A combination of moorland, woodland, towpath, old mills, grand houses and modern urban housing estates was crammed in to 24 miles on this route from Burnley into Pendle.

After a leisurely brew at the garden centre, we had a slight delay; Nick had locked his bicycle up... but left his lock key at home. Ian in the garden centre kindly donated a paperclip and with his suspect wit, Nick used a pair of pliers to fashion the paperclip so that it was ready to pick the lock.  Clearly he is a keen lock picker as it was done in a moment and we were on our way climbing out of the park in the drizzle in no time.  Near the top of Deerpark Road, we took a newish path eastwards to avoid some time on the main road, we could tell we were on the right track by following a trail of horse muck.  At Mereclough we joined the bridleway of Foxstones lane which leads to the old hamlet of Hurstwood which was not as busy with dog walkers as usual- perhaps we had the dampness & poor forecast to thank for that.

Following the Pennine Bridleway we crossed the Gorple Road and carried on upwards towards the top of Extwistle Moor. This is a relatively new stretch of bridleway that isnt maked on older maps so it was a bit of a surprise to some, even local people on the ride. It's not even marked as a footpath. The track is a series of sharp switchbacks that rise, descend, rise and descend as it traverses Swinden valley and then drops into Thursden Valley. There are fine views towards Rossendale, past Longridge and over the crest of the hill the view of Boulsworth and Pendle is joined with the Dales in the distance. The foreground is a series of ridges that make up the south east Pendle area.  Today we were accompanied by the familiar buzzing of off-road motorcycles enjoying the track up Shay Lane - they looked dramatic on the quarry skyline with some fearsome looking ascents.

From here it was a good few miles of almost solid downhill to lunch that lasted around three quarters of an hour. After WAlverden Reservoir we had a mystery tour of the back streets of Nelson - cobbles a plenty and just one climb at Southfield before joining the greenway that runs alongside the East Lancs railway between Nelson & Colne. We left if at the Colne border to ride into Barrowford via Greenfield Lane, crossing the canal via an old humpback bridge and under the M65.

With the bulk of the riding complete in the morning section, we enjoyed a relaxed lunch at Pendle Heritage Centre.  The afternoon started skirting through the park to join the canal.. We had a few easy post-lunch flat miles to digest out lunches before the afternoon climbing. At Robinson Lane we left the canal to start the ascent through grand Reedley with its huge Victorian houses. We snaked up through the Clockhouse estate to the top of Briercliffe to join the Brun Valley track that sweeps downhill through the woods to the River Brun. Another climb to Rowley Lake brought us out at Brunshaw and it was just a fast descent back to the park where a few of us stopped to enjoy a hot chocolate before making our way home. Luckily we only had one spell of rain early.

Ian & I 'enjoyed' a second climb of Deerpark Road after the ride as he went to his grandson's and I carried on with my few miles of climbing home.

Thanks to all for your happy company on the ride and I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did. Georgie

Photos from the ride can be viewed here

A gpx of the route is available here.