No Fracking Way - Day 4 - Colne to Longridge

The Core Group assembled in the Black Lane  Ends Pub car park, just over the Lancashire border, that we had left from the previous night. Today was going to be a manageable 25 miles but because we had fell short yesterday we had to add another couple of miles to take us into Colne. It was a nice morning and the walk into Colne was an easy start down country roads. Psychologicaly we were in the home straight now. One more sleep before Preston New Road Fracking site near Blackpool, tomorrow was a theoretically easier 19 miles.We were well past half way. This morning it felt possible

As we reached Colne we were joined by Diane Green from Marsden who was to be with us for the rest of the day. Then it was a long trog towards Barrowford along the side of a busy A road. I was just glad it wasn't going to be like this all the way. Then we turned off  to a deserted back road with hardly any traffic with a great view of Pendle Hill. It was eerily quiet and for no apparent reason as I was wandering along I saw a small tree done up with baubles. All quite magical really.

In Whalley we stopped for lunch and met up as pre-arranged with 3 Lancashire Greens who were going to be joining us for the rest of the day to Longridge and act as our native guides. As we left Whalley in the far distance  a long ridge of land was pointed out to me. At the top of the ridge was the aptly named village of  Longridge. It became clear that our day was going to end with a very steep climb. Oh joy! Colin was now comfortably positioned in the passenger seat of Ann's car. Comfort for Colin I guess was anything that didn't involve standing up and walking.

By the bridge at Ribchester

As we came to the bridge at Ribchester to pose for a photo a Police van stopped to 'have a word'. All very pleasant but I could hear over the radio someone in another vehicle or a control centre somewhere saying the words 'Fracking' and 'Green Party'. clearly we were being kept an eye on and this was not necessarily a chance encounter. I wondered whether as we got closer to the Preston New Road site tomorrow that we might have our way impeded. Still we had got a plan for that! Some more locals joined us at Ribchester for the last haul up to Longridge and it really was a haul just like the previous day. Another hill that rose for several miles. Our group was stretched out again as we each plowed on at paces we were each 'comfortable' with. In retrospect we should have stuck more together as it wasn't always clear to us all which roads we should take.

Chatting with locals in Ribchester (courtesy of Louise Galvin)

The light was fading as we reached the Longridge pub where we had agreed to met a great crowd of Lancashire Anti frackers and Green Party members. We sat down exhausted and were gratefully to be plied with sandwiches, chips and beer. From there we were whisked off quite a way to Burnley for a Public meeting at the Methodist Church in the Town Centre. We had a good Lancashire audience and I explained the thinking behind our walk, showed the audience the 'holy soil of Yorkshire' in my Harrogate toffee tin. I could sense other members of the Core Group had heard the same 'jokes' now for 4 nights on the trot. Well I say 'sense' they had actually told me.

What was really lovely was that on our last evening all the Core Group were going to be all together.  Burnley Green Party members Jai Redman and Andy Fewster had a huge Victorian house and served us a beautiful meal as we talked about the last few days and looked forward to tomorrow. They really looked after us.

One thing I was acutely aware of was that I was now sore, very sore! It was a great house that we were in and I was on a comfortable blow up bed on the very top floor. I made my way up the stairs gingerly and wondered about tomorrow. The idea of walking 19 miles in this sort of pain was not appealing yet it had to be done. Following a bit of research for reassurance on the web, Compeed was boldly carefully applied to places it may never have been applied before. Feeling a bit more confident and patched up a bit I fell into a deep sleep. Preston New Road and the end of our quest tomorrow.