Longridge Fell and Spire Hill

We had a return visit to Longridge Fell early this morning, this time taking in the fantastic views from Spire Hill, which was well worth a visit.

Our walk began as before at the small car park at Turner Fold. Following the forest track on the zig zag up hill from the car park, we soon gained the ridge and followed this for a couple of miles. The track here is wide and edged in the main by thick forest on either side, giving plenty of chances for a game of fetch.

As the main track began to descend down to Brownslow we took the fork off to the right, climbing gently on a good path bordered with flowering heathers. We soon reached the edge of the forest and passing through a gate turned right to follow the moorland track to the top of Spire Hill. The views accross to the Bowland moors were great but the dog was in no mood to rest so we carried on to High Beacon, where we entered the forest once again.

The route here became rougher with seemingly endless black peaty mud covering the dog and leaving me wondering what state the car would be in by the time we got home. Soon though, the mud gave way to stony paths and we joined another major forest road leading left towards Hare Hill. A pleasant walk followed, spotting a couple of deer on the way, before we reached the logs and viewpoint overlooking Walker Fold. From here, a short but again muddy path led us back to the main forest road leading back towards the car park.

Of course, at this point the dog was still black with mud, so I was glad that he managed to hunt out a small pool beside the forest road and after a spot of paddling, had washed off nature's worst.



Our trip took a little over 2 hours, with about five miles of off lead walking.

Click here for Google map

Doggy rating 8/10

NOTE: BEEN A WHILE SINCE WE HAVE DONE THIS WALK BUT IN JULY 2017 THE TURNER FOLD CAR PARK WAS CLOSED AND VARIOUS SMALL LAY-BYS BLOCKED OFF SO ASSUME THAT WHILST THE PUBLIC FOOTPATHS ARE OPEN ACCESS USING OUR NORMAL ROUTES IS NOT POSSIBLE. A SHAME.