Forest of Bowland
ACCESSIBLE HORSESHOE
1 SD526604 Rise out of Birk Rigg car park on a wide track, then stay left at a junction of paths in front of the quarry spoilheaps. This grassy path contours past a couple of small boggy spring-lines then crosses Ottergear Bridge (which is actually a well-hidden aqueduct).
2 SD535611 Bend left then immediately fork right onto a narrower path (just before a line of four silver birch trees). Join a shooters gravel road and briefly head right (uphill) on this. Rise sharply up a steepening, with ‘Lego-like’ blocks to the side, above a small tributary of the River Conder.
3 SD541611 Where the gradient eases, and the road bends slightly right, fork left onto a grassy path through heather.
This takes a line just below the top edge of a deeply incised clough, which is thought to have been caused by subglacial meltwater towards the end of the last Ice Age. It gets pretty rough as you pass underneath the branches of a lone oak tree (SD546611) then sidle down gently to the valley.
4 SD549611 Just past a side-valley on your right (headwater stream from Conder Head), fork right up a wide but faint grassy track, taking a line just east of the sidevalley. A series of zigs south and zags east lead onto the plateau to the east of Conder Head. The path braids just right of a water channel, passes a line of old grouse butts, then heads roughly south to the shooters track.
5 SD552595 Join this by a wrinkly outcrop, heading east along the gravel road towards the Andy Goldsworthy sculptures (which became visible shortly before joining the gravel track).
6 SD555596 Fork right on a fainter path to the sculptures. After these, continue along the faint path, passing a quarried area. The path fades as it nears the main Grit Fell to Clougha Pike path; fork left at an indistinct junction, then if all else fails at the end, head directly south-west to the nearby track. (NB Take care if it’s nesting season as ground laying birds may have young/ eggs in the undergrowth!)
7 SD551593 If you wish to tick the summit of Grit Fell, head left along the main path here, on an out-and-back detour. Otherwise, head right (westwards) to descend to the trig point and ‘summit’ of Clougha Pike. Although Grit Fell claims the true summit title, Clougha Pike is the prominent outcrop from the valley below. On a fine day you can see some of the nearer Welsh Hills, the Isle of Man, Black Combe (far west Lake District), a wide expanse of the Lake District Fells, and the Howgills and the Yorkshire three peaks of Ingleborough, Pen y Ghent and Whernside.
8 SD544594 Head roughly northwards, along the top of Clougha Scar. A wall-line comes in from the right – continue beside this, down to a gap in a lower wall then follow beside the wall.
9 SD540601 Make sure you follow the main path as it descends westwards away from the wall-line (not towards a distant gate in the wall). Pass a small outcrop, then lower down, the path descends a small bank to gain a good view up Windy Clough near a lone hawthorn tree. The way gets a little rougher and the path braids through an area of rough boulders, with a couple of entirely optional scrambling possibilities.
10 SD536601 Pass through a small gate, below this nav can be challenging – cross a stile at SD534603.
11 SD534603 Ignore the other stile in the far wall and continue descending, soon through woodland next to a brook, then over a boardwalk. Fork left at the end of this to a grassy path back to the start.