The Gate of Doom!

The title was going to read "A Walk up Pendle", but we overheard a little girl, on approaching the first gate with her parents, promptly declare:

"Oh no: the Gate of Doom"

And after that we hadn't the heart to call it anything else!

Pendle and the surrounding villages hold claim to fame as the home of the "Pendle Witches". Twelve people from the area were accused of being witches. One died in custody, one was tried at York and the other ten were tried at Lancaster Assizes in 1612. Only one was found not guilty. The history of the trials unfolded during the reign of James I who, himself, had written "Daemonologie", in which he condemned the practice of witchcraft and called upon his readers to seek out and punish suspected witches.

More on the history can be read here 

The purpose of today's walk wasn't to seek out any witches but to enjoy the hill on a bright, frosty winters day...

But first back to the title. Here is the Gate of Doom.... aptly named by the little girl when you consider the climb ahead...

And so we set off up the "slight incline", taking the 'steps' route up to the summit (557 mtrs)....

Colin couldn't resist a look back to see how far we'd come! (Are we nearly there yet??!)

There had been a heavy frost overnight and the ground underfoot was still frozen in parts, but where the sun had reached there was a fair bit of mud..

And, if you're wondering, yes he did get through all that without incident!

The following shot is in because I love the way the dry stone walling makes such a snaking line across the image, the sunlight throwing its shaded side into relief..

Onwards and upwards and by degrees we reached the summit...

By now it was coats on time as we were out of the hill's shelter from the wind.
Our shadows posed with the trig point in between us...

And then came the descent. Rather than take the steps, we went down a different track which was a little easier on the old knees. It wasn't without its problems, however. There was still a fair bit of ice on the path..

If I'm honest, I guess I was hoping Colin might provide an action shot here but once again, he did it without incident!

Looking back up from the road you can just make out the "steps" running diagonally across the image from left to right...

A fabulous day to do a climb of this hill, so close to both our hearts.

Pendle, we'll be back!!