UK’s biggest FREE walking festival starts in Pendle 15th August!

The Pendle Walking Festival – the UK’s biggest free walking event – starts this Saturday 15th August and runs until Sunday 23rd August.

And this year’s event, in the school holidays for the first time, is a real family affair with more than half of the 68 walks being family friendly.

Now in its 12th year, the Pendle Walking Festival offers walks from the easy to the challenging in stunning walking country, led by experienced guides.

Councillor Ian Tweedie, who represents tourism in Pendle, said:
“Since Pendle is jointly hosting stage 2 of the Tour of Britain cycle race in September, our Walking Festival is happening earlier this year.

“The festival still has its challenging walks for the seasoned walkers, such as the Pendle Marathon and the Pendle Three Peaks Challenge.

“The Pendle Walking Festival is a highlight in Pendle’s tourism calendar and we’re looking forward to welcoming hundreds of walkers to our beautiful walking country!” He said.
Pendle is the perfect walking destination with a huge network of well-maintained footpaths across unspoilt wild moorland, rolling hills and through historic villages.

This year’s Pendle Walking Festival includes a new walk celebrating the life of George Fox who famously climbed Pendle Hill in 1652 and had a vision which led him to found the Quaker movement.

Walkers can also follow in the footsteps of the Pendle Witches of 1612 on a number of fascinating walks of varying lengths.

And people of all ages can discover parts of Pendle they perhaps haven’t visited before under the guidance of our friendly walk leaders.

Mike Williams, Pendle Council’s Tourism Officer, said:
“We’re looking forward to welcoming back many walkers who take part in our walking festival every year, as well as seeing some new faces too.

“Many people choose to make a holiday of their Pendle Walking Festival experience. Pendle has a wealth of quality tourism accommodation – from guest houses and B&Bs to a luxury hotel – to help walkers make more of their visit. To search for accommodation in Pendle, go to www.visitpendle.com.”

Free Pendle Walking Festival programmes, which contain information about all the walks, are available to download from www.visitpendle.com.

You can also get a programmes by calling the Discover Pendle Centre on (01282) 856186.

Mike added:
“We’ve a wide variety of walks for families with children of all ages, from those that focus on parks and playgrounds to those that take families out onto the hills.

“Children who come on the walks can enter our kids’ club competition – when they come on three or more walks and collect a Billy Badger sticker, they can enter a prize draw to win shopping vouchers.

The 2015 Pendle Walking Festival will be officially launched by the Mayor of Pendle, Councillor Nawaz Ahmed, on Saturday 15 August at 10am at the Aisled Barn at Wycoller Country Park

Following the launch, the four separate walks of varying lengths and difficulty ratings will set off.