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| A Walk in the Park and Beyond |
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Date : 15th July 2010
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Leader(s) : Chris Tormey &
Kath Parker |
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Report by : Chris Tormey |
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Photos © : Phil Bedson |
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| The way through Memorial Park | |
Five members met on a rather unsettled evening for a walk round Bowley and Whalley Banks. The starting point was the Memorial Park in Great Harwood. We walked up through the park, crossed over a small road and continued on to join Dean Lane leading to the Bowley Scout Camp. The way went via field and woodland and we had good views of Pendle from the fields. Passing through the Scout Camp (which is owned by Lancashire County Council and is an amenity for international youth organisations.) we joined the Gt. Harwood nature trail turning left and following a well marked path. The path runs above the River Calder then down steps to a kissing gate which takes the path to a clapper bridge, round to the left, up the hill over the ditch line and across another field. It then leads to another clapper bridge and two wooden bridges then through a kissing gate and diagonally up the hill to another kissing gate onto a narrow overgrown path leading to Whalley Banks. The sunken path to the left is part of the old pathway used by Galloway ponies (known as Lime Gals) carrying Lime from Clitheroe to Blackburn and returning with coal.
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left:
Down the steps... |
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right: ...to the clapper bridge |
The route then carried on into the cluster of houses at Whalley Banks. The Census of 1851 shows 20 farms and smallholdings most of them combining hand loom weaving and farming. It was also the place for tea and ice-cream in more recent years when a “Walk over the Nab” was a popular Sunday excursion. Taking a narrow footpath between two houses we continued uphill and came out on a tarmac road with Higher Whalley Banks Farm on the right. This point is 400 ft. above sea level. Following the road to the left we crossed the cattle grid and took an immediate right turn down a short track over the stile and into the field where we went up the hill keeping to the right then down to a ladder stile which put us on a tarmac road. Following the road to the left we carried on until we reached the farm track on the right leading to Lower White Carr Farm the track took us past the buildings where we turned left to find the stile. In the field we kept to the right and went over a wooden bridge and up to the top where we went over another stile turning left as we made for the gate at the end of the field.
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left:
Pendle Hill |
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right: Bowley Hill |
Through the gate and the stile in the wall on the left the path led down to Shawcliffe Lane where we turned left, along this road you pass a seat erected by the Civic Society in 1984 with good views from here. Further on the footpath sign just before Moor End Head farm leads down the field through a gate and down again to another gate and back onto Dean Lane. A right turn and the path leads back to the Scout Camp. Here we retraced our path back to the nature trail this time turning right and following an obvious path back through the fields past Squires Farm and Allsprings Lodge and to the starting point at the park. The weather was overcast so views were limited and we did get wet but only on the latter part of the walk. All in all a pleasant walk of about 2¼ hours.
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