Walking in Lancashire. Mary Welsh
your right and then another on your left, carry on in the direction of the railway station and, just before you reach it, turn right in the direction of Leighton Moss visitor centre, which you may wish to visit.
Signpost at the end of ‘the bund’
Then continue a short way along the lane and take a footpath on the right which continues parallel with the road, allowing you to avoid the traffic until you eventually have to rejoin the road. A few steps along turn right to walk the wide causeway across the moss. Continue ahead to pass Grisedale farm on the left and follow the metalled road as it climbs easily to reach Leighton Hall. At the signboard bear left to climb uphill, keeping to the right of a small plantation, and head on up to the seats on the skyline.
Turn right to follow a good path through trees to a minor road. Go right and descend for about 1.6km (nearly 1 mile) to take a bridleway on the right, signed Crag Road. After a very short but steep climb, take the stile on the left into the nature reserve once more and follow the clear path that goes on and on through the trees. Pass through a stile in the wall and continue, watching out for the boulder in the path where the way drops left towards the road. Just before this, turn right along the path taken earlier to return to the car park.
WALK 3
Arkholme and Gressingham
| Start/Finish | Arkholme |
| Distance | 11.4km (7 miles) |
| Time | 3½ hours |
| Terrain | Easy walking all the way, but take care after rain on slippery tree roots across woodland paths |
| Maps | OS Explorer OL7 and OL41 |
To see a charming part of Lancashire, visit the quiet village of Arkholme and walk through the delightful surrounding countryside. Here rolling pastures support cattle and innumerable sheep, and deciduous woodlands resound with birdsong. The return is made along the side of the River Lune, which glides below silvery willows and dark alders and whose steep banks drop down to the waterside.
Many of the woods covering these banks are probably ancient, as they grow on land unlikely to have ever been cleared of trees, some of which may be hundreds of years old. The great age of the woods is shown by the wonderful variety of wildflower species they support. The display of bluebells and wild garlic in spring is particularly attractive.
Park behind the village hall in Arkholme, grid ref 583722. This lies on the south side of the Kirkby Lonsdale road, the B6254, just northeast of the crossroads in the centre of the picturesque village. Rejoin the B6254, which you cross and then walk back to the crossroads. Go on ahead along the B6254 and take the second signposted footpath on the right, which has a tiny stile, just before attractive Bainsbeck House. Walk ahead through a waymarked gate and then a fence, keeping to the right of the outbuildings. Bear slightly left across the pasture to go through a gate at the end of a hedge, and then continue ahead beside a ditch choked with the thrusting leaves of angelica.
At the next waymark cross a footbridge over a stream, left, into a pasture. Strike up the centre of the gently rising ground to climb a stile over a fence and walk on, the fence to your right, towards the cottages at Locka Farm. Go through two gates to join a track and then walk left, passing between several dwellings to join a narrow lane. Turn left to walk the hedged way, Locka Lane, which is lined with flowers in summer, and pass Lower Locka Wood, where in early spring lofty beeches tower over vast carpets of snowdrops. At the T-junction cross to the other side of the B6254 and walk right, using the verge where possible. To your left, through a tracery of leaves, you can see Storrs Hall, a Gothic mansion built in 1848 for Francis Pearson, a Kirkby Lonsdale solicitor. It has a striking, turreted mock-pele tower and an ornate boundary wall.
Just beyond the imposing gates to the hall, pass through a small green gate on your left signposted ‘Gressingham one mile’. Walk the fenced grassy track to a stile leading to pastures. Beyond, head across the gracious parkland to a waymarked stile in the fence. Ignore the arrow directing you left and continue ahead in the same direction, crossing another pasture to a stile on the skyline beside a corner of the wood on your right. Here you might spot roe deer. Then walk diagonally across the pasture to the bottom left corner, where a signposted stile gives access onto a lane. Turn left to stroll along the pleasant tree-lined lane, but beware of vehicles where it becomes single track. When the road branches take the right fork between the cottages of Gressingham, where the church, the hall and pretty houses huddle round falls that are thick with ferns.
Cross the main road and take one step left to walk down a track between a house and a barn into a charming leafy hollow – this is where Gressingham Beck and High Dam Beck meet. Cross these two streams by a long, white-painted footbridge with a pretty fall beneath the second. Stride on to a lane and walk left to pass Far Barn, and then on to a signposted gated track on your right. This might be a good point at which to explore Gressingham before continuing on your walk. The church, St John Evangelist, was rebuilt in 1734, but look for the Norman doorway as well as box pews and a huge Gothic tomb-chest.
Return to the gated track that leads out of the village and take an awkward stile over a fence beyond stables. Here look left to see Hornby Castle in the distance. Go on beside the fence on your right to cross another (tricky) stile under a huge oak. Climb the sloping pasture ahead to take a similar stile in the top right corner. Then, with the hedge to your right, head down to take a stile to the right of a dwelling and continue along a short track to Lea Lane, where you turn left.
Climb the leafy lane to pass old Eskrigge Hall on the right side of the narrow way. Where the road turns sharp right, pause to enjoy another splendid view of Hornby Castle and its Eagle Tower before swinging right to walk along a tarmacked track. Beside the last house step left to continue along a hidden, sunken grassy track which passes between a hedge and a fence, and which can be wet after rain. Then climb a stile out of the track and into a pasture.
Head on, very slightly left but keeping to the right of two large sycamores, to take a waymarked stile with a signpost beyond. Ignore the track to the right and go ahead, the hedge to your left, over a pasture. Enjoy the quiet rolling countryside as you go, following the hedge as it winds a little. Watch out for a waymarked gate on the left that allows you to continue through a farm gate (a very old one at the time of writing) in the right corner and under an oak. Then bear half left, dropping down the slope to take a stile over the middle of a stretch of fencing. Continue, bearing right and keeping to the left of all the buildings until you reach a waymarked gate giving access to a track densely shadowed with trees. Turn left, pass The Snab and walk on a few steps to a signposted sharp-left turn, part of the Lune Valley Ramble, which gives access to a huge pasture beside the River Lune.
Bridge at Gressingham
Descend the track and bear right, skirting a large pool, to a stile near the bank of the wide river – and now begins the magnificent, well-waymarked upstream riverside walk. Just before the River Wenning empties its waters into the Lune, and at the right time of the year, you might spot a fly-fisherman casting for salmon. The way comes close to the foot of Sandbeds Lane, which you ignore, and carries on into shady deciduous woodland right beside the river – woodpeckers and jays can be found here. After passing through a small pasture the route then enters more woodland, which you leave by a footbridge. Head on across a large pasture and climb steps onto the road at the left end of Loyn Bridge. The bridge dates from 1684. Its single carriageway affords the only road crossing of the Lune between Crook of Lune and Kirkby Lonsdale.
Loyn Bridge
Cross the road and