Backup Only

This Week's Walks - Archive

Please see the Saturday Walker's Club This Week's Walks page.

This is an archive of walks done by the Saturday Walker's Club. You should only need to use this page if the SWC website is down.

Friday, 8 August 2025

Friday Walk - [Alternative Walk] Pendle Hill (Whalley to Clitheroe): Easy route up and across the solitary Pendle Hill facing the Yorkshire Dales, descent across moor and through pastures then follow the meandering Ribble River [Settle Trip]

Length: 23.0 km (14.3 mi) [shorter walks possible, see below] 
Ascent /Descent: 574/554m 
Net Walking Time: 5 ½ hours 
Toughness: 7 out of 10
 
Take the 08.57 Clitheroe bus (Line 11) from Settle, Market Place, arrives Clitheroe Interchange at 10.13. Walk up to the train platform seconds away and take the 10.22 train, arrives Whalley 10.28. 
Return buses to Settle from Clitheroe Interchange (Stand 10): 16.20, 18.20.
 
This is a relatively easy route up and across the solitary Pendle Hill facing the Yorkshire Dales, considering its 557m above sea level height and 395m prominence over the surrounding ground and very steep scarp.

The start of the route passes many interesting and listed buildings in the former Abbey Precinct and the town centre of Whalley before briefly picking up a path along the (Lancashire) Calder River. It then joins the first stage of the Ribble Valley Jubilee Trail Long-Distance Path up and over Pendle Hill and down to Downham, initially steeply up along a golf course and a pasture, then more gently along an old drove road to Nick ‘O Pendle, a famously steep pass cutting through Pendle.

Good tracks lead gently up the ridge to the top of Pendle, first over some minor grassy tops, then along the dramatic Ogden Clough and lastly along engineered paths across the top plateau to the summit, with some dramatic views (in good weather only) to the Yorkshire Dales, the Bowland Fells and to the Sea at Blackpool.

From the summit at the scarp, good tracks and paths descend onto Downham Moor and further into a lush green valley and along minor streams into Downham, a very small but immaculately old-looking village with several lunch or tea options. The route then descends gently to Chatburn and into the Ribble Valley to follow the scenically meandering Ribble River for several kilometres to a former quarry, now nature reserve, on the outskirts of Clitheroe, then up along a road to train station and bus interchange.

 
Walk Options: 
Finish in Downham (Bus Lines 66/66S/67 to Clitheroe Interchange, at 14.49, 16.09, 17.49 [this bus connects to the number 11 bus with just 5 minutes to spare]), from stop St. Leonard’s Church, i.e. just before The Assheton Arms: cuts 7.5 km and 50m ascent. 
Finish in Chatburn (Bus Line 11 to Giggleswick/Settle at 16.09 from stop Mount Pleasant, or – from stop Post Office – Bus Lines C3/66/67/280 frequently to Clitheroe, or Bus Line 280 to Skipton at 16.22 and 17.22. All this is close to the two pubs and cuts 5.4 km and 40m ascent. Note: the pubs and bus stops in Chatburn are passed on an optional route, and this continues to lead back onto the main route further along at no extra distance.
 
Lunch: Picnic. 
Tea: Plenty of options, all within a few minutes’ walk to the train station. Check the webpage or pdf for details.
 
For walk directions, map, height profile, photos and gpx/kml files click here . T=swc.428

4 comments:

Claire Morgan said...

Four intrepid walkers met at the bus stop in Settle to catch the 11 to Clitheroe. For 3 of them, the journey nearly ended there as cash was needed for the tickets (the 4th produced a bus pass). Pockets were shaken out and enough cash collected to pay for the trip. The journey to Clitheroe was slow and scenic, the rail connection efficient and the train journey quick. Off the group set through Whalley - enjoyed the floral displays (the Britain in Bloom judging must be coming round) and were impressed by Whalley Viaduct. The weather held good until we were out into open countryside, after which came the first of several very brief showers. While it was overcast, we had fairly clear views all day. Lunch was taken somewhere before Badgers Wells Hill, as we thought it would be less breezy at this lower altitude.
On we trekked to Pendle Hill summit, but no time for your (Quaker-educated) correspondent to soak up the atmosphere at the site of George Fox’s epiphany, as there was a bus to catch down below. We descended to Pendle Road, & decided to follow the road route to Downham. Before we got there, the opportunity arose to flag down the delayed 66 to Clitheroe (who had stopped to chat with a colleague going the other way). Once in Clitheroe we checked the bus stand for return on bus 11, had a reasonable tea & coffee at Cafe Spice nearby, returned to the aforementioned stand and waited - fortunately one group member remained suspicious that no one was waiting there for a bus which only goes every 2 hours, asked other bus drivers, then spotted it up at stand 3 (where it had dropped us earlier in the day). The runners in the group found a use their uphill sprints! And this ended the outing on a happy note, as we settled into the bus for the hour-long return.

Thomas G said...

N=4 w=some-showers

AR said...

2 walkers caught direct bus from Skipton to Whalley. After alighting from the bus, they hotfooted it to the train station alas to find no SWC walkers there. They set off using excellent written instructions and the GPX file. They successfully navigated to the summits of Black Hill and Pendle Hill enjoying the huge vistas en route punctuated by sunny intervals and the occasional short shower and bursts of wind. Picnic lunch on the way to the summit of Pendle Hill and tea, cake and locally made ice cream at Downham Ice Cream shop. They then trundled on to Chatburn to catch the 280 bus back to Skipton. Friendly local people encountered throughout the day. A very good day’s walk!

Thomas G said...

N=6