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The classic Pendle Hill circular walk from Barley via The Pendle Way 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!
Today's walk is Pendle Hill from the car park in Barley.
Looking at where we go, we head along the Pendle Way and then on up the steps to arrive at the trig point on the top of Pendle Hill, which is 557 meters high. From the summit, on a clear day, you can see out to Blackpool and around to the Snowdon range.
Looking closer to home, down below, you can see the two Black Moss reservoirs and then around to the Yorkshire Three Peaks and the Lakeland Fells. The return to Barley is via the slope and then via the route that we walked up.
To start the walk, we head across the car park by the side of the toilet block, round the corner of which you can see back to the cabin cafe, which we will ignore for now, as we proceed along the gravelled path.
Stay watching until the end, when we will run through where you can eat and drink after the walk.
Cross the bridge over the beck. Over to the left now is the Pendle Inn, which we'll look at in a little more detail later. To the right is an information board about Barley. It shows the route of today's walk and also shows where the Pendle Sculpture trail is, which we have in a separate video walk.
As you progress along the gravel path, over to the left, you can see more of the Pendle Inn and the round to the conservatory at the back of it, where you can eat and drink. Continuing straight on, you quickly reach the Barley Mow on the right-hand side. The Barley Mow offers accommodation, serves food and drink, and is dog-friendly.
Continue now along the pavement, where just before reaching the Barley Methodist Chapel on the right-hand side, over on the left, you can see a footpath sign by the bridge. Cross over the road to the sign.
Follow the gravel track by the side of the stream to pass through the kissing gate and head straight on. The bridge that we will shortly walk over and Pendle Hill come into view ahead.
Pass over the bridge and turn left along the lane. Shortly on the right-hand side, you reach the Croft cafe, which serves drinks, snacks, ice cream and even ice cream for dogs.
Continue on now along the road, turning right through the metal gate, following the sign this way to Pendle Hill. Head along the initially cobbled narrow path, which soon affords views of Pendle Hill directly ahead. Cross over the wooden footbridge and then on through the next wooden kissing gate.
We are walking here along the Pendle Way, which is a 45-mile circular route from Barrowford. The Pendle Way passes through Barnoldswick, Thornton in Craven, Wycoller, Reedley, Newchurch and goes over Pendle Hill. Pass through the next wooden kissing gate and keep ahead.
Through the next kissing gate, follow the yellow sign across the track and then through the gap to continue along the gravel track, which passes along the side of the fence.
Pass through this next gate, before then dropping down to climb the new steps. At the top of those pass through the metal gates to head across the also new for October 22 gravel track across the field. Pass through the kissing gate and continue along the gravel track. Pass through this next gate, then continue on along the gravel track. The steps to be climbed now can be seen directly ahead.
And to the right, there is a gate through which there is a lane that you can walk along to meet Barley Lane, which is the road coming out of Barley. There's a layby there where you can park, which, if you wanted to, would make this walk a little shorter and save some climbing. Pass through the kissing gate and head towards the sign that tells you about Pendle Hill.
We now start climbing the steps. As you gain some height, if you look around over to the left, you can see the gravel slope path that we're going to walk back down. If you enjoy these videos, please click the like button, subscribe to our channel and hit the notification bell, so you know when any new walks have been uploaded. It is free to subscribe, and your likes and comments really do help our channel.
Over to the right are Upper and Lower Black Moss reservoirs, and in the wood just behind them is where the Pendle sculpture trail is. Down below, you can see the path we just walked up, with Barley in the distance. Then you can see around to Fell Wood.
If you have any thoughts about this walk or find there are issues with any of the footpaths used, please share that in the comments below. As more height is gained, it creates an ever expanding panorama all around. At the top of the steps, the path pulls into a wall over which you can see the path down to Downham, a short way along which is Fox's well.
In the distance here on the horizon are the Yorkshire Three Peaks - Ingleborough, Pen-y-ghent and Whernside. Also by the wall is a stone Pendle Way marker. Continue the walk now passing this marker along the wide track up the side of the wall, where there is a gate over which you can see two more paths. One goes along towards the Nick of Pendle eventually, and the straight on one again goes on to Downham.
Again, as it's the same view, you see the Yorkshire Three Peaks on the horizon. If you want to have a little rest here before you go up to the summit, there are a couple of seats with walls around them, which provide a little bit of protection from the weather. In the wall there is a plaque about George Fox. The well I've just mentioned was named after George Fox, the founder of the Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as the Quakers.
In 1652, George Fox climbed Pendle Hill, where he had the vision that inspired the first followers of the worldwide Quaker movement. We now head directly away from the wall to follow the wide gravelled path all the way up to the trig point on the summit. On our website, the route of today's Pendle Walk is set out on an Ordnance Survey map, along with a GPS download for your phone or GPS device.
The link to our walks4all.com website is in the description below. Pendle Hill, at 557 metres, affords fantastic views in every direction due to its being an isolated hill. It is 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 further around, over the path walked up, you can see down to the Yorkshire Three Peaks.
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, twelve 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. A 10th person died in the cells before the trial could take place.
Back at the summit, continue along the top of Pendle past the trig point and along the wide gravel path that starts to head down the hill. If you want ideas of what to take on the walk and what to wear on the walk, check out our recommendations down in the description below. After about 600 meters, you can see the path coming up diagonally from your left.
It did meet this path at a stone Pendle Way marker, but unfortunately, someone seems to have knocked it over recently. At this marker, we turn back left on ourselves to start heading down the wide gravelled slope that pulls back across the front of Pendle Hill. Ahead can be seen Lower and Upper Black Moss reservoirs with the sculpture trail in the trees behind them. Then, Barley and then around to the right, Lower Ogden reservoir, which is very low at the moment in September 2022.
As the path splits, take the right-hand wider fork to head down a short series of zigzags to arrive back at the gate we walked through on the way up. Pass through the gate and then at the Pendle Way Sign, head right. And then pass through the gate. Once through the gate, head down the gravel track. Through the next kissing gate to head across the field. Pass through the metal gate to head down the new stone steps.
Through the next gate, head down by the side of the fence. Cross over the track, pass through the next kissing gate to head down again on the gravel track. Through yet another kissing gate. Through one more, before heading back over the wooden bridge. Take time to look back at what you've just climbed once. This might be the shortest route to Pendle Hill from Barley, but there are, in my opinion, better and more picturesque routes to find your way up and down Pendle, which are the subject of future videos.
At the metal gate, turn left back along the road and then, upon meeting the footbridge, turn right to head back over it. Pass over the wooden footbridge, and then onto and through the kissing gate. On reaching the road in Barley, turn back right, then head back along by the side of the Barley Mow.
If you want something to eat or drink after the walk, you can always pop in here or before heading back down the side of the river, you can always pop over the road and have a look in the Pendle Inn. 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, 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 brewed by the Moorhouses brewery, albeit it was served in a Thwaites's 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. If you don't want to detour by the Pendle Inn, just continue straight on down the side of the children's play area along the gravel path to pass back over the bridge we walked over at the start and to head along the gravel track back to the car park.
In the car park, when it's open, you can also visit the Cabin, which sells alcohol besides soft drinks, coffees, and cakes, among other things. Just before we end today's walk, we've put together a short fly-through 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 more perspective.
We left the car park and soon passed by the Pendle Inn and Barley Mow pubs before turning left off the road across the fields past the Croft Teagarden, before turning right following the footpath to the Pendle sign. We continued slowly climbing now by the stream and then across the fields to reach the steps at the foot of Pendle Hill. After climbing the steps on meeting a wall, we turn back on ourselves to head across the top of Pendle.
We soon reach the trigpoint on the top, built in the middle of the circle, at the junction of the paths. From here, we continued heading downwards across the top of Pendle until reaching the gravel track on the left that doubles back across the front of Pendle. We now started a steep descent back down to reach the bottom of the steps we've just walked up.
From here, we reverse the outward route back towards Barley, turning right on meeting the road to pass back by the Barley Mow and the Pendle Inn to arrive back at the car park. Back in the car park, this ends our Pendle walk for today.
