Last week it was so easy in Sri Lanka to get out walking, exploring, swimming etc.  I always find that going abroad to sunny warm climes helps me through the winter months, but it comes as a bit of a shock back home. For a few years now I’ve used a SAD light box in the darker months but don’t know how effective it is. This last week has been cold and dull and finding the motivation to exercise outdoors is difficult. I don’t do ‘gyms’ and now I’m not climbing much don’t have the regular wall sessions. Mr. Motivator from the 90’s breakfast TV has just come to mind – remember him?

If there is a trip on the horizon I push myself to get semi-fit, I no longer delude myself about keeping in shape. So I have decided to set off on a couple of walking trips in the near future, one short and the other long, to give me some added motivation. This week I fitted in a couple of forest walks on the dry tracks of Longridge Fell but there was little to see. Phoning friends to suggest a walk was fairly fruitless as they all seem to be injured.

I needed something to get me out at the weekend and I scanned my memory for a local walk – interesting, dry underfoot and somewhere I hadn’t visited for years. I came up with idea of the private road up from Dunsop Bridge to the remote Brennand and Whitendale Farms.

So after lunch I parked up in Dunsop Bridge, almost the centre of the British Isles and home to a lot of well fed ducks. Most of this area is owned and managed by The Duchy of Lancaster – there was no sign of the Queen today. The walk up the tarmacked road by the River Dunsop was popular with families and dogs. Most going no further than the salmon leap where the Brennand and Whitendale rivers join. Despite this being a classic northern river valley I only caught sight of one Dipper.

At that junction I was passed by a lady jogger who explained she was heading home to one of the farms. Must be a lonely existence up here. Carrying on up the Brennand I had the only section on wet paths round the back of the appropriately named Middle Knoll. The drop down to Whitendale Farm was much steeper than I remembered and I regretted not having my sticks – having lost the bottom section of one on my recent Cheshire Ring Walk, memo to buy another.

The 3 miles back down the road passed quickly as the temperature dropped. This is a surprisingly remote walk in the Bowland Fells despite the tarmac and made for a great afternoon’s diversion. Highly recommended and so accessible.

Just have to book that flight to the sun and my motivation will be on course.

Middle Knoll.

Dipper River.

Deepest Bowland.

What is the history behind  this?