Walking guide to the Forest of Bowland - Lancashire, England

• Location
• Description
• Contents
• Introduction
• Sample Route
• Updates

The Forest of Bowland, a wild and sparsely populated region of some 312 square miles, is undoubtedly the finest upland landscape that Lancashire has to offer, and was designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in 1964. It is a great dome of bare, windswept moors gashed by deep, desolate cloughs and verdant river valleys, sprinkled here and there with picturesque villages, tiny, secluded hamlets and lonely farmsteads.

The main mass of gritstone-capped fells may be regarded as one of England’s last remaining wilderness areas. Here is grandeur and true solitude – a sweeping moorland terrain of rough, tussocky grass, weirdly-shaped peat hags and vast tracts of the heather which, in late summer, is one of the glories of Bowland. Clear, sparkling backs tumble and splash their merry way down to the valleys, where contented cows graze peacefully in lush riverside meadows, and where much ancient woodland still exists. The chief river of Bowland is the Hodder, and its upper valley – above Slaidburn and around Stocks Reservoir – is heavily forested. All of Bowland’s rivers are beautiful, and the idyllic Hodder is the loveliest of them all.

Geologically Bowland belongs to the Pennines. The limestone around Slaidburn and Whitewell is the oldest rock in the area, and was formed some 350 million years ago at the bottom of a shallow, tropical sea. Aeons of time later the climate changed and the sea disappeared, to be replaced by a huge river laying down various sandy sediments in its delta. These deposits ultimately became the shales, sandstones and gritstones which are the predominant rocks of the Bowland uplands. The shape of the landscape we see today was fashioned 10,000 years ago by the glaciers and subsequent meltwaters of the last Ice Age.

Nature-lovers will find themselves in Paradise when they visit Bowland. Rare flowering plants, mosses and grasses are to be found both on the moorland and in old hay meadows which have never come under the plough. The solitude of the moors makes them an attractive breeding-ground for such upland birds as ring ouzel, lapwing, golden plover, curlew, short-eared owl, merlin and peregrine falcon. The aforementioned plantations around Stocks Reservoir provide an ideal habitat for goshawk, sparrowhawk, various owls and smaller species such as goldcrest, siskin, pied flycatcher and assorted tits. The reservoir’s island is a nesting-site for waders, waterfowl and raucous colonies of gulls. The shy sika deer roams the region, preferring woodland cover to the open fell, and the larger red deer – once abundant – is showing signs of re-establishing itself.

When you have completed all the walks in this book you will have tramped over sombre moors, sauntered through silent forests and shady woodland glades, meandered along sun-kissed riverbanks, ambled across flowery meadows and breezy upland pastures, strolled down leafy lanes, stumbled through glutinous quagmires and slimy peat hags, gazed in admiration from breathtaking viewpoints, fallen over decrepit stiles and cursed the author for getting you lost. You will have seen this Arcadian countryside in all its facets and, possibly – if you’ve walked through four seasons – in all its moods. Inevitably you will have fallen in love with ‘Bolland’. It’s that sort of place.

Happy walking.

Jack Keighley, Jan 1997