Pendle Hill Camping Trip 2026
- Chairman Dave
- 1 day ago
- 8 min read
After two very successful camping trips on previous years to famous UFO-related locations, Rendlesham Forest and Warminster, for 2026 BUFOG decided to go down a more mystical route. Pendle Hill in Lancashire is widely known as the setting for a number of witch trials back in 1612. The area is famous for paranormal goings on, and is very popular with ghost hunters. There have also been a number of UFO sightings in the vicinity of the hill, making it the perfect choice for our latest camping adventure!
On the afternoon of Friday 10th July, many of us set off from various locations around Birmingham, with others coming from further afield. My wife Tasha, friend Ron and I headed up from Solihull along the M6 motorway. The journey was scheduled to take around two and a half hours, although this turned out to be a massive under-estimation due to numerous heavy traffic jams, and even a pile up at one point.
It wasn’t long before something unusual, some would say extra-ordinary, occurred. It was an extremely warm and sunny day so we stopped off at a service station to grab a cold drink. The car park was quite sizeable and there were plenty of available spaces. However I didn’t drive into the first one I saw, I drove around a bit before finally choosing a space. I parked up and the three of us got out of the vehicle and stretched our legs. I turned around and UFO investigator Alan Foster, who was attending the camping trip, was standing right in front of me! We were all pretty surprised by the situation. After chatting for a brief moment, campers Paul and Lauren also appeared in their car! It was as if we’d been drawn together by mysterious forces outside of our understanding. Either that or it was all just one big coincidence, you decide!
After the remainder of the extensive journey we finally arrived at our destination, Shay Gate Farm campsite on the outskirts of Colne. The site was very open with huge areas of grass available, and a wonderful view of the surrounding area. We chose our pitch alongside other attendees who’d beaten us to it, or, in the case of Lawrence and Nicola, had arrived the evening before.
We got our tents sorted out, then Ron handed out some surprise individually named lanyards for everyone! Due to our late arrival it wasn’t long before we had to set off to Colne for a pre-booked meal at the Morris Dancers pub.
The meal gave us all a chance to settle down and properly socialise. Most of the camping trip attendees were present, meaning there were over twenty of us! We commandeered the corner of the bar spread out across numerous tables. The food was excellent and the staff very accommodating.
After the meal we returned to the campsite and got our fire pit started (a modified beer keg themed on the folk-punk band The Levellers).
We then formed a large circle around it on camp chairs. The BUFOG dogs Lily and Amber showed off their adorable witch costumes.
It was now time for our next planned activity – a drumming circle! A number of us had brought along many different types of drums and percussion instruments for everyone to have a go on.
Guy led the circle with his excellent didgeridoo and drum playing abilities, and the rest of us kept the rhythm going. I’d say we did an admirable job considering many of us were not regular drummers.
As the light began to fade in the sky, we settled down for some relaxed chats about UFOs, the paranormal and other fascinating topics. It was a really mild and still evening, very pleasant indeed.
There was barely a cloud in the sky, and after the sun had fully set we got a great view of the stars, leading to an impromptu campsite sky watch. I got my laser pointer out which I used to point out various satellites crossing the sky. At our "base of operations" nothing out of the ordinary was spotted, but Paul and Lauren informed us they had seen a white point of light perform numerous sudden changes in direction from the outskirts of the camp site.
We eventually settled down around 12:30am. The following morning the weather was still extremely pleasant, absolutely perfect for our plans. After fully waking up and eating some breakfast, Tasha and I donned our pointy hats and everyone gathered at “the hanging post” for a group shot.
We then headed off on a short drive to Barley, the village closest to Pendle Hill. After having to immediately U-turn due to a sat nav malfunction, the remainder of the drive went smoothly. After arrival in Barley a number of attendees seized the opportunity to grab food and ice creams at The Cabin, a lovely little café situated at the edge of the car park.
Richard clearly won the best dressed competition with his wonderful UFOs and Greys holiday shirt!
Most of us then set off on our first activity of the day, a walk around the Pendle sculpture trail situated at Aitken Wood, just to the North of Barley.
Unfortunately, there is no car park at the entrance to the wood itself, so our first task was to actually hike to reach it along a gradually sloping road.
There was not much shade from the bright sunlight, but it was extremely picturesque, with some sheep-filled farmer’s fields, a reservoir, and the impressive sight of Pendle Hill in the distance to the West.
Arriving at the wood we posed for another group shot before discovering that there was an even steeper slope ahead of us!
Luckily at the top of this things flattened out and became easier to explore. There was a trail through the woods interspersed with loads of superb wood, stone and metal sculptures. Around every corner new sights awaited us, including a collection of mystical beasties, fascinating art pieces, animal plaques, and sculptures themed on the Pendle witches.
Some of our favourites included a sneaky little goblin, a superbly ornate woodland throne, a unicorn and a painted carving of a wood nymph.
The strangest thing we came across while exploring was a very odd brown-coloured two legged monstrosities with the head of a cherub. Truly the stuff of nightmares (or extremely odd dreams at the very least).
After exploring the woods and managing to find our way out in one piece we headed back down the slope to Barley, and met up with those who had decided to skip the walk. It was then time for us to rest our weary legs and grab some lunch at The Cabin.
Apart from a few straddlers who decided to grab some drinks at the Pendle Inn, the most famous bar in the vicinity of the hill, we then headed off to the nearby village of Roughlee. We parked up near to a metal statue of one of the most well-known individuals accused of witchcraft, a lady known as Alice Nutter.
Tasha then gave a fascinating short talk on the witch trials, going over what took place and the reasons behind the accusations centuries ago.
We then got back on the road and drove to Barrowford with the intention of visiting the Pendle Heritage Centre.
Unfortunately, due to the FIFA World Cup Quarter Finals on later in the day they had closed the museum early.
A little disappointed, we instead headed for the nearby Memorial Park. We were soon cheered up by the sight of some ducklings and baby coots swimming near the edge of the lake.
With not much else to check out in the vicinity, and the looming car park closure time of 4pm getting ever closer, we returned to Barley to meet up with the others at the Pendle Inn.
As we were back sooner than expected there was plenty of time for a drink and chat before dinner.
Guy and Chris serenaded the other pub visitors in the beer garden on didgeridoo and handpan! (I think they enjoyed it)
We were then led through to a large conservatory at the rear of the pub for our second pre-booked meal of the trip. It was a very nice room, but also extremely warm due to the fact that the roof was largely made out of glass. Once again the food was great quality, although I kind of wished I hadn’t ordered a dessert after seeing the size of the main course.
Amanda dished out some lovely Pendle Hill Camping Trip key rings she and Rachel had got specially made.
Tasha also gave her witch trials talk again for those who had missed it earlier in the day.
With dinner out of the way it was time for our final planned activity of the trip. No BUFOG camping trip would be complete without at least one official sky watch, and there was only one logical place where this sky watch should take place!
I’d originally planned for us to climb to the summit of Pendle Hill for the watch, in a similar way to how we’d ended up on Clay Hill in Wiltshire the previous year. However, after finding out about the scope of the hill I realised that for many of us this would not be feasible. Pendle Hill is a daunting 1827 feet high. From the Eastern side it has a couple of main paths to the summit – a winding snake-like path, and then a steeper V-shaped path made out of stone steps.
The climb was braved by ten of us, with some opting to go partially up the winding path, and others heading up the steeper path right to the top. We headed along the path which led to the foot of the hill before before making our choice.
Guy, Ron, Patrick, Chris and Lauren opted for the path to the summit. I accompanied Tasha, Alan, Sunrise and Paul to a roughly level area near one of the turns in the path just under half way up.
We set up our chairs and admired the surroundings for a while.
The sky was extremely clear with very little cloud. No aircraft, neither human-made or otherwise, could be made out, but the view was superb.
I went over a number of UFO sightings which had occurred in the vicinity over the years. Although Pendle Hill is not known as a hot spot, several publicised historical incidents have occurred between 1951 and 2013.
After a while we saw the others appear over the top of the hill and slowly make their way down to us.
They explained that it had been very blustery at the summit, but the views were incredible.
As the first signs of sunset appeared in the sky we decided to make a move to ensure that everyone got down safely.
While no UFOs were seen, we did have this mysterious sighting of a levitating being while on the hill….
Apart from the moment where I stepped too close to a stinging nettle sticking out from a stile we had to pass through, we made it down to the road without incident. We struck a victory pose, then made our way back to Colne.
Arriving back at the campsite we got the chairs back out for some banter, but it was windier than the first night, with less stars visible in the sky, so after a while decided to call it a night.
Just before heading back to our tents Ron produced an LED-lit Frisbee he’d brought along. It wasn’t still enough to properly have a game, but he threw it into the air a few times just to see how it would look on camera. As you can see from the below photos, the results were quite striking!
As we neared our tents we saw fireworks going off in the distance and realised that England must have won the match. A satisfying end to an absolutely superb day!
On the return journey to Birmingham synchronicity struck a second time. We pulled in at the services near Stoke-On-Trent, once again to quench our thirst. Just like on the way up, we bumped into fellow campers, this time Chris and Kate, who were there for the same reason as us.
Just like our previous camping trips it was an excellent weekend, and I’m happy so many of our regular meeting attendees, and others who found out about it via other means, turned up for it. Thanks all for making it such a spell-binding time!
Copyright Dave Hodrien 2026
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