The Burnley Way – 40-mile (64 km) Walk

My sister is an avid walker. It is shocking just how many miles she has under her boots. I have also mentioned before too that their dog Guinness is probably the most walked dog I know too. Lucky mutt!

My sister had planned out a 6 part walk which we aimed to do in 3 days. In total it is 40-mile (64 km) long. The route goes all around Burnley, across canals, fields, farm land and towns. The path is way-marked by a letter “B” and a bird symbol. It was created in 1993 and updated in May 2008. So we expected it to be pretty well marked and maintained. This was not the case at all!

The Route

Day 1

Day one was just myself, sister and Guinness. The start was good and a pretty easy walk following the canal and parks out of Burnley, finishing at the Queen Street Mill Textile Museum. Unfortunately it was from the second section when things got much much worse.

It would seem that the majority of people that do this walk just don’t past the first sections. Not long after we step off and finished lunch, passing past some stables, the path turned wild.

The majority of the path had not been maintained and was overgrown with nettles as well as other plants. Especially for my sister (who is not the tallest of people) they were even taller than her. She also picked to wear shorts that day too which was even more unfortunate than her heigh! It was a hellish battle through the nettles, thorns and bog. Absolute torture!

We knew after that things couldn’t get much worse, which made the remainder of the walk slightly more positive. Next destination was the Widdop Reservoir which had some beautiful views. Then off to Hurstwood to finish the first day.

Like all great walk we finished the walk in a pub. One of the best pubs in the area, the Crooked Billet in Worsthorne.

Day 2

From day two onwards Jinny was going to join us! Which was excellent, as if we got lost then we had more person to blame, rather than just me and my sisters fighting with each other. Day 2 also was the sunniest day for our walking.

We started from where we finished in Hurstwood and headed towards the village of Portsmouth. Thankfully the route was much better condition than yesterday. The fields were full of sheep and we also walked past the windmill farms too. We also enjoyed a Burrito lunch which we had pre-packed.

From Portsmouth we had to ascend to the highest section of the entire walk, Thieveley Pike.

From Thieveley Pike it was all downhill back to Burnley and Towneley Hall. A nice bath for Guinness in the river at Towneley Hall and the second day was done!

Day 3

Finally! The last day of the walk. Honestly by this point, I was ready for these 8 hour day walks to be finished. It also turned out that one of the highlights of the entire walk would be on day 3.

From Towneley Hall we had to go through Burnley Golf Club. From there through fields and past Hambledon Hill we arrived at an old WWII rifle range next to a gorgeous wood.

It was this hameldon wood which was the highlight of the walk.

The woods were completely isolated and due to the tall trees blocking any view of the field outside it felt like being in another world. Very epic and very memorable.

Unfortunately, as in life, for us to enjoy a hot summer day fully we also need to have experienced the cold winters. After the forest, the last day of the walk went disastrously down hill. Heading back into Burnley from Padiham meant we had to go through many field. Much of the access had been blocked off by farmers, and were not kept at all!

Much like the first day of nettle hell, it was just overgrown field after field.

It was hardest for our smallest walker Guinness who couldn’t even been seen due to all the overgrown grass. It took us much too long to get out and added much more frustration as well as time to the end of our walk.

Thankfully and about an hour longer than we had planned, we arrived back into Burnley to finish the walk! Finishing in the exact same place as we began three day earlier.

Then we headed to the pub just round the corner, The Corkhouse.

We enjoyed some local refreshments and gave our feet a much needed rest!

Summary

The Burnley walk was in a word, an experience. Happy that we did it but also equally happy that it was finished! Along the way there were some great places to see, but there was a lot of dull bits in the middle. Both Jinny and I have enjoyed the hikes and walks we have done since since being in England, but don’t think we will do back to back multiple 8 hour days walks again!

Needless to say that after day 3 all four of us (especially Guinness) were completely shattered. We enjoyed a few days of well deserved rest!