Sunday 19th May 2015 - Chipping, Lancashire

This month our walks are based on Chipping, Lancashire.  The coach will leave school as usual at 8.00 am prompt.  In view of the short distance from Formby the coach will travel directly to Chipping without a stop. There are toilets available in Chipping where all the walks start.  At the end of the day’s walks there are plenty of opportunities for refreshment in Chipping. As well as the Sun Inn, leaders have also done a recce of both tea rooms (the things we have to do!) Brabins Tea Rooms are at the east end of the main street and the Cobbled Corner Café is near the car park.  We plan to leave at 5.30 pm to be back in Formby about 7.30 pm

The cost of travel will be £10.00 for members, £13.00 for non-members and £5.00 for Leaders, children and students in full time education. Please make your cheque payable to Range Walking Club and ensure it is signed as it is inconvenient for the Treasurer to chase up such omissions.

Please send in your return to the Treasurer before 7th May; places will be booked on the coach by the treasurer on a first come first served basis.

Cancellations: if you need to cancel or make a late booking, please contact the Treasurer on 01704 809287 who will endeavour to substitute your booking from the waiting list.  If you cancel after 7th May and it is not possible to fill your place on the coach, regrettably, we will not be able to give you a refund as coaches will have been booked on initial returns.

Club Weekend 2015: 5th-7th June St David’s Pembrokeshire
I confirm that we will meet, to discuss the walks, at The Grove Hotel, High Street, St David’s SA62 6SB 01437 720341 on Friday 5th June at 9pm.  Most people are travelling down on the Friday, since it is a long drive, we are not planning to do an organised walk on the Friday.  However, if anybody wants to do a short walk on the Friday afternoon please let me know. I hope everybody has a good journey to St David’s.

Club AGM Monday 13th July
The Club AGM will be held on Monday 13th July at Range High School.  Membership cards will be issued from 7pm onwards and the meeting will commence at 7.30pm.  The AGM papers will be circulated nearer the time.

‘A’ Walk Distance: 12 miles Ascent: 2,050 ft Leaders: Ken Bryning Shaun Rollinson	Another chance to visit the delightful village of Chipping in the Forest of Bowland, a favourite of this group over the years. We will remember this recce for a long time, notably for seeing the partial eclipse of the Sun from the car park as we prepared to leave, in spite of a lot of cloud cover. Heading NW from the village via tracks and road to Fell Foot, we ascend steeply to Parlick Fell (432m) before heading north along the ridge to the Trig point on Fair Snape Fell (510m).  On a good day the coast from Blackpool up to the Lakes can be seen (on the recce we had trouble seeing each other!)  The walk continues to the true summit at 520m east of the Trig and follows the boundary fence up to Fiendsdale Head (446m). This is an area of outstanding natural beauty (AONB) and the grouse are in abundance on the moors; however the area is also renowned for its peat hags, wetness and squelch! Though a start has now been made on paving this path.  We return by heading West down into the valley to Hazelhurst, Bleasdale, Blindhurst and Windy Harbour and passing the Mill pond and old Furniture factory back into Chipping.
‘B+’ Walk Distance: 10.25 miles Ascent:1800ft Leaders: Dave Purdy Eddy Drela	From Chipping the walk uses minor roads and field paths to head northwest into Bleasdale via Blindhurst farm. On reaching Bleasdale school our route turns northwards on a good track passing on the way the site of Bleasdale Circle which we may visit if time allows. At Holme House we head southeast to Higher Fair Snape farm where we begin to climb ( slowly!! ) up the zig-zag path to the summit of Fair Snape and Paddy’s Pole at 510 metres from which point there are extensive views of Morecambe Bay and the Fylde coast. A good path then takes us south over Blindhurst Fell to reach the top of Parlick at 432 metres. Descending next on a well used, but steep, path we then begin our return to Chipping by way of Fell Foot, Wolfen Hall, Wolfen Mill and the well known Chipping Cheese Factory.
‘B’ Walk Distance: 9.75 miles Ascent: 1,050 ft Leaders: Liz Bellman Ray Webb	From Chipping we will head north to Burnslack (SD616461) before swinging east to Lickhurst Farm.  A mile and a half further on we will reach the northern most point of the walk at Dinkling Green Farm (SD640469). The return to Chipping will take us through a couple more farms, past Knot Hill and Hodder Hole Wood, and through the grounds of a hotel at Gibbon Bridge. After a loop south we enter Chipping via Town End.  Other than some undulations, the climbing is over by Dinkling Green Farm.
‘C’ Walk Distance: 7 miles Ascent: 800 ft Leaders: Janet Purdy Glennis Poole	This is a very pleasant varied walk with good views of the surrounding hills. We walk out of Chipping past the Furniture Factory, the Old Mill and Mill Pond before climbing to Birchen Lee. From there we follow an easy track to Park Gate and then through fields to Park Style where we take a track to Lickhurst Farm. Crossing a footbridge we climb up towards Dinkling Green farm with views opening out around us and then follow a quiet farm road to an old telephone box, a local landmark! Leaving the road the path drops down to the ford at  Lower Greystoneley and then on to Knot Barn. Passing an old lime kiln we walk through parkland back into Chipping. There are about six stiles and one or two boggy patches.