THE Pendle Way will celebrate its 30th birthday this weekend.

The celebrations will also launch this year’s Walking Festival, which will take place on Saturday and Sunday.

The Festival, now in its 14th year, welcomes people of all ages including families thanks to a range of walks from the easy to the challenging.

Pendle Mayor Cllr David Whalley will launch the festival with the start of the first three walks which set off at 10.30am on Saturday.

Cllr Eileen Ansar, Pendle Council’s leader for tourism, said: “Pendle in Lancashire will be celebrating 30 glorious years of The Pendle Way at the launch of this year’s Walking Festival.

“We are also celebrating an unusual 400th anniversary, with walks which uncover the story of Jonas Moore who was born in Pendle in 1617.”

A 17th century mathematician, Sir Jonas Moore was known as ‘the father of time’ for his part in establishing the Royal Observatory at Greenwich and Greenwich Mean Time.

Guided walks are included in the programme of 61 walks, including the challenge of doing the whole of the Pendle way (45 miles) over four days.

Visit www.visitpendle.com for the full programme.