Salter Fell Traverse on Retro MTB (summary version)

 

The track at Grinding Stone Rocks

In early June 2020 I rode out from Lancaster up the Lune Valley towards Hornby turning right at Roeburndale Road and climbing up to High Salter Farm where the track begins. I enjoyed views of Ingleborough, Whernside and Pen-y-ghent as they erupted with Yorkshire pride in the Spring sunshine. The white gravel track was flat at first but stretched up and away forming a long and winding road over Salter Fell.


The long and winding road over Salter Fell

Westward, a helicopter rose menacingly above the high Bowland ridge, quartering Wolfhole Crag and Ward’s Stone before it crept stealthily behind Blanch Fell.

The high Bowland ridge viewed from the north.
Clougha Pike is the pointy bit far right.
Ward's Stone the highest point
Wolfhole Crags the next rise up
The Salter Fell track runs through the dip down after Wolfhole Crags

 I stopped near the summit, climbing Grinding Stone Rocks in admiration. The course of a Roman Road feeds in nearby, veering down the valley to the North. The easy-riding continued but my rear wheel slipped on a short steep section of liquid-like loose scree. Eventually, I passed a changing gate.


The track is different in character on the Ribble watershed side

Here, fewer sheep and an abundance of gorse and heather indicated ideal grouse shooting country.  I had crossed a great divide. That is, the becks now fed the River Ribble, not the Lune.  Tractor-tyre-gouged craters with festering muddy-black water made the going trickier. I pushed until reaching a west-leading track that accessed an impressively rustic hunting lodge beside Baxton Hill.


Sweeping down to the Ribble Valley, Pendle Hill in the distance

Resuming riding, deceptively false flats pre-cursed a sweeping descent to the Upper Ribble Valley, the distinctive features of Pendle Hill in the distance, marker posts for the Witches 400 trail guiding me. A squadron of RAF jets roared over Croasdale Fell nailing terrain-hugging, camera-defying passes of the valley. Mission accomplished!

On the witches trail

Ochre-tinged, earth-grey gravel delivered easy descending. At the top of this steamrollered terra-cotta path a dutiful RSPB warden kept a protective vigil. A relaxed cruise towards Slaidburn brought an unfamiliar sight…tarmacadam. Completing the off-road crossing took two hours twenty minutes and I had plenty of light left for a delightful warm down ride home through the Trough of Bowland.


Route

 

The full length version of this article is also available on this blog.


Full length version


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