Walking.......Lancashire Again, Pendle Hill Another trip into enemy territory, the day after my trip to Gisburn Forest and Bowland Knotts I crossed the border again and made my way to pretty Barley, via not so pretty Colne, and then up Pendle Hill. Pendle House with Pendle Hill rising behind, the day was already pretty warm but there was a steady trickle of folk sweating their way up the incline. I passed an older couple, and was left standing by some uber fit bloke who was virtually jogging his way up. I made a friend though, Pendle Farm has punk sheep! Nice mohawk there mintsauce. It was a little hazy and thus difficult to get any good landscapes, but here is the view from the side of Pendle Hill across to Black Moss reservoirs. As I emerged onto the windswept hill top, panting and sweating profusely, class 3b from Mrs Poshington's Primary School were having a game of footy on the top, energetic little buggers. I stood at the trig point in a warm but strong wind, then retreated over a wall for a drink and a biscuit. Class 3b were on the other side of the wall, I could hear their Australian/Kiwi teacher explaining that there was no shelter at the summit so they would have to eat lunch where they were. As I sat in the sheltered lee of the dry stone wall I thought about correcting him, as packets of crisps, egg sandwiches and small children went flying past on the gale I thought he'd see the error of his ways. It was too windy to enjoy the heights, so I went down the North face of hill and headed for the village of Downham, there to sit by the stream with ducks and enjoy my picnic. From lovely downham I headed out on Rimington Lane, then took the footpaths Eastwards through the tiny hamlets of Lower Gate and Ings End. Downham Green. I'd seen something on the map called the Clough Head Memorial, so I adjusted my route to take it in, this is how many of my walks go, I set out a route but as often as not I deviate upon seeing some feature on the map or terrain that I'd like to explore. After wandering through fields and being lucky enough to spot a deer nibbling lush grass at the edge of a copse I found the Memorial (823438) tucked away behind a farm. Down through the franly creepy Helliwell Wood with it's odd paint and orange markers luring either down through the wood to safety, or through bogs of varying depth and stickiness and into some sort of Blair Witch (as opposed to Pendle Witch) horror. From here I pushed on back to Barley for awell deserved ice cream, my legs were a little stiff after doing 16 miles the previous day, so this walk was rather shorter at 11.5 miles. This area was home to the most famous of England's witch hunts, the Pendle Witch Trial.