A Snowy Walk up Rivington Pike and Winter Hill, Lancashire

Walking up Rivington Pike and Winter Hill in the snow is an experience I’ll never forget. Winter Hill will be familiar to anyone living in north west England. If you are driving north up the M6 past Warrington, Wigan and Preston, Winter Hill is the massive rounded lump of a hill to your right crowned by an enormous telecommunications mast. It’s hard to miss! Rivington Pike sits on the south-westerly flank of Winter Hill, a fair way below the highest point, but because of it’s own peaked crown, its become a hill in it’s own right.

A Winter Wonderland Setting – a perfect day for this walk!

My Dad and I (with my pooch Roger) had had a walking day planned in the diary for ages. I love walking with my Dad and don’t get the chance that often. Rivington Pike had long been on my walking bucket list and as it was a walk Dad had never done either, we were excited to finally get up there.

Then the snow hit and we woke up to thick fog. I can’t deny I was disappointed. However, Dad reckoned that if we got high enough up then we may get above the fog that hung around like a thick gloopy smog!

Our original plan was to walk through Lever Park and up to Rivington Pike but when we got there the fog was so dense in the park, there was little point stopping due to such poor visibility. We decided to drive to the upper car park, known as Pigeon Tower car park. This puts you further up the hill beyond the country park and nearer to the Pike.

Lo and behold, as we drove higher gradually the horizon started to emerge. Then suddenly – BAM! Blue sky came down to greet us and the snowy landscape lit up like a sea of sparking diamonds, the hill contours glinting in the sun. It was dazzling!

Dad was right (something I used to hate admitting!) We were above the mist and clag which hung below us like a cloud inversion.

A quick gander at the OS map made our decision to head straight up Rivington Pike and then hopefully beyond to Winter Hill.

The Walk to Rivington Pike

Well, to start with we almost didn’t make it up the road to Pigeon Tower car park as it was so icy, the wheels kept spinning. We glided in on a wing and a prayer thankfully.

From the car park we took the left of the two paths which immediately started climbing uphill. It was a tricky walk.

The path was as rough as a dried up river bed and the majority of the rocks were iced over and shiny. I did not have crampons on, so I made slow progress up the rocks and slipped a number of times. Roger had no such issues, the lucky thing.

I was incredibly thankful when the path evened out at the top and became much flatter and easier to navigate on approach to the Pigeon Tower.

You could now see a view amongst the tree-scape to the right (west) and much of the view looking to the south and beyond the tower was obscured by a blanket of low-lying cloud.

Pigeon Tower

The Pigeon Tower is a 4-storey Gothic pigeon house or dovecote and one of the highlights of a walk up Rivington Pike and Winter Hill. It was built in 1910 as part of the Rivington Gardens estate. The estate was developed by garden designer Thomas Hayton Mawson in collaboration with industrialist and philanthropist William Hesketh Lever, known as Lord Leverhulme.

The Pigeon Tower is one of the few remaining building structures still visible in the gardens and was restored in 1975 to the tune of £5,000.

The tower was built in a square format from gritstone and has a steeply pitched slate roof. You can find out more about Pigeon Tower on Historic England’s website.

It was recorded that Lady Lever used the top floor of the tower as a sewing room so she could work while enjoying the extensive views. She certainly picked well. Their ornamental doves and pigeons occupied the lower floors.

After passing the tower, we took the obvious path to the left which led straight up to Rivington Pike.

The steps were equally as treacherous as the first track we set off on as well as being steep. They were covered in sheet ice and we saw many people walking (and sledging) down the hillside ‘off-path’ to avoid them. I’m glad I did not have to come back down these steps as I was not confident it could be done safely.

Rivington Pike Tower and Views

The view from the top of Rivington Pike is tremendous and I literally could have stayed up there all day, if it wasn’t so cold. It was definitely the crowning glory of a walk up Rivington Pike and Winter Hill.

On a clear day and one without the low-lying cloud masking the landscape, you would be able to see as far as Cheshire, the Lake District and the Isle of Man. You would normally be able to see the whole of Lever Park and Rivington reservoir laid out below too, but I was happy with my ethereal rippling cloudy carpet instead.

The tower at the summit of Rivington Pike is actually a grade II listed building. It was built in 1733 on the remains of an old beacon, using that as it’s foundations. The tower is square in shape and stands 20ft high. No wonder it can be seen from miles around.

The tower’s purpose was as a hunting lodge, and it would have been built with a cellar, a chimney and fireplace. All of these, plus the door and windows have long since been blocked up.

The tower was marked for demolition in 1967, but due to public outcry and legal opposition, ownership was transferred to the local council who choose to restore it.

Walking from Rivington Pike to Winter Hill

From Rivington Pike, Winter Hill looked so inviting, so we made the decision to attempt crossing the moorland to get there, despite the level of snow underfoot.

Taking the path leading down the back (north east) of Rivington Pike, the gate providing access to the moorland was clear to see against the white snow. From the elevated position, dips and faint tracks in the snow leading to the telecommunications mast were also clear.

For a good way beyond the gate, the going was good. We seemed to be following a definite path. Reaching a bridge to cross a watercourse showed us we were clearly on track.

However, once a short distance beyond, the route became less obvious and tracks largely disappeared. It was a case of just picking our way across – gingerly I might add!

Dad led the way and used his walking poles to test the ground ahead of stepping. This was helpful, but not completely infallible I realised once I’d sunk one foot a fair way down into a bog.

We also had to keep stopping to extricate Roger from the snowballs that continuously formed and congealed on his paws and legs. He did so well considering how deep the snow was, bless him!

We got approximately half way across to the telecommunications tower when we saw the cloud starting to billow up behind us. Up until this point it had remained well clear of Rivington and the cloud base was well below our level.

It wasn’t long before the misty cloud shrouded and enveloped Rivington Pike and chased us across the moor.

We went from THIS…

…to THIS…

…In the space of 5 MINUTES!

We ploughed on, sticking as best possible to the same forward line. Luckily, the mast outline kept creeping into view through the fog, helpfully keeping our direction in check. It was a very surreal experience.

Winter Hill

When we finally made it to the tarmacked surface at the top of Winter Hill, (still in cloud) I breathed a huge sigh of relief. It was a great feeling but unfortunately slightly anti-climactic as there was no view to be seen. It was actually rather eerie, as well as being very quiet, so it made me feel a little uneasy.

Winter Hill stands at 1496 ft (456 m) high and the huge landmark TV transmitter broadcasts digital terrestrial TV signals across the north west of England.

The first mast was erected in 1956, but the current one replaced the original 10 years later. The mast is 1015.4 ft (309.5 m) tall and is amongst the tallest structures in the UK. Many other smaller telecommunications masts have been positioned nearby to serve the various mobile phone networks and emergency services.

Winter Hill has also seen a mass trespass, murder and an aeroplane disaster in its history. You can read more about these events on Winter Hill here.

I had read previously that the trig point cairn marking the top of Winter Hill was a short way off the road past most of the other masts to the north, and not in the most obvious of places, so we had no hope of trying to find it in the current weather conditions.

Walking from Winter Hill to Two Lads

Instead, we set off down the road to the south, where we intended to pick up a path heading back to the west that would lead us back to the access road that Pigeon Tower was on. Just off this route was a curious point on the map called Two Lads with two black dots next to it.

We made the assumption that we would be looking for something that resembled a pair of cairns to mark the highest land in the area. With visibility at an all-time low, we think we turned off at the right point and although we umm-d and ahh-d a little over which direction Two Lads was actually in, using compass readings and map contour lines, we amazingly stumbled (literally) across these two stone constructions.

This had to be the Two Lads! I read at a later date that there are actually three cairns here, so why it is named ‘Two’ Lads, I’m not sure.

As you can see from the photo, we were in a complete ‘white-out’ and with no reference points in the landscape and therefore nothing to head towards, we had to leave Two Lads purely on compass bearings. Cue the quick recap of tuition in compass reading from my Dad. It’s something he’s shown me how to do hundreds of times but it just doesn’t stay in my memory.

Two Lads to Rivington Gardens

Amazingly we got down perfectly fine and picked up more visibility the lower we got. We re-joined the road turning right back towards the Pigeon Tower.

Finally, we could see a view out to the west of Rivington Reservoir, lit by a beautiful glow of diffused orange light through the clouds.

After rounding the left hand, then right hand bends in the road, passing the main path leading back up to Rivington Pike, we took the next (wide) track on the left leading down into the remains of Rivington Terraced Gardens.

Today was unfortunately not the day to go exploring the maze of sloped paths in and around the terraces, where there are a couple of lakes, rock gardens, grottos, caves and building remains. Thomas Mawson’s gardens would have to wait for another trip when not accompanied with ice and snow.

7 Arch Bridge at Rivington

On this route back to the car park, you do however pass under the 7 Arch Bridge, one of the main landmarks of Rivington Terraced Gardens and one you should not miss on any walking route up Rivington Pike and Winter Hill.

The bridge was commissioned by Lord Leverhulme after he saw a similar structure on his travels around Africa. It was built to provide access to the terraced gardens and summer houses without having to descend into the hollow which now contains the lane below.

It’s a pretty impressive structure and it’s great to see that it still exists. You can check out all the other ruins at Rivington Gardens here. I’ll certainly be returning in the summertime to see them.

I have to say I was very glad to see the car again at the end of the lane as I was really starting to feel the cold as the temperature had dropped.

But WOW – what a fantastic walk Rivington Pike and Winter Hill turned out to be! Quite an experience and not one I’m likely to forget in a hurry.

If you’d like to see some images of Rivington Pike and Winter Hill without all the snow, check out ‘Mart in the Hills’ walking blog. He details a slightly different route but covers all the areas and features that I do. His photos without any snow on make the landscape look so different. I really feel blessed to have seen Rivington Pike and Winter Hill in such wonderful snow.

Get in Touch!

So how about you? Would you walk up Rivington Pike and Winter Hill in the snow? Do you have any particularly cool snowy walk memories? Drop me a line in the comments below and let me know, I’d love to hear from you.

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Further Walks in the North West:

An equally snowy day visiting Pennington Flash in Greater Manchester

A short but steep walk up to The Halo sculpture in Haslingden, Lancashire

Discovering the Dream sculpture on a walk in Merseyside

Chasing waterfalls in Ingleton, North Yorkshire on a 4.5 mile circular waterfall trail.

Follow a nature and sculpture trail at Risley Moss or escape to Wigg Island, both in Cheshire.

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