Bowland & Pendle Walks

Wheathead Height

Date: 11th March 2007
Distance: 8.2 miles
Ascent: 1303 feet
Time: 3 hours 20 mins
With: Lisa
Start Grid Ref: SD823403

Walk Summary:
A walk visiting Wheathead Height and Stang Top Moor, two of the lesser heights standing in the shadows of Pendle Hill.

Route Summary: Barley - Upper Black Moss Reservoir - Twiston Moor - Higher Smithy Fold - Bale Hill - Wheathead Height - Wheathead Lane - Stang Top Moor - Slacks Wood - Barley

Photos: Click on the photos below to enlarge.

Walk Detail: The aim of this walk was to polish off a couple more of the lower Pendle heights while at the same time giving us a reasonably easy walk for Lisa (who was 5 months pregnant at the time) to do.

It was a murky grey morning with the promise of worse weather later in the day. The initial walk out of Barley was pleasant along a clear dry track that runs along the east side of Lower and Upper Black Moss reservoirs both of which provided a nice foreground to the impressive Pendle Hill.

The next section involved crossing some fairly dull enclosures including one particularly muddy field. After we got on to Twiston Moor though the walking was very easy and as we came down to the Ribble side of the moor the skies began to clear a little and somewhat surprisingly we started to get some patches of blue sky.

After following a nice grassy track down to Clough Head Farm, where we took a quick look at the Bulcock Monument, we climbed back up the moor and eventually on to Wheathead Height. Just short of the unmarked and undistinguished top we found some shelter from the wind to have our lunch. In fact it was a nice spot and out of the wind we were able to enjoy the warmth of the sunshine.

After descending from Wheathead Height we followed the road round to Stang Moor in order to avoid the Briercliffe farms. What was unavoidable was some horrible slushy mud on the bridleway over Stang Top Moor. I was also somewhat unnerved by the feisty young bullocks who were loitering about. The trig point is set just above an old quarry which is now a dump and is not a very inspiring place. After descending down to the pleasant hamlet of White Hough we followed a wide track alongside the attractive Pendle Water and back to Barley.

Not a classic walk but there were some nice stretches, particularly over Twiston Moor, and more importantly Lisa enjoyed it.

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