Another leaflet from Walks with Taste – Visit Ribble Valley, this time setting off from the Assheton Arms in Downham.
“This adventurous three-hour hike explores the foothills of Pendle, offering extensive views of the Ribble Valley, before diving into the wooded valleys beneath its flanks”
It promised to be a good one. In fact when I think back I did an almost identical walk in reverse a couple of years ago, but that was then.
I’m joined by JD today. I arrived at his house and then realised I hadn’t brought the said leaflet so a bit of backtracking before we get going. We are still parked up in Downham before 11am. Soon enough for a short 5 mile walk. 
All of the tracks today seemed well used by ramblers with good signage in the main. A popular area, and deservedly so. The scenery is classic Ribble Valley farmland with the limestone bed rock giving excellent walking and varied flora, all under the gaze of Pendle Hill.
The first part was gently uphill passing idyllic farms on the undulating northern flanks of Pendle. 
On our way down towards Twiston we stopped for a bite in a sheltered limestone quarry below Hill Foot. We had time to observe the unique flora in these limestone undisturbed meadows. Identification of the individual species was not all that easy. 
And we had time to take in the fine view of Pendle from our perch. 
Passing the silted up mill pond of Twiston and then the old mill itself. then alongside the beck to a footbridge and up to yet another farm, Springs. Here we met up with a sunken track over Wooly Hill, which I’d never visited. There is a Roman road marked on the map – were we on the course of it back to Downham. The OS are not always accurate with marking Roman Roads.
Throughout the walk we experienced a variety of stiles in the stone walls, some now neglected and bypassed by the functional wooden gate. At least none of those newfangled metal gates have arrived yet. Have a read of what outdoor writer John Bainbridge has to say.
This or that?
I have just remembered somewhere on the way we rescued, with difficulty, a sheep who had its head stuck through a wire fence. No harm was done to her or the fence, but JD suffered knee bruising when the released sheep ran straight into him and I ended up with stinking trousers where I had been kneeling in her shit.
The afternoon ended well with a pint of Bowland beer outside The Asheton Arms as befits this series of summer walks. This has been a quick visit to our route but one worth you trying someday.
Oh, and one more picture of Pendle from the porch of St. Margaret’s Church..
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