Pennine Bridleway - Settle to Sough (★★★★☆)

Today we are back out following the Pennine Bridleway - which is one of the National Trails I am hoping to complete in this calendar year.

This is a trail that often surpasses expectations - but we may need to have a little bit of patience today, as whilst we begin our walk in the Yorkshire Dales - and in the pretty town of Settle - there is a flatter section to come once we get out of the Yorkshire Dales. 

That said, towards the second half of the walk, things should improve substantially - as we start to close in on Barnoldswick.

So far we have already done a section of the Pennine Bridleway from Settle - doing the Settle Loop (but modified to go explore Malham Cover and Gordale Scar as well), whilst we will also come back to do the prior section of the trail between Ribblehead and Settle.

And so it is that the day starts with a very early train out towards Settle - and from here we can pop to the shops to get our last bits of food and drink, before taking on a fairly long and steep climb out of town.

Initially we are following a road (albeit a very quiet one) - but this is a road that is set to degrade into a track, and as it does this we turn right onto one of the tracks - and start to head in a southerly direction.

View from the road looking ahead

Looking in the direction of Attermire Scar

Now heading south on the track but looking back

Looking out to the side once again

And again looking back

As you can tell from the pictures, this is a nice walk out from Settle - although we do exceed 500 feet of ascent on the way out of town - and through this section we have a quiet and enjoyable walk, towards the village of Long Preston.

The village here is a very pleasant one - and it is a mix of classic Yorkshire village and more modern housing - and we pass straight through the village, before following a 'road' called Back Lane.

On the map this is a road, but at the same time it is too narrow to fit most cars - and so we don't actually need to worry about traffic, as we head over the railway - and towards a busier road.

Crossing over the Carlisle-Settle railway line that took us to Settle

The busier road only has a separate path for a short section, and whilst it is generally easy to walk along, there are still a few drivers that could use a clip round the ear to teach them the error of their ways.

But we do make it down this stretch in one piece - and soon cross a bridge over the River Ribble, before we turn off onto a far more minor road, that only heads up to a few houses and farms.

Over the River Ribble

Having crossed over the River Ribble we are additionally joined by the Ribble Way walking path (which will sometimes join us and sometimes leave us for the next stretch of the trial). 

And once this minor road comes to an end, we briefly break off from the Ribble Way - as we head around a few farms, before re-uniting with that trail on the far side.

For those walking the Ribble Way, that route isn't particularly well signposted through this section - with most of the focus being given to making navigation along the Pennine Bridleway as easy as possible. I believe with enough perseverance that you will make it through okay, however.

The view whilst passing the farms

Having met back up with the Ribble Way, we are once again following a farm lane - and this takes us to a minor road, where we once again split with the Ribble Way once again - as we briefly head down that minor road, before turning off to head across the fields.

Once across these fields, we reunited once more with the Ribble Way - and here I come across a group of walkers doing that trail, who are not overly impressed with the quality of the signs along this stretch (and here you do wonder if it would be easier if the two trails just followed the same route).

Without wanting to seem rude here, these are slightly older walks (if it helps I am fairly young) - and so are committedly sticking to their paper maps - but here I resist the urge to suggest that they just download the app, and use the handy pointer to help them find the gates between the fields.

Otherwise, it continues to be a quiet walk along this countryside - until we reach a minor road at Paythorne - which we follow until we meet a bridge across the River Ribble (here we pass a herd of cyclists).

Over the River Ribble

Having crossed over this bridge, we turn off the road - and follow a footpath that sets off along the ridge above the River Ribble (where we even find some other walkers).

View out from our ridge (the river can be seen on the left in the dip below)

On the map we have a marker for Castle Haugh - and this sits within the clump of trees that lie ahead. This will have been a small timber fortification - thought to date back to the 11th century - although not much else is known about it, and there isn't much to look at on the way past.

But having passed this, we cut across the fields until we are heading alongside a busy road - which we briefly follow (on our own path).

Heading towards the road

Whilst following this road, we pass a Tumulus on the map - and this marks the spot of Little Painley bowl barrow - which is likely to date back to the late Bronze Age.

And after this we eventually say goodbye to the road - as we follow a farm track, that will take us across to Gisburne Park.

On the way to Gisburne Park

Our view of the house on the way past

We don't see much of Gisburne Park (other than a glimpse over the top of a ridge that generally hides it from our view).

But the house itself dates to the 17th century - and whilst I look up it's history, I don't find anything that interesting to report back on - but they do have friendly goats and horses, who I say hello to on my way past.

Soon we meet up with a road (by the side of the River Ribble), and here we follow the road as it heads up the valley side - before we turn off to head across the fields (and say goodbye to the Ribble Way for the last time).

Over the railway

Once over the railway, we cross a busy road - and continue on through the fields - with this being the spot where we get our first good view of Pendle Hill.

Pendle Hill appears over the horizon

Pendle Hill is a lot of hill - both visually, and in terms of it's name.

This isolated hill - which sits well above the rest of the surrounding countryside - was called Penhul in the 13th century, with this name being a combination of Pen (the Cumbric word for hill), and hyll (the Old English word for hill).

But since this name didn't include enough references to hills to justify it's size against those surrounding it (this fact I have just made up), at a later date the word Hill was appended to what had by then morphed into the word Pendle - to give Pendle Hill, or (as translated) Hill Hill Hill.

Pendle (or Hill Hill as we can call it) is not most famous for this lovely hill, however - but for the Witch Trials of 1612 - when twelve ugly crones who all lived in the area around Pendle Hill (or Hill Hill Hill), were accused of witchcraft.

A meeting of the Women's Institute in Pendle at the time, Source: I Made It Up

Two of these ugly old crones were in fact men (presumably they still had warts) - but whilst I would love to give you a nice summary of the witch trials, when I try to read about them, my head hurts trying to keep up with the details. 

But in summary, the witch trials seem to have resulted from a fairly minor local dispute that just got a bit of out of hand. And at the end of the day, 'witches' would have been a handy set of people to blame for any problems - and it would certainly beat people having to take on personal responsibility for their problems.

But getting back to our walk, we continue on to a farm - where our path turns to head east, before crossing over another main road. And at this road crossing we pass a solar farm - which is actually the first I have passed whilst out walking.

Solar Farm

These solar farms are not very popular - but personally I'm fine with it, so long as the site is also setup to support nature - and this one seems to be doing that, providing some longer grass that birds can hopefully build their nests in (without being disturbed by tractors).

But this solar farm is fairly small, and we are very quickly beyond it, and heading out along a road that in time degrades to a lane, and then further into a track - and here we take on our second big climb of the day, as we head past Weets Hill.

Going up the ridge

Having got up the ridge

It is here that we get back into some more exciting countryside again - and having passed Weets Hill, we join up with a road that heads up to (the very lovely) Weets House. And the walk along this road is also a lovely one - with great views out across the countryside below.

View towards Pendle Hill (or Hill Hill Hill)

View towards Stansfield Tower (on Blacko Hill)

Soon we find ourselves turning off this road - and start following a track across White Moor, that will take us across to the southern end of Barnoldswick.

Looking towards Foulridge Reservoirs

Our track across White Moor

Barnoldswick

The walk across to Barnoldswick is a reasonably long one - but we are then quickly past the first set of houses, heading across fields to the second set of houses, and then across more fields to meet up with the Liverpool & Leeds Canal.

Passing over the canal

This is a canal that I have walked before - and I passed through here earlier in the year (although it feels ages ago), whilst walking this section of the Liverpool & Leeds Canal (between Gargrave and Burnley - and this spot was about halfway through the walk on that day).

But we quickly leave this canal behind, and head off across the final set of fields - before meeting up with the main road at Sough (just below Earby).

And here our walking will come to an end for now - because from here it is possible to get a bus into Colne (the M5 Mainliner) - and from there I will take myself on to my overnight stop in Burnley.

Tomorrow I will take the bus back to here - and then we will continue this walk along the Pennine Bridleway until we reach Hebden Bridge.

Total Distance: 21.4 miles (20.5 miles on the Pennine Bridleway)

Total Ascent: 2,293 feet (2,228 feet on the Pennine Bridleway)

Enjoyment Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ ★ / 5

The walking on this section is of mixed quality. It starts very well out of Settle, then there is a lesser section until you pass Weets Hill, but then you have a very enjoyable section as you continue on round to Sough. But overall it is still a very good walk.

Click for a connecting section of the Pennine Bridleway, with the Settle Loop (modified to add some other sites of interest).

Click for the next section of the Pennine Bridleway from Sough to Hebden Bridge.

Click for a connecting walk along the Dales High Way from Skipton to Settle.

Click for a connecting walk along the Dales High Way from Ribblehead to Settle.

Click for the crossing walk along the Liverpool & Leeds Canal from Gargrave to Burnley.

Disclaimer: This writeup provides a narrative of what to expect rather than a route guide to follow. The route is covered by the 98 and 103 OS Landranger maps - while there is also a Pennine Bridleway guidebook which includes OS mapping (links redirect to Amazon). The route is in general well way-marked (although some sections can be a little confusing, particularly with a lot of overlapping named trails on the map)