Skylarks, sunshine and solidarity on Winter Hill, Lancashire

From the first mass trespass to mass communications, the West Pennine Moors have always brought northerners together

If the devil had been a Lancastrian, he’d have taken Jesus up Winter Hill and said: worship me and all that thou sees before thee shall be thine.

Because the view really is extraordinary, taking in swathes of the north-west, from the expanse of the flat coastal plain to the landmarks at its outermost edges, including Blackpool Tower, Fiddlers Ferry power station, Liverpool docks and the Ribble estuary. Down below is Bolton Wanderers’ stadium, the pride and joy of the town the government advised us was no-go and no-exit in late May – advice it later retracted.