Longridge Fell is an example of a cuesta; the ridge has a sharp drop or escarpment on its northern side and a gentler slope on its southern side.

Today, I was tackling that steep northern side.

A tardy start to the day meant I was too late for journying to East Lancs to continue my Manchester ‘pilgrimage’. But the forecast was too good to miss, so a quick change of plan sees me catching the number 5 bus to Chipping; there is a stop on my corner. There are only two of us heading to Chipping.

The bus turnaround is next to St Bartholomew’s Church; I wander into the graveyard to pay my respects to Lizzy Dean, whose tragic story I have mentioned several times in these pages. Her gravestone is under the ancient yew tree. The church was established before 1230 and rebuilt in 1506, so one can only guess the tree’s age.

Lizzie was a maid living in the Sun in the year 1835. She met up with a local lad who claimed the deepest love for her and proposed to her, and she gladly accepted. However, two days before the wedding, James told Lizzie he had fallen in love with her friend Elsie and called off their wedding day. He now planned to marry Elsie in the church opposite.

On the wedding day,  Lizzie went up to the pub attic overlooking the churchyard. She wrote a suicide note, placed a rope around her neck, and died. The note in her fist read, “I want to be buried at the entrance to the church so my lover and my best friend will always have to walk past my grave every time they go to church.”

The story doesn’t end there. For almost 200 years, the ghost of Lizzie has haunted the Sun Inn and the churchyard opposite. Just ask anyone in the village.

A cyclist who had passed me back in Longridge whilst I was waiting for the bus is attending a grave. We exchange pleasantries. It turns out to be his parents’ grave. All his family came from Chipping, and many worked in the nearby Berry chair factory. He points out the adjacent grave where two of his uncles are buried following a car crash in Longridge in 1973. Three chairworkers died in that accident.   http://kirkmill.org.uk/workmates-killed-in-tragic-accident-december-1973/

He is cycling back to Garstang while I am heading for the fell, which I can see plainly across the vale to the south—first, a stroll down historic Windy Street.

Once out of the village, I pick up a field track by the bridge over Chipping Brook. I have never found the paths easy to follow in this area, but today, things have improved by the way marking for the relatively new Ribble Valley Jubilee Trail.  https://www.ribblevalley.gov.uk/mayor-1/mayors-walk    

Strangely, all the gates and stiles have been dismantled, leaving free passage for animals between the fields leading to Pale Farm, and they have certainly curned up the wet ground. Lapwings are heard but not seen, but March Hares bound out in front of me. Some convoluted ‘diversions’, well signed, lead me past the next habitations.

Alongside these fields, a new wastewater treatment works is being constructed, a significant undertaking in the valley. 

I then strike out across ready fields, aiming for a footbridge over the infant Loud with the steep slopes of Longridge Fell looming up above. Cardwell House, my destination, can be clearly seen at the top.

The cluster of houses before I reach the road are a delight, Ribble Valley lifestyle.

 A short stretch on the road leads past a tractor graveyard and a ford too far.

My footpath up the fell, still the Jubilee Trail, leaves the road opposite Grade II listed C18th Thornley Hall.

Gently at first, I have time to divert to examine the Swallow Hole marked on the map. It looks as though the local farmer is unfortunately extracting stone from it.

Now the climb begins, first along old trees and then straight up the slope with no apparent signs of passage on the ground. Fortunately, the views back to the Bowland Hills need frequent stops for photography.

Almost at the road, I cross the line of the Roman Road from Ribchester to Lancaster. It can be made out leading down the fellside to the Hodder valley before climbing straight as an arrow over Birkett Fell. Could this be a Roman marker before being used as a gate post?

There is a seat at the very top, convenient for a snack whilst taking in the view, my header photo.

A few cars are parked by the track up to Spire Hill. The Jubilee Trail goes that way before dropping to Hurst Green. I’ll give it a miss whilst the ground is so boggy, but I am tempted as I could catch a bus back from Hurst Green to Longridge.   In the car park, I meet a friend of my son’s, donning his wellingtons for the walk up with his mother. We chat about old times and acquaintances. I spend a lot of my time doing that these days. He has been part of a team building a new ‘pump track’ in Longridge. It looks fantastic, and I congratulate them on their work.

A short stroll up the road, with a very hazy Pendle over to the east, before I cut into the plantation just above the quarry where I used to climb, hidden away during lockdown. A pair of mallard ducks are on the pond; I hope they will nest here again this year. 

The Larch trees in the plantation are just beginning to wake up and have a purple haze about them in the sunshine, not captured on the phone’s camera.

Coal Tits and Robins keep up a good sing song. I wander through the plantation and drop down to the water board weir on Cowley Brook, where it goes under a delightful little bridge at the road. 

The walk back along the road towards Longridge is not a hardship; there is little traffic and good views across the Ribble Valley. 

When I arrive at Craig y, I can’t resist a look at the rock face, which is in a good dry condition. This will be a good place to strengthen my hand once it has recovered enough to be of any use.

The expanding village is down there below the reservoir, but rather than go through it,  I cut across fields to the old railway line from the quarries with a view down Mile Lane, which I’m often walking up. Now, into the park.

 Almost home now, I brave the new estate and find my way out the other side.

The map shows where I went, and the graph shows how it felt. 7 miles.