Beacon Fell

The first time Mark and I set out to conquer Beacon Fell we actually only got as far as Beacon Fell View Holiday Park near Longridge. As caravan parks went it was fair enough but hardly matched up to the wonders we had been promised. We lurked around the higher reaches of Longridge for a while and tried to wax lyrical about the views it afforded. It was a fairly clear day, revealing a vista that stretched for miles but I had to concede that the view fell somewhat short of revealing the Isle of Man. We ate our packed lunches and turned for home. We're not the best map readers in the world and we do sometimes end up in quite a different place than the location we originally set out for.
The next week we set out again. This time it was an even hotter day. We made our way though Ribchester, passed Longridge without stopping and nearly drove past the turn off for Beacon Fell. Now these were great views. The top of Beacon Fell is quite heavily wooded and a road circumnavigates its summit. We bought some ice-cream at the cafe and took in the views. They stretch back over Lancashire and the Forest of Bowland. Spectacular. They say that on a clear day you can see all the way to the Isle of Man. I believe them. I only wish I'd known which way to look for it. Mark got his camera out and starting snapping away. I should have kept a closer eye on him but I was too busy drinking in the patchwork landscape that stretched one way and the fells and moorland that spread out the other. When we got home I found out that he hadn't taken a single photograph of any of the views. All the shots were either of me with the grassy summit and cafe behind me or the shadowy depths of the woods.