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This video shows the classic circular walk of Pendle Hill from Barley via either Ogden Clough or Boar Clough and takes in the hill synonymous with the Pendle witches. From the summit even Blackpool tower and the Lakeland fells can all be seen on a clear day! The entire walk has been filmed in 4K, allowing walkers to see the entire route, including where to park, eat, and drink.
Today's walk is Pendle Hill from the car park in Barley, up what I believe are two of the more scenic ways up. So let's have a look at where we're walking today.
Both routes initially pass by Lower Ogden Reservoir and then head along the side of it to reach Upper Ogden Reservoir. This provides views around and back down Ogden Clough to Lower Ogden Reservoir.
Walking on for about another 500 metres brings us to where our path splits, and here you have a choice. The walk video initially keeps straight on heading up Ogden Clough and then along the flagged section to reach the top of Pendle Hill.
We then return to where the path splits to show you the right-hand path heading up Boar Clough and following the Pendle Way path to reach the summit from the summit. Out to the west on a clear day, of which this isn't one, you can see out to Blackpool tower and then around to the Snowdon range. A bit closer to home, looking down below, you can see Upper and Lower Black Moss reservoirs back in the direction of Barley, and then further around over the next path, you can see on the horizon the Yorkshire Three Peaks.
We then return down another alternative route to drop back down to Upper Ogden Reservoir before walking back into Barley. Stay watching until the end so you can see where you can eat and drink after the walk. Returning to the car park, head back out to the entrance and then turn right along the road. Just before the road junction, we cross over the stream next to which there are benches that you can use and enjoy on those warmer days.
Cross the road and then head down the lane opposite past Barley Village Hall. Pass by the old waterworks building, now converted into seven dwellings. After a short climb along the road, the retaining dam and spillway of Lower Ogden Reservoir come into view over to the left.
Both Upper and Lower Ogden reservoirs supply water to Nelson. Lower Ogden Reservoir here is the larger of the two, with its building being completed in 1914. It can hold almost 160 million gallons of water. It's very windy today, but on a calm summer's morning, it can look like this with the water perfectly flat, mirroring Fell Wood and the sky beyond.
A few yards further down, you have a choice. You can keep on the road all the way to Upper Ogden reservoir or head through the gate on the left along a concessionary footpath. This is always my preferred route to keep off the road. But, after heavy rain, parts of this can get a little boggy, so you may want to stick to the road on those days.
It is a private road, so very little through traffic. Pass through the gate and then head over the wooden footbridge, and then turn right and head along the waterside path. Just after the end of the reservoir, over to the right is a bridge and a gate through which you could rejoin the road if you wanted. Beyond that, looking over it, you can see the road starting to rise to the right of the trees. Down to the left here is a path heading up into Fell Wood, which will be used on a future Pendle witches walk video. For now, we ignore both these and just walk straight on.
After a while, you reach a gate that heads back onto the road that we left earlier. Looking over to the left here, you can see the dam and spillway of Upper Ogden Reservoir. Pass through the gate, then turn left onto the road, which has now become a gravel track and then just walk straight on.
We are going to head straight on here, but if you look over to the right, you can see the path coming down that we will return on. Pass through the kissing gate. You can just head straight up here, but first, we'll just explore a little around the dam.
Over to the right, you can see the spillway. Just past the steps, you can see the water chutes coming down from the side channel spillway. Head up the steps.
Upper Ogden Reservoir was built before Lower Ogden and was completed in 1906. It's approximately the same depth as Lower Ogden, but with a smaller surface area, it holds approximately 55 million gallons. It does, though, afford good views back there in the valley to Lower Ogden Reservoir.
The path we follow heads up the right-hand side of the reservoir, so if you did a little exploring, head back along the dam. Just before we turn left, there is another information board about the reservoirs.
Follow the path straight ahead between the fence and the wall. Pass through the gate. If you want to have a sit and admire the views, there's a bench here just to the right of the path. Pass through the next gate on which there's a Lancashire Way sign.
The Lancashire Way is a 396-mile-long walk designed to showcase the beautiful scenery and varied history Lancashire has to offer. The walk is divided into four sections, and where we are is part of the central loop, which is under 101 miles long, beginning and ending in Preston, taking in the Ribble Valley and Pendle Hill along the way.
Just before we head on through the next gate, if you look to the right of it, you can see our path heading up diagonally to the right. Many people do go a little astray here by carrying straight on through the second gate, ending up by the stream.
Pass through the gate and head diagonally up to the right. Just before we drop down to the stream, if you look ahead, you can see the path splitting with the path we are going to take heading on along Ogden Clough.
The path up to the right here, up Board Clough, we will come back to, to show you the way to the top from there as well. Continue on and pass over the stream.
At the path junction, there is a stone marker marking the Pendle Way at the start of the climb up Boar Clough. For now, though, we just keep straight on following the path up Ogden Clough.
With these two routes that we are looking at today and a different way down, that's three ways to get to the summit. If you also look at the two ways on our short route to Pendle from Barley video, the steps and the slope there give two more ways.
So five ways in total. So between them, five ways up, five ways down, you have 25 different ways of going up and down Pendle Hill from Barley, just on these two videos. Just over half a mile further on, pass through the gate and then drop down to the stream.
Cross over the stream, and then turn right to follow the path as it zigzags up the hill. As the path becomes less steep, you pass by a stone marker indicating the summit straight on.
Keep on walking along the path as it winds its way along Ogden Clough with the stream now down below to your right.
Stop and look around from time to time to look at the ever-changing views. After about a further kilometre, the path pulls in beside the stream we had been getting ever nearer. There is another stone marker here for the summit. Here we cross the stream and head over to the gate. Pass through the wooden gate, and then start to climb the path, which soon becomes flagged underfoot.
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We follow the flags for about a kilometre to the summit. We arrive at the trig point on the top of Pendle by the stone marker pointing towards Ogden Clough. If you look around to the right, this is the path that we're going to come up next on the Boar Clough route up.
Back at the path junction we left earlier by the Pendle way stone marker, this time, rather than heading along Ogden Clough, we will head up the steep path alongside Boar Clough.
Pendle Hill was once home to wild boar and wolves, so this is probably where the name was derived. With this small amount of height gain, we get quite a good view back down Ogden Clough. At the top of the first rise, just before crossing the stream, there is another path that comes in from the left. Ignore that and just continue on.
Cross over the stream and keep straight on. With the stream rising at a slightly steeper gradient than the path, after a while, the path pulls in alongside the stream near some exposed stone slabs.
Keep straight on here, crossing the small stream, heading up on the same line. On our website, the two routes of today's Pendle Walk from Barley are set out on an Ordnance Survey map along with a GPS download for your phone or GPS device.
The link to our walls4all website is down in the description below. In places, the path becomes a little less distinct, but it is marked intermittently by cairns. If you look closely at the horizon over the cairn, you can see a person. They are very close to the summit.
If you have any thoughts about this walk you'd like to share or find any issues with any of the footpaths used, please share that with us down in the comments below.
We then intersect the main path that runs across the top of Pendle. This has improved much over the last couple of years. We're going to turn left here to head up to the summit of Pendle Hill. But before we do, if you look around, you can see a much expanded panorama.
You can see down to the Lower and Upper Black Moss reservoirs and then around to Lower Ogden reservoir, which we walked past at the start of the walk. Walk on now up the summit.
Pendle Hill at 557 metres affords fantastic views in every direction due to its being an isolated hill. It is, though, 53 metres or 173 feet short of the 2000-foot, generally recognised as the minimum height of a mountain in the UK. Out to the west on a clear day, you can see out to Blackpool Tower and then around to the Snowdon range.
A bit closer to home, the Upper and Lower Black Moss reservoirs can be seen down below and around. Over the next path, you can see the Yorkshire Three Peaks and then a distant outline of the Lakeland Fells.
Take time to have a look around the summit and explore all the views. Pendle is probably most famous for the Pendle witches.
In August 1612, 12 people from Pendle were accused of witchcraft and imprisoned at Lancaster Castle. Of these 12 people, nine were sentenced to death after being found guilty of performing witchcraft. The 10th person died in the cells before the trial could take place.
The weather can quickly change up here. I set off in bright sunshine for this walk, only for the cloud to come in and make it feel like you were walking through a polar landscape up on top.
Back to the trig point on the summit of Pendle Hill, we will now look at our way down. You initially retrace your steps along the wide path we came upon from Boar Clough.
Whilst Pendle is famous for the witches also in the 1600s, well, 1652, George Fox climbed Pendle Hill, where he had the vision that inspired the first followers of the worldwide Quaker movement. George Fox was the founder of the Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as the Quakers.
We follow this wide path down for just over half a mile until we reach the Pendle Way marker, where a wide gravel track heads back diagonally left that we used on our Pendle Hill short route from the Barley video. Ignoring this track back diagonally left, we follow the Pendle Way marker straight on, keeping on in the same direction that you were walking. You then quickly pass quite a large cairn.
From this spot, walking up in winter pre-sunrise, I've had some wonderful views in the past, especially when there's been a temperature inversion. Continue now walking down the path that heads roughly for the right-hand side of the trees of Fell Wood ahead.
If you're new to hiking or just want ideas for what walking gear to wear and take on your walk, check out our kitlist recommendations down in the description below. Dropping down, just before we pass through the next gate, over to the left, we now have a better view of Lower Ogden Reservoir and then around to Lower Black Moss Reservoir.
Pass by the stone marker, and then on through the wooden kissing gate and head straight on through the next gate, which more often than not is closed, depending on where the sheep are, and then head downhill alongside the right-hand side of the wall.
You then meet a track. Down to the left, the track meets the road that could have been walked up at the start to Lower Ogden Reservoir. We are ignoring that, though, for now, and just going to follow the wooden way marker on down in the same direction.
Upper Ogden reservoir and the water chutes are clearly visible now ahead. Pass through the gate and turn left along the track. You then have the same choice as on the outward route. Continue straight on along the road, back into Barley or head right through the gate, as we are doing to follow the almost parallel path that keeps off the road.
Again, we pass by the footbridge that gives access back to the road. Upon reaching the footbridge, turn left over it and back out through the gate to turn right along the road back to Barley.
Reaching the road, you could turn left here to head down for something to eat or drink, which we'll look at shortly.
But for now, just head back across the road to turn left back into the car park. If you want something to eat and drink after the walk, head past the toilets where you'll reach the Cabin Cafe.
It sells alcohol, soft drinks, coffees and cakes, amongst other things and has outside seating, or you can head off left along the gravel path, where just over the bridge, you can see the Pendle Inn just across the road.
If you look around to the right, a few yards further down the road, you can see the brown sign on the side of the Barley Mow. You can eat and drink in the Pendle Inn, and around the back, there is a conservatory with some additional room.
To the front when the weather's fine and there's plenty of beer tables. Or you can maybe pop inside, and on the cooler days, maybe just sit next to the fire.
At the end of the walk, it would be remiss not to try a pint, so I ordered a Pride of Pendle by the Moorhouses Brewery, albeit served in a Thwaites' glass. Pendle Inn is a Thwaites pub now with a range of Thwaites ales, but they do have local and guest ales available as well.
Just a few yards across the road is the Barley Mow, which is also dog friendly. It has a range of different menus and also serves breakfast. It has a varied drinks menu and generally has three cask ales on the bar, so I tried the Pride of Pendle and then enjoyed the outside seating that gave a view back across to Pendle Hill.
So that's the Pendle Inn and Barley Mow. The choice is yours.
Just before ending today's walk, we've put together a short flythrough created using the Ordnance Survey app, the link for which is in the description below, to show you where you've been and give the area a little more perspective.
After leaving the car park, we followed the road up to Lower Ogden Reservoir. We then followed the concessionary footpath beside it and past it up to Upper Ogden reservoir.
Here you can see the return path coming in from the right. We just headed straight on here. We then reached the path junction. Boar Clough, you can see, is the white path up to the right.
We initially, though, just continued on up Ogden Clough. We then crossed over the stream, followed the path around until it crossed back over the stream to pass through the gate to head upon the flagged section that took us to the summit of Pendle Hill.
Dropping back down to the path junction, we will now look at the Boar Clough way to the summit of Pendle Hill. We climb quite steeply at first and then a lesser gradient along the Pendle Way path. The path then met and turned left along the wider track across the top of Pendle to reach the summit.
From the summit, we retraced initially descending down the wide track across the top of Pendle, which we followed up from Boar Clough. On meeting the Pendle Way marker, where there was another path that doubled off back down to the left, we just continued straight on in the same direction.
We passed through a kissing gate and immediately through another gate to follow the path down beside the side of the wall. Through the gate at the bottom, we turned left along the track and then right through the gate again along the concessionary footpath to head back along Lower Ogden Reservoir and then back along the road into Barley.
That ends our walk for today.
In the transcript of the video, when any mention is made of the 'description below', it refers to the description shown beneath the video on YouTube. If you wish to access any of that information, click 'watch on YouTube' on the video above, and the description will be there, on YouTube, just below the video.
