Sunshine Smile

LETJOG PEAK No 43: Green Hill, Lancashire (628 metres)

Walk Date: Wednesday 16 August 2023

The modest marker on Green Hill, the top of Lancashire

Travelling around the country by train can be quite a joy and, as I start writing this Blog on the rail service home from Lancaster after three glorious days of walking, I now have a spare couple of hours watching the English scenery flash by as the sun sets on a fine summer’s day. We really do live in a beautiful country; of yellow fields of wheat and barley, verdant green pastures and patches of forest, interspersed with towns, villages and farms that still reflect elements of local styles in their fabric. It really is quite a privilege to sit back and witness all of this, and a pleasant alternative to being behind the wheel on a motorway. Maybe my satisfaction is heightened now by another super walk today in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, once again with my Berkhamsted friend Mark, with whom I have shared nearly 40 miles on the trail over our three days of fell-walking on this latest stage of my LETJOG Peaks journey.

The town at the bottom edge of this map is Ingleton, where we stayed for the last two nights – today we parked a couple of miles away, near the small village of Thornton in Lonsdale: setting off in a clockwise direction, we ascended Gragareth hill and continued northwards along the ridge to the County Top at Green Hill, before a steep descent to the lane leading back to Thornton

There was plenty of blue sky today, and indeed of sunshine smiles, as the two of us set off into the hills again on what proved to be a pleasant twelve-mile ramble to conclude our three-day walking trip. The route climbed slowly at first, and after a difficult crossing of some boggy common moorland, we made it to the Lancashire county boundary that falls on the ridge separating the red rose shire from its white rose neighbour, Yorkshire. Our prolonged ascent up the county line, along the watershed, was rewarded with some wonderful far-reaching views to all sides, that I hope are suitably conveyed in my pictures today.

The small byre where our walk commenced . . .

. . . and the green track at the start of our climb

With incised gulleys and no path, our ascent across the moorland on the southern end of the Gragareth Ridge was hot work and fairly hard-going, but we made steady progress and soon some fine views started to open up

Some interesting grasses on the moorland of the Gragareth Ridge

Not quite the top of Lancashire – we passed this trig point on the summit of Gragareth as we walked northwards along the ridge towards Green Hill; at 627 metres the peak is just a metre lower than the County Top

From the top of Gragareth the westward view takes in the northern parts of Morecambe Bay across to the Cumbrian coast

. . . whilst north-westwards the Lake District massif was laid out before us

Crossing in style, along our way to the shire top

On Green Hill, at 628 metres of elevation – what the summit cairn lacks in stature the County Top of Lancashire makes up for with some marvellous views to either side of the ridge

The view of distant Ingleborough (to the right of the picture) from the top of Green Hill . . .

. . . and of Crag Hill and Great Coum at the head of the ridge

Our steep descent from Green Hill took us across the grasses and heather of Blakeamaya Pasture and then down the gulley of Blackstone Gill . . .

. . . eventually to the narrow lane at Kingsdale Head . . .

. . . and southward alongside the Kingsdale Beck

Looking back up Kingsdale, as we returned to our start point

Another super day in the hills, and a big thank you Mark for your good company on the latest stages of my LETJOG Peaks journey. Over the last three days we have conquered the heights of Merseyside, scaled the summit of North Yorkshire and ascended to the top of Lancashire, all walks that will endure in the memory. I now have just seven of my 50 County Tops left to climb, and I hope to be reporting back with further progress on the trail next week.

In the towns and villages around these parts many front garden walls are adorned with natural weather-sculpted pieces of limestone taken from the surrounding moorland (although I understand that this tradition has now been outlawed for reasons of conservation)

Having enjoyed such a brilliant day in the hills, my Blog heading today seems appropriate. ‘Sunshine Smile’ is taken from a song title by the Lancashire hard rock group Massive Wagons, a self-penned number from their fourth studio album ‘Full Nelson’, released in 2018. The band hail from Lancaster and was formed in 2009 by guitarist Adam Thistlethwaite and vocalist Barry Mills, and they are presently on tour in the UK as a headline act.

Sunshine Smile

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