Web Site Design
This page has been included to give information about the fellscape site which I hope will serve to answer the questions posed in the emails that I have have received over the years.
The site was started over 9 years ago to combine the author's interest in learning to write a web site, walking in the countryside with a pub as an objective, and photography. The site itself has been put together using Macromedia's Suite of programs: Dreamweaver (web site design), Fireworks (creates jpegs), and Freehand (the drawing program in which the maps were drawn). My computer is a Mac so the site has been tested with the Mac Browser Safari, and also with Firefox and Opera Browsers. The Mac no longer supports the latest version of Internet Explorer so this has not been tested.

The Walks
I started the walks in the winter of 2002 from my then base at Stonyhurst College and worked my way clockwise around the Forest of Bowland; 17 Walks in all. 5 Walks following the Hodder then followed. These walks range from 6 to 11 miles. Each walk is designed to print out on a sheet of A4 paper.
It was my intention from the outset to vary each walk so that the walk starts low down, takes in part of a fell, and then returns to the level. Clearly the nature of the path will vary. Once on the open fell the walker might expect to meet a stony or rutted path, potholes, wet/ muddy/ marshy/ boggy- ground , and fairly steep inclines; this is all part and parcel of fell walking in the Forest of Bowland. Bearing in mind that the Forest of Bowland is one of the wettest areas in England, it goes without saying that the walker should be adequately clothed and shod, and a compass carried to find the occasional bearing.

For those walkers who might find the above walks too long or challenging a start has been made on a series of shorter walks. This project started with three walks from Hurst Green. 8 walks have now been completed and the project is ongoing.

Height Profiles
Some maps have a height profile shown above them. These give the walker some idea of the ups and downs of the walk, and how much energy is expended covering the distance. The distance given for each walk is measured along the flat surface of the respective map i.e. as the crow flies. However, the walker will cover more than this distance walking up and down the fells. It may be possible to measure the true distance covered by the walker using gps. Where this information has been obtained this distance is shown in brackets.

The Countryside Code
Before starting on any of these walks, it is assumed that the walker is aware of the Countryside Code. This is especially important in the Forest of Bowland which is an AONB, contains SSSIs, and is part owned by the Duchy of Lancaster. Read the Countryside Code on The Natural England web site.

SSSIs include: Barn Gill Meadow near Stocks Reservoir; Bell Sykes Meadows, Myttons Meadows, and Standridge Farm Pastures all at Slaidburn; the Bowland Fells; Clitheroe Knoll Reefs at Downham; Coplow Quarry Clitheroe; Hodder River Section at Stonyhurst; and White Moss near Tosside (further information on the location of these sites can be found here here.)

Maps
The map on each web page is only intended as a guide; the walk stages are shown and points which help the walker along the way i.e. houses/farms/woods. It would be expected that before any of these walks is started the walker will have familiarized his self/herself with the route on the relevant O.S. map and that the this map is at hand along the way. To this end when the cursor is placed over some maps the O.S.map for the walk appears and this may be printed off. The O.S. maps are produced from raster data which I purchased. Lately the Ordnance Survey has provided the OpenSpace asset which allows an O.S. map to be used on a web site. An OpenSpace O.S. map is now included on each web page as a pop-up which can be printed off.

Pubs
The information which is given for each pub was collected by visiting the pub in question. Obviously this data will change in time. I would be grateful if any updated information could be forwarded. The inclusion of a pub in these walks is purely for information; other web sites deal with their relative merits; see for example: ribblevalleypubs.blogspot

Photos
The photos for each pub were taken without there being any traffic or parked cars in the front. This sometimes required an early start on a sunny Sunday morning.
Some walks have had a photo album added. This project is ongoing much depends on the weather on the day of the walk.
All photographs on the site are copyright of the author.

Satellite Images
In 2006 a satellite image for each walk was added as a pop-up. These have recently been upgraded to maximize the magnification. Unless broadband is used, loading these images may prove to be a lengthy process.
Also markers will be tried on some images to outline the walk itself.

Statistics
Charts summarizing the information regarding the Unique Visits paid to this web site for the year 2011.
There are approximately 8500/month or about 2000/week.
The referring URL's are mainly the Google and Yahoo search engines. View the Charts