Whilst Covid-19 was wreaking havoc upon the world and the
earth was mostly on lockdown, this eased a bit in England so that people could
go out on a wander if they wished. In separate cars, we met at the foot of
Longridge Fell (not far from ‘Intack’) on a hot end of May day. No dogs as it
was too hot, so just me, Steve and Mark.
Longridge Fell is local hill for us, just around forty drive
minutes away. It is the most southerly fell in England, and stands at 1148
feet. I must have gazed upon it hundreds of times from nearby hills, but this
was the first time I had climbed it.
On the drive there, we could see that Darwen Moor was on
fire, and plumes of smoke were bellowing in the distance: this brought back
memories of two years before, when Winter Hill had been on fire. We could see
the smoke as we ventured upwards, not seeming to let up, but that would not be
the last time we would see smoke that day!
We parked on the road, and made our way along a track that
meandered in and out of woods, and it felt good to be out after so many weeks
away from the hills. We arrived on the ridge and headed along to the trig
point. As it was a lovely, clear day, we could see for miles: with the most
notable fells in sight being Fairsnape and Beacon Fell. As we made our way
down, however, we could see smoke on the fell itself – thankfully not close to
use, but that did get the heart rate up. In the distance came the sounds of
fire engines...
We made our way to Turner Fold and then it was a long road
walk back to the cars, feeling tired, but refreshed. Driving back, we passed
the fire engines parked up. The fire burnt for another few days, before dying
out with the aid of the firefighters.
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