The Pendle Walking Festival

The first Pendle Walking Festival took place in 2004 and was an immediate success. The second was even better. The third promised to be better still with an even larger programme but the one vagary that no-one can cater for came into play and the Saturday was one of the worst days in Pendle that I can remember – heavy rain accompanied by strong winds – and Sunday was only a little better. 2007 also could have been better and the weather on the Sunday led to a couple of walks being cancelled but nevertheless numbers were 75% up on previous years.

This rise in the numbers attending has led to Pendle Council deciding to extend the Festival over a full week from Saturday 30th August to Sunday 7th September. Watch this space for news of how the arrangements are progessing!

In addition to this Festival another has been held covering more or less the whole of the South Pennines area for one or two weeks at the end of September / beginning October. This has gone under various names including the Roses and the South Pennines Festivals. Some of the pictures have also come from walks in these Festivals.

In 2007 the Mayor - Cllr Allan Buck, a keen walker who led a walk during the Festival - walked the Pendle Way in sections on Tuesdays. For his full programme GO HERE

GO HERE for some information, chat and updates on the 2008 programme and HERE for the actual Brochure in pdf format (2008 not yet ready)

GO HERE for some pictures from past Festivals

GO HERE for pictures from the 2007 Festival

In mid August on a none too brilliant day the Mayor, accompanied by his faithful attendant, and in all his finery, climbed the Three Peaks to publicise the Festival