← Back to Roughlee Nature Walks overview
From the small parking area/passing place at SD850414 on the Blacko Bar Road, follow the road south and uphill to Blacko Foot, then turn left and follow the Pendle Way through a field with a row of Beech trees on your left.
The next field boundary is the parish boundary and there are two stiles – the one on the right having steps through the stile and is the easier of the two. Follow the path through the next field, heading east and downhill, but bear right to join another path that is heading back westwards.
When you pass through another gate, you are now back in Roughlee Booth parish and have entered a wide valley with virtually no fences dividing it up. Whilst the valley isn’t a BHS, it does support areas of species-rich wet and dry grassland with species such as Meadowsweet, Marsh Thistle, Marsh Ragwort, Marsh Horsetail, Ragged Robin, Greater Bird’s-foot-trefoil, Bugle, Water Mint, Cuckooflower and St John’s-wort, together with Quaking-grass and Eyebright which indicate that the water is richer in minerals and more alkaline than acidic. This is the largest area of semi-natural grassland in the parish – look out for Brown Hares and Roe Deer and listen out for the curling call of the Curlew. The path isn’t very clear and there are lots of sheep trails, but continue above the floodplain and you should see two path markers in the western half of the field.
The path leads back to the Blacko Bar Road but take the path heading almost backwards on the right for approx. 180m before re-joining the road, turning right and walking carefully on the roadside for about 200m to Blacko Foot and then downhill to the starting point.