Trawden Circular
A diverse hike through secluded woodlands and open moorlands
Summary
Trawden Forest is located on Lancashire’s border with Yorkshire and within it are quaint villages such as, Wycoller, Winewell and Trawden. The walk itself has a little bit of everything starting from the village of Trawden onto vast moorlands up to Lad Law summit, passing quaint farmhouses and through secluded woodland valleys that features a small waterfall.
The Hike
We began the hike from Trawden Village, it was a dull and damp morning as we set off up through the quaint village, finding ourselves quickly deviating onto sparse moorland, crossing narrow wooden bridges that led past a farmer’s house. Upon passing, a farmer stood outside, with a wide smile looking at us both as we engaged a few light-hearted words
“It’s a great place to live around here isn’t it?”
“Ahh it’s okay, I suppose you take it for granted if you don’t know anything different. Are you two from around here?”
As he stood there smiling at us both oddly, we quickly cut the conversation and began to navigate our way up to towards the steep climb to Lad Law trig point. The conditions weren’t so forgiving on foot through the boggy peat, before the path ascended up steeply and disappeared into the low clouds. We couldn’t see a thing!
I love hiking in the clouds, the peace and tranquillity of nature’s blessings makes me feel far away from everything, adding to the experience of being alone in the hills and immersing myself in the landscape.
Onwards, after summiting, it was a long and mysterious descent out of the clouds to the bottom of the valley. Much to our surprise we had an option of following signs to either Pendle Way or Pendle Witches. Which was the correct way? We decided on Pendle Way as this seemed to be the safer option and we were hungry.
Beyond the sign post we followed the path back towards Wycoller country park, our stomachs were rumbling uncontrollably, so we decided on a lovely spot along the river away from the main path. A hidden gem in itself as we perched besides the stream, listening to the calming trickle whilst munching on our lunch. The last part of the hike was steady on foot which made the conditions much easy to navigate alongside streams, moorland paths and through Wycoller’s secluded woodland back to Trawden village.
A hike that can be enjoyed by anyone, especially in dramatic foggy conditions like we faced.
