Walking in Lancashire. Mary Welsh
to continue on the stiled way beside the river until a stile takes you left over a fence. Here, ignore the path setting off inland, and carry on above and parallel with the river. Follow the waymarks directing you up a steepish slope, and then along the path as it rises through Thrush Gill Wood before joining the riverside pastures again. Press on along the waymarked path, now with small islands between you and the main river.
The stiled way then moves away from the river and continues towards Arkholme. Go past a white house on the left and then through the kissing gate ahead. Beyond, follow the lane as it winds left and climbs to the village. To the right is a road leading to St John’s Chapel, standing within the bailey of a Norman motte and bailey which guarded the crossing over the river from the village of Melling. Later a ferry crossed the Lune and at low water you can still see the remains of the ferry steps.
Continue along the road, which is lined with houses bearing 17th- and 18th-century date plaques, pass the village shop and turn right to return to the car park.
WALK 4
Nether Burrow and Leck
| Start/Finish | Nether Burrow |
| Distance | 10.5km (6½ miles) |
| Time | 3–4 hours |
| Terrain | Easy walking all the way; some high stiles to be climbed |
| Maps | OS Explorer OL 2 |
The Highwayman Inn at Nether Burrow was once a hunting lodge for the Fenwick family of Burrow Hall – notice the fine coat of arms over the entrance. Standing opposite are the stables, now a private house, and next to them is the old laundry, similarly converted.
This is a most satisfactory walk, taking you through a quiet corner of Lancashire where, for nearly all the route, you are far from the noise and bustle of roads and towns.
Park in the car park of the Highwayman Inn, Nether Burrow, grid ref 614753, 4km (2½ miles) south of Kirkby Lonsdale. The landlord welcomes walkers and likes them to use the space to the south of the inn. From the parking area use one of the wide grass verges to walk north through the tiny village of Nether Burrow, and on for a short distance along the A683 to two-arched Burrow Bridge (constructed 1735) over Leck Beck. Turn right just before the bridge and descend the signposted wooden steps to the bank of the river. Climb the stile ahead and walk upstream as the hurrying water passes through alders, oaks and sycamores. The path moves diagonally right, out into a long pasture, coming beside a mixed plantation and then to Parkside Farm. Take the gate nearest to you, on the far right of the buildings, follow the track as it swings left beyond a barn and continue between outbuildings to take a waymarked gate into pasture.
Continue onwards, with a superb view of Ingleborough ahead, ignoring the gate on your right into a small pasture and going ahead to a gate onto Woodman Lane. Turn right and stroll along for a little over 1km (nearly ¾ mile) to where the lane turns sharp right. Here, turn left to walk a wide, signposted track in the direction of Cowdber Farm. Continue out into the pastures and then beside Cowdber Wood. Stride on past a dwelling and then the farm to pass through two metal gates. Go ahead for a few steps and through another gate into a pasture, and then through a further gate in the far left corner of the next one. Just beyond, look for an indistinct, slightly raised grassy ‘embankment’ running northwest. This is the foundation of a Roman road which would have been used by soldiers on their way to the fort sited on a promontory between Leck Beck and the River Lune.
Interested sheep on the Nether Burrow walk
Cross the little stream just beyond the gate and bear right to climb a gate with useful steps tucked into it. Continue on the same diagonal to a stile over a wire fence, and then to another stile over a second wire fence. Keep going to pass through a gate, beyond which you turn left and climb uphill through lovely quiet pastures, and then through a wide gap in the hedge. Go on to find a small gate where the wall and hedge project a little into the pasture. Once through the gate keep beside the hedge, now on your left, to climb stone stiles in the next two boundary walls. Then walk diagonally right to a gate that gives access to an easy-to-miss wide, walled track just beyond a barn on your right.
The Church of St Peter, Leck
Generally the grassy track is a joy to walk, although it does sometimes become overgrown with brambles. After passing through three gates, climb a stone step stile over the wall on the right and under a large oak. Walk beside the hedge to your left to an awkward gap stile, and continuing in the same direction climb a stile in each of the next two boundary walls (which enclose pastures). Stride ahead to a signposted gap stile to the A65, which you cross. Turn right and take the first left turn to walk along a narrow hedged lane leading towards the village of Leck. Turn right at the crossroads and then follow the road round to the right to come to the Church of St Peter. After a fire the church was rebuilt in 1912 to the original design of Paley and Austin (1878–9).
After a pause here to enjoy the fine parkland all around the church, and the churchyard itself, return along the lane. Where it winds left, take the gap stile in the wall on your right and walk ahead, keeping to the right of a barn. Continue to a stile giving onto a narrow track to the left of a cottage. Walk along this grassy track to the road and cross to a gap stile. Keep going until you come to the side of Leck Beck, where you wind left on the track and, at the gate into a pasture, drop right to walk nearer to the river. (Look for dippers and grey wagtails here.) Move up left from the riverside to walk beside the fenced field on your left and continue to a gap stile. Beyond, go on to pass below the viaduct then follow the path to a further gap stile onto the A65.
Cross the road with care, go through a very narrow gap stile (you may have to walk round it to left or right if it is too narrow) and turn right to walk over the bridge. Turn sharp left immediately to descend a grassy slope to the bank of Leck Beck. Continue along the path, enjoying the dancing Leck to your left, to join a metalled lane. After a short distance along this lane you go over the site of the Roman Road again, but this time there is no trace of it. Ignore a bridge and then a footbridge over the Leck, but before a cattle-grid take a stile on your right. Turn left and walk to the right of a fenced track to the right side of Low Gale. Beyond, move slightly right to climb a small ladderstile and then cross an unusual stone footbridge, with a squeeze stile at its right end, over a tiny tributary of the Leck. Use convenient stones to cross more of the stream – primroses grow here in early spring.
Climb the sloping pasture ahead, keeping beside a fence on your left, then descend to reach a copse on your right. Go on to a difficult-to-spot, awkward stile over the wall at the foot of the slope. Directly ahead stands imposing Burrow Hall, beneath which are believed to be the foundations of the Roman fort of Calacum. Continue ahead, and just before joining a farm track beside a wall, left, observe an unusual stile. Go through the gate by Leck Beck Barn and descend gently to the next gate. Beyond, go up the banking on the right to avoid a ford and continue through a small settlement to the A683. Turn left and walk with care along a short narrow stretch of the road, then use the verges to go over Burrow Bridge and on into the village to rejoin your car.
WALK 5
Kirkby Lonsdale and Whittington
| Start/Finish | Kirkby Lonsdale |
| Distance | 10.4km (6½ miles) |
| Time | 3–4 hours |
| Terrain | Easy walking all the way, except north of Sellet Mill where the path goes along the stream bed |
|
Maps
|