Wennington, Wray, Salter Fell, Slaidburn, Lancs.
[ 16.5 km] Wed  17 Feb 2010

I’d hoped to do a one way walk over the Salter Fell Old Hornby Road earlier in the year but snow put paid to that. Although the weather has continued cold most of the snow has now gone so I decided to go for it. With no convenient public transport to get from one end of the walk to the other I went for public transport the whole way.

I caught the 05:40am bus to Preston (£3.60 single) then to Preston Railway Station to wait for the 06:40am Glasgow train which would take me to Lancaster. I had some time to kill so used the newsagents on the platform to top up with coffee and a newspaper. The train was on time and I was soon at Lancaster. My next train was the 07:10am Leeds train as far as Wennington. The train was already waiting so I stepped aboard and read for 10mins before it departed on time.

There were nice views as we trundled through the frosty fields and in less than half an hour I was at Wennington Railway Station. A few people got on but I was the only one to get off. I set off towards Wray and stopped for a brief view as I crossed Marshes Bridge over the railway. The line I’d just come in on went off to the right and I could see the route of the old abandoned line coming in from the left.

As I continued to Wray along the Wennington Road the sun rose to my left. The fields were all coated in frost but the atmosphere was still slightly hazy. The traffic was becoming heavier as I approached Wray but as soon as I turned into Main Street there was nothing about. I continued up the lane, which was steep at first but soon levelled out a bit. After a mile I reached the Moor Road and headed south in good sunny weather towards Salter Fell.

I reached the Roeburndale Methodist Church which I’d passed in December 2009. The snowman that was there then had long since melted. When I got to Higher Salter I was relieved to see the continuing track to be clear of snow. There were just the occasional ice patches. It was very pleasant heading up along the Hornby Road as there were sunny views ahead and good views down into the River Roeburn.

As I approached the summit below White Hill it became colder as I entered cloud. This is where the Roman Road comes in from the left and joins the track, though there is no sign of it on the ground. The descent down to Laneshaw and the road was fairly grim as the mist prevented me seeing anything.

It cleared a little as I walked down Wood House Ln and just past Ellerbeck Hall I stopped to talk to three men rebuilding a dry stone wall. I reached Slaidburn and called in to the Riverbank Tea Rooms for a brew before catching the bus at the car park to Clitheroe. I was just in time to catch the Blackburn bus where I caught the 124 Chorley bus and got off at Moss Lane to walk home.