I’ve found another one. This time on the West Pennine Moors 1:25000 Map 287 sheet over the hill in the Ribble Valley. I was pleased with my little expedition on a dead-end track to the Hodder the other day, so I started looking further afield and immediately came up with another obvious ‘road to nowhere’ It leaves the road at Mitton Hall and leads down a strange little peninsular to where the Ribble and the Calder join. I’d been on the opposite bank near Hacking Hall three years ago and even took a photo of this peninsular point. 

It was near here that Hacking ferry operated up until the 1950s, so perhaps this footpath linked with the ferry.

Time to put on the boots again.

I thought the best place to safely park was in the grounds of Mitton Hall Hotel, I find a place as far as possible from the hall, there are few cars about, and slink off along the road. An alley leads into fields, and I’m immediately confronted with a flooded stream I dare not jump across. I find a way round to Little Mitton Farm and wander through their yards without any problem and without seeing a soul. Stiles give access to fields which take me into Mitton Wood, an obvious pheasant breeding area, all I see are half a dozen roe deer the pheasants having been shot.

I’m walking along a ridge between the Ribble on my right and the Calder on my left, at its end I drop down to a stile into a riverside meadow. The field narrows as I proceed just above the flood line.  This is quite a dramatic situation with the two rivers roaring by. At its end, I can see Hacking Hall on the left bank of the Calder and the Hacking Boathouse on the right bank of the Ribble.

Near here in the past was the Hacking Ferry mentioned above. It is documented that the ferry ran on Sundays to enable people to attend church, but I wonder which – Old Langho or Great Mitton. There are historical photographs of the Hacking Ferry which was popular in the late C19th and early C20th.  One could probably request where you wanted to be dropped off. The last ferry boat is said to be preserved in Clitheroe Museum, I have yet to visit it.  (Fo more information  – The long lost ferry boat that evokes happy memories of rural Lancashire – Museum Crush)

The Ribble Way follows the north bank of the Ribble, and it was always planned to construct a bridge across at the confluence of the rivers. Stood at the end of the peninsular I wonder about where the bridge would have connected up these footpaths. I later find online the designs for an innovative bridge linking all three by Flint Neill civic engineers. This was back in 2003 before funding was withdrawn for such projects. An amazing looking three-way arch footbridge, with 43.5m legs and a high arch at the confluence of the Ribble and Calder rivers. What a shame it was never constructed, The rivers were running high with tree trunks whizzing along.  A few walkers were braving the winds on the Ribble Way. How many people come down to this spot I’m standing on? A kingfisher flashes past as I retrace my steps upstream.

I find my way back into the woods as the gale blows through the trees, creaking and groaning, hoping none will come crashing down – this is Tolkien’s Middle Earth after all.

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At Mitton Hall Hotel the car park was completely full of wedding guests, I felt rather out of place in my full waterproofs.

We’ve had two weekends of storms, Ciara and Dennis, with serious flooding in parts. The River Ribble hit the headlines with yet more flooding of Ribchester. I didn’t venture out last weekend when local roads were impassible but today things had settled a little and Storm Dennis was petering out. I always regret not going down to the river whilst it is in flood, the usual excuse is bad weather.

Not today. I parked up at Marles Wood; there were some dodgy looking cars and individuals around, so I photographed their plates for evidence later if my car had been trashed. Putting that aside I strolled off down the path to the Ribble where it cuts through a sandstone ridge and into an open stretch of water. This is the Sale Wheel. There seems to be a fault line in the rocks as the water flows through into an enormous whirlpool and then a right-angled bend to the river. Today the force of the flow took the turbulent waters off down the valley with little regard to the pool. Last week the flow would have taken the river onto the fields at the bend.

I was satisfied with what I saw and set off upriver. There was evidence of the height of the water last week when most of today’s path would have been impassable. Dog walkers, a common sight on this stretch, were keeping their pets on a close lead – any splashing about in the river would lead to tragedy.

As you approach the Dinkley footbridge there is normally a bit of a shingle beach and shallows in the river – not today, the mighty Ribble just flowed past.

Compare with a summer’s day…

The new bridge is substantial but, I wonder about the stability of the abutments on this side of the river; there already seems to have been some damage and undermining of them as the flow of the river curves into the bank..

Across the bridge, I picked up the Ribble Way markers for the stretch back to Ribchester Bridge. The way leaves the river through fields, today very boggy, and up to an elevated area where there are superb views back up the Ribble Valley to Pendle Hill and Dinkley.

I took an illicit detour into the woods to view the Sales Wheel from this side, and the river was equally exciting. Where the rocks dip, erosion shows the bands of gritstone alternating with mudstones. Both were laid down in a massive delta, the grits when the water was moving fast and deep and the mudstones when slow and shallow. Here, the strata have been faulted to almost vertical.

The way onwards through the woods, normally a pleasant path,  was difficult because of all the debris from the floods. The couple I met coming the other way were from Merseyside, having a couple of days in Hurst Green, The Shireburn Arms, exploring this part of the Ribble Valley – tomorrow, The Tolkien Trail.

The Ribble rolled on……to Ribchester Bridge.

I took the lane back on the south side of the river. The day had stayed fine, the wind only increasing towards the end of the afternoon, the last of Dennis.

Seeing the power of a river close up and imagining it a few metres higher, one has to have every sympathy with those whose houses have been inundated these last two storms. Unfortunately it appears that these floods will become the norm, whether from climate change or our mismanagement of our immediate environment. I look out at fields opposite me which are completely saturated; they are due for housing development, so where will the water go then? I think I know, better order some sandbags.

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