THURSDAY, 17 SEPTEMBER 2026

(Newton-in-Bowland, UK)

We had a gentle start to the day, with coffee in bed, a view of the hills, and then a breakfast, which would hopefully sustain us through our activity. There was no particular rush as the weather forecast was better for the afternoon than the morning. Whilst getting dressed, Andrew noticed that my feet blended in well with the bedroom rug.

You might well be asking (or maybe you weren’t, but you might eventually consider it) if this is the Forest of Bowland, where are the trees? The fells around us certainly are devoid of tree cover. The term ‘forest’ comes from the Medieval Latin word ‘foresta’, which described a legal territory set aside by the monarch for hunting, which often included open heaths, pastures, wetlands, and even villages. So, no trees. However, there is the nearby Gisburn Forest, which is, well, a forest. With trees. So that’s where we decided to go.

We had two route choices, the first around Stocks Reservoir, and the other through the forest. With the wind gusting up to 45mph, and frequent rain showers, we opted for the more sheltered route through the trees. Leaving the car park, the first mile or so was along the road, passing the no-linger-used (as far as we could tell) St. James’s church, before a path opened up through trees. After a half a mile, this reunited with the road to cross a bridge over Stocks Reservoir, allowing good views over to the hills. The water level is still very low, apparently at -6.85m, and with the Pennine water supply being at around 50% capacity. 

The route continued through trees, skirting the edge of the reservoir before entering into another car park area just as the rain began an extremely hard shower. I reminded myself that I was very excited to see rain quite recently, after a month of dry days. Fortunately, there was a very large horse chestnut tree standing right there, ready to provide shelter for the few minutes while the rain was at its heaviest. 

We continued on, the route turning up the hill, where we climbed over a fallen tree. The path then turned into a considerably older section of forest, where the trees include some huge, towering pines. The rain, which was intermittent between occasionally not raining, light drizzle, and short-but-intense downpours, led me to think that we weren’t so much forest bathing as forest showering, although showers seemed an inadequate word to describe the intensity.

We climbed further up, onto the hill where there was new growth and the trees were perhaps only 5 years old, offering views across the valley, before we started to descend. We stopped to eat our sandwiches before continuing a short way down a road and then turning off into the woods again, this time skirting around an open section of land cut into the forest. The route continued onward and downward, through a mix of pines, oaks, ash, chestnut and more, with brambles, mosses and ferns at ground level. Autumn is arriving, and in places the ground was covered with multi coloured (and now very soggy) leaves.

The route reached the road and we turned back along the trails bordering the reservoir, crossed the bridge, and climbed the road back to the car park. Overall, it was about 6 miles, and just over a 1,000 feet of elevation gain. Ish. Depends which watch you look at.

We drove back to the Cottage, stopping briefly in Slaidburn for me to pop in to the local shop for shower gel (which we both forgot to pack). I might have bought some chocolate fingers as well, but if I did, I’m sure they were well deserved. We had coffee, showered, and I cooked dinner, before we settled down to watch a movie in our lounge. I feel a lie in coming in for tomorrow.

Today’s video is here: https://vimeo.com/1228012736.