Though defended by the moat of Langden Brook, Langden Castle isn't a castle at all, but a remote shooting cabin in the middle of nowhere. This is the Bowland Fells at its wildest, the home of hen harriers and peregrine falcons. Here, in the long, wide-bottomed valley, there are no bridges over the streams, very few paths and even fewer visitors. On a scorching hot summer day we met no-one save a Dutch couple who enquired about a bridge "There isn't one", we told them, "You have to jump". So they did.
LOCATION: Trough of Bowland
START: Roadside parking at Hareden, one mile from Dunsop Bridge
Grid ref: SD645506 Postcode: BB7 3BQ
DISTANCE: 6.5 miles
GRADE: Moderate
TIME: 4 hours
MAP: Explorer OL - Forest of Bowland Landranger 103
NOTE: Fording the two streams difficult after heavy rain
REFRESHMENTS: Van at Langden Intake
EN ROUTE: Hareden, Bleadale
This walk was originally published by
The Manchester Evening News