Turning right we followed the track round to the left and went through the farm yard, escorted most of the way by Mrs Russell’s lad Jack who announced our arrival in no uncertain terms, (all bark and no bite). Keeping to the left of the farm buildings we climbed over a particularly boggy stile and crossed the field keeping parallel to the fence on the left we climbed another stile and entered the plantation wood. Following the footpath signs and also noticing some deer tracks in the soft earth, we traversed through the bottom of the wood and came out onto the lane which is part of the Burnley Way. Turning right we followed the lane up past the old shooting range on the right which years ago was used by the local regiment, formerly based in Burnley Barracks, for shooting practice every Sunday morning, now long abandoned but the target area can clearly be seen. The very muddy and in some parts flooded track led round to the left side of Hapton Scouts gradually rising up.
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left:
Up through the woods |
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right: The muddy track around Hapton Scouts |
We stopped part way up to get our breath back and appreciate the excellent views from the 3 wind turbines in the foreground, old lady Pendle complete with lace cap (snow), the RibbleValley, Padiham and Burnley as the backdrop. Unfortunately the peaceful day was then shattered by quad and trail bikers, at lease 10 of them, screaming across the fields surrounding Hapton radio masts, they passed us as we made our way up the track and we were glad to return to the peace and quiet of the moors. We had a 20min stop for lunch using a wall as a wind shelter and then continued our way along the path which was extremely boggy but had been made much worse by the passing of the bikes.
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left:
The stream is the path! |
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right: Bikers - very noisy... |
At the next waymarker just past the path to the radio masts we turned right and followed the foot path along the back of Hapton Scouts to the base of Hameldon. This time the views were of Darwen Tower, Winter Hill TV mast living up to its name, Peel Tower, Rawtenstall and Loveclough. On reaching the base of Hameldon we turned right and followed the path up to the trig point. At the top we paused for the obligatory trig photo and then took a few minutes to appreciate the full 360deg vista. We could even see Blackpool Tower in the misty distance. The weather although cold in exposed places, stayed fine and was relatively clear. We then retraced our route back down from Hameldon and negotiated a wall style, noting the memorial stone for a fell runner “still running” to the right of the stile. Once over the stile, we also noticed a small fenced off area and a slab of stone with Mary’s Holy Well chiselled into it. It was very overgrown and appeared to be more a garden than a well.
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The group on Hameldon |
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right: Mary's Holy Well |
We turned right and followed the footpath alongside the wall on the right which brought us out onto the Kings Highway. We then turned right again and made our way along the Highway past the now drained Hameldon reservoir until we came to the next waymarker taking us off the footpath. At this point half of our party decided that they were too muddy to risk dirtying people’s cars and decided to continue along Highway and eventually make their way home along Burnley Road. This left just 6 of us to enjoy the remainder of the walk. We climbed the stile on the right of Kings Highway which is part of the Huncoat Trail and walked along the path towards an electricity pylon where we then turned right and followed the path which was precarious in parts keeping the fence on the right until we crossed the stream and over a wall stile which brought us onto the old stone quarry workings. We followed the path through the quarry pits and turned left at the next waymarker traversing down little more than a goat track which had also been churned up by bikers. This brought us out at the top of Burnley Wood. We climbed the stile and followed the path down through the wood until we came to the main Burnley Road.
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left:
It's a long road... |
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right: ...back down through the wood |
We were then retracing our steps crossing the road and through the farm gates, between the chicken huts. The hens were out and about and upon seeing us walking through the field they suddenly made a B line for us thinking we had food for them and couldn’t be persuaded otherwise until we got to the end of their field. We went through the kissing gate following the path back through the copse which brought us back to the picnic area and our vehicles. A pleasant if strenuous walk despite the mud and it was agreed that the views were certainly worth the effort.
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| Hungry chickens attack Ramblers! | |
| OS EXPLORER 287 |
WEST PENNINE MOORS |
START POINT |
SD 785 308 |
| WALK LENGTH |
6.37 mls / 10.25 km |
TIME |
2 hrs 45 mins |
| MAX HEIGHT |
408.53 mtrs |
MIN HEIGHT |
160.56 mtrs |
| HEIGHT ASCENDED |
362.3 mtrs |
HEIGHT DESCENDED |
362.3 mtrs |
This map is for reference only and MUST NOT be used to do the walk.
Please use the correct OS map for all these walks.
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