Whins Brow

Rising above the famous Trough of Bowland near Hareden, this 476-metre Tump offers a quintessential gritstone moorland experience. Its broad, peat-drenched plateau requires careful navigation, rewarding the effort with a commanding perspective over the winding pass below and the sprawling, heather-clad fells of the Forest of Bowland.

• •The name 'Whins' stems from a Northern English dialect term for gorse (Ulex europaeus), the prickly yellow-flowered shrub that populates the lower slopes, while 'Brow' refers to the hill’s prominent western edge.
• •The summit provides an exceptional bird's-eye view of the Trough of Bowland pass, where the road can be seen snaking between the steep flanks of Sykes Fell and the neighbouring mass of Totridge.
• •Walkers often combine this hill with the nearby 'Grey Stone of Trough', a historic boundary marker that traditionally separated the West Riding of Yorkshire from Lancashire.
• •The high ground between the summit and Totridge is notorious for its complex peat hags and 'mosses', which can make navigation a slow and damp process in low cloud.
• •Reaching the highest point is often less of a mountain ascent and more of a tactical exercise in bog-hopping, where the most successful walkers are those who can accurately judge the firmness of a patch of sphagnum moss at twenty paces.