The Rossendale Rambler

It was early February and in spite of a poor weather forecast our group of seven regular stalwards turned up, as ever optimistic of a good day. And indeed, we started our walk in cloudy but fine conditions. Soon we were climbing away from Sabden village on the brackeny slopes of Pendleton Moor, on clean, moist turf. This was perhaps the best going we had underfoot all day. There had been weeks of rain and where you walk on close-cropped grazing meadows in the winter months, the grass doesn't grow and take up the moisture and the ground becomes totally saturated. You find yourself skidding and squelching along and sliding in muddy patches, which are unpleasant conditions. Wellingtons might be the best footwear when it's like this.

Once over the Nick of Pendle we noticed the wind becoming stronger and colder as it swept unchecked across the Ribble Valley and the top of Pendle Hill was lost in racing clouds. We had some shelter along a lane passing several farms heading N.E. but then from Hookcliffe Farm to the Downham road it started to snow in the wind. We were forced to put on all our waterproofs as it turned to a full blizzard for the next half hour but quite tolerable because the wind direction was south-westerly and at our backs. When we took the moorland path which cuts across the N.E. flank of Pendle Hill we were in the lee of the big hill, which reduced the wind force. I remember our little group, cheerful in adversity, huddling behind some walls in the corner of a field on Downham Moor for a sandwich break. Nearby the sheep fed from a dispenser of fruity-smelling silage. That fragrance of molasses is so evocative and always jerks the memory back to days as this.

The snow had stopped as we walked down into Barley and along the valley to White Hough and soon came to the Clarion Tea Room where we could all enjoy a hot mug of tea. It is located at SD831 396. One of the last places of its kind, sponsored I think by the Labour Party to encourage the mill workers of the Lancashire towns to get out into the countryside at week-ends and take some healthy exercise and fresh air. Run by a rota of volunteers it is simply furnished with wooden benches and tables and provides a warm shelter where you can buy a very cheap hot drink and snack and you can eat your own sandwiches there. So it is a welcoming and inexpensive stopping place for lunch and very popular with walkers and cyclists, especially on a winter's day. (It's actually seven years since I last did this walk. I hope the Clarion is still open. Perhaps other readers will let me know if it is ?)

Then after our warming rest we headed back to Sabden in more or less a straight line on farm lanes and footpaths. But all I recall is the wind rising again to a full gale, spectacular and exciting as it thrashed the trees and hedgerows. The rain came and swept across the hillside like smoke, so we put our heads down and forged doggedly on. You can enjoy such adverse conditions when in the company of friends to share a joke and make little of your misfortunes.

So when we got back to our cars at Sabden at the end of our 13 mile walk thoroughly wet and tired, I think we had all enjoyed it. We'd had mud and snow and rain and gales on what most people would describe as a horrible day. Yet somehow you recall such days more vividly than nice ones. They certainly make you appreciate the nicer ones!

Back to The Rossendale Rambler Contents Page

Back to The Rossendale Ramblers Home Page