Bird-watching and walking through the Forest of Bowland, 19/05/2018

MY VISIT TO THE FOREST OF BOWLAND:

On the 19th of May, a warm, balmy Saturday, I went with 5 other men to this Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), the Forest of Bowland. Wikipedia refers to this as the Bowland Fells. It is not a forest in the traditional sense. It is an area marked by gritstone fells and peat moorland. These areas include the geographical centre of the United Kingdom. They also encompass the Trough of Bowland, a large valley within it.

I went with Graham, Michael, Steve, Ken and Steven - this was a meeting organised by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (the RSPB), Lancaster Group. Our walk leader would be Graham Thomas, a veteran RSPB volunteer for decades. Michael was the man who picked me up from the Lancaster railway station and brought me to the starting point of our walk, the main Parking Lot of the forest. In reality, this was just an area to the side of the road. On getting out of the car, I realised, immediately, that this was a lovely outdoors event. I had with me just me new Canon 7D Mark II with the various EF lenses. Our aim was to circumnavigate a section of the park, trying to spot and listen to the avifauna of the area.

The walk lasted over 5 hours and we did nearly 10.5 km, all cross-country and up and down. On approaching a clearing near Littledale Hall (an old house which now has a drugs rehab centre), we had our packed lunch, before setting off once again. By the time we completed our walk, we had seen only 6-7 bird species but identified over 20 through their calls. We had also burnt a lot of calories and got good exercise. Here are some memories of this unique excursion.

In the evening, Graham gave me a lift right into Preston, from where I caught a bus to return to Blackpool In the latter part of the evening, I would join the members of the Fylde Coast Hindu Society for some good food and song-singing, but that is another story.

Links:

https://www.forestofbowland.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forest_of_Bowland

Two days in the Yorkshire Dales to visit caves and to walk : Part 4 - Walking on the Ingleton Waterfalls Trail

To read the third post, click HERE.

This is the final installment and this is about my visit to a unique walk that is known as the Ingleton Waterfalls Trail. It is over 4 miles long and goes over several hills and dales in and around Ingleton. There are two rivers that roll down these hills and they tumble over rocks, creating waterfalls at many places. I started this trail from the main entrance. The ticket costs £ 6:00, and you are free to walk the entire trail at your own pace. The trail is tiring but also an adventure that one should not shy away from if one is physically able to do so. There are many stairs to climb up and down during the trail - over a thousand of them. and the entire trail can be very, very exhausting.

I took some photos and even chatted with some fellow walkers. The most curious artefact we all saw was a large tree trunk, now on its side with many branches chopped off and lying at various spots on the trail. This trunk (and its many severed branches) all had penny and dime coins hammered into it. The site of thousands of coins pushed into the bark of the trunk was truly unique. According to the prevailing legend, burying a coin inside the bark of the trunk of that tree brings good fortune to the person or persons who do this. 

Here are a few photos of this trunk and some other branches of it scattered around the main trunk:

After this, the waterfall trails went past four waterfalls and one gorge where the water flowed very rapidly in a deep gorge before it went on to form large pools with a slower flow. The entire walk was pure fun, even if tiring.  Here are some photos.

Experimenting with the B&W

One more in the same vein

Pecca Falls

One of the walking bridges on the trail

Beezel Falls

 At the end of this trail, I arrived, very exhausted, back to the trail reception via the village roads on the outside. Subsequently, Ian picked me up in his taxi and drove me to the Clapham station, where a timely bus replacement service initiated my return journey to Lancaster. Thence, it was a train to Preston and a return bus to Blackpool which brought me back home a little after 9:30 p.m. The 2-day holiday was finally over. 

Please do leave your comments below. Share the post on your FB, or Whatsapp, or whatever. Thank you.