Walking


Your selection of self guided walks

Walks with Taste

If you like to combine a great walk with a fantastic food experience why not choose one of our popular ‘Walks with Taste’ a selection of self guided circular walks, each based from one of Ribble Valley’s amazing hostelries, when you can return after your walk for a well-earned drink, lunch or dinner. Visit Walks with Taste to view the whole set

 

Walking Maps – Full Description

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Walking with Witches

Pendle HillPendle Hill rises majestically above an ancient hunting ground, once the home of wolves and wild boar, a wild and mysterious place. Beneath the hill lie pretty villages which tell a story of intrigue and witchcraft nearly 400 years old.

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The Tolkien Trail

Stonyhurst College

The earliest building at Stonyhurst was probably built in the 13th century, and added to during the 14th and 15th centuries. Around 1590, Richard Shireburn embarked on the creation of a new Elizabethan house, which wasn’t completed for a further 250 years.

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Stocks Reservoir Circular Walk

Stocks reservoir

Stocks reservoir was opened by HRH The Prince George on July 5th 1932. Annual rainfall here is about 1500mm (5 feet) and when full the reservoir covers an area of about 192 hectares, the equivalent of about 500 football pitches. After treatment, the water from Stocks goes mainly to the Fylde area of Lancashire.

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Slaidburn to Dunsop Bridge

Dunsop BridgeThis walk follows the Hodder Valley downstream from Slaidburn to Dunsop Bridge. After following the river as far as Newton, the route then cuts over a hillside through field paths for fine views across the Hodder Valley towards the Newton fells and the Dunsop Valley.

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Longridge Heritage Trails

Longridge CentreFollowing the arrival of the railway, Longridge boomed. Between 1850 and 1874, four coal-powered cotton weaving mills were built along the railway line. This was accompanied by an influx of workers. Houses were built for them in the Stonebridge area, in Berry Lane and in the streets built off it. The Churches, Berry Lane School and the Co-op building were all completed by 1890. Longridge continued to grow during the first half of the 20th century.

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Journey through the Centre of the Kingdom - Section 6 to 8

Family sat below the castleWhitewell to Chipping, Chipping to Bashall Eaves then Bashall Eaves to Clitheroe

The walk takes us from the former hunting grounds of Whitewell to the old market town of Chipping, passing a disused lime kiln and ancient forest boundaries.

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Journey through the Centre of the Kingdom - Sections 3 to 5

SlaidburnBolton-by-Bowland to Slaidburn, Slaidburn to Dunsop Bridge then Dunsop Bridge to Whitewell

Leaving the beautiful church of St Peter and St Paul in Bolton-by-Bowland, we pass through peaceful moorland and the home of a 16th century rebel, to the picturesque village of Slaidburn.

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Journey through the Centre of the Kingdom - Sections 1 and 2

Hudson's Ice Cream Chatburn

Clitheroe to Chatburn then Chatburn to Bolton-by-Bowland

Starting at the site of a Civil War rebellion, this route passes through one of the oldest villages in Lancashire and takes us, via an ancient highway, past an ancient rabbit breeding ground.

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Gisburn Forest to Stocks Reservoir

Stocks reservoirThe walk starts in the hamlet of Tosside, which straddles the Lancashire/Yorkshire border on a hillside watershed.The route takes the Forestry Commission tracks through Gisburn Forest, before descending to Stocks Reservoir and dropping down to the River Hodder and Slaidburn village.

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Dunsop Bridge to Chipping

Dunsop Bridge

The walk enters the approach to the Trough of Bowland before climbing above the Hodder Valley to follow a route mid way between the valley and the ridge of the Bowland fells above. The final stretch below Wolf Fell is on the edge of moorland which descends through a narrow valley and fields into the village of Chipping.

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Downham Circular Walk 3

Pendle HillAt 557 metres above sea level Pendle Hill does not quite qualify for ‘mountain’ status but nevertheless deserves to be treated with respect
and normal sensible precautions should be taken before attempting the walk. The summit of Pendle is a very exposed place and is invariably much colder and often wetter than the starting part of the walk.

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Downham Circular Walk 2

Downham VillageAlong the course of the walk you will pass Twiston Mill. This was originally a corn mill for the parish but it was converted to a cotton mill in the early 1800s. The mill was owned by the Assheton family, with William Assheton constructing the upper dam to create the reservoir in 1851. Whilst producing cotton the mill employed twenty men, seven women and twenty-two children.

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Downham Circular Walk 1

Downham VillageThe village of Downham has hardly changed over the past two centuries. It boasts Elizabethan weavers’ cottages of fine honey-coloured gritstone. Of special interest are the stone carved window frames and the attractive overhanging stone slab porches. The traditional appearance of the village owes itself to the work of the manorial family of Downham, the Asshetons.

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Clitheroe Walks 4

This walk leads from the Castle Grounds to Standen Hey Community Woodland.

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Clitheroe Walks 3

This walk leads from Edisford Bridge to Little Mitton.

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Clitheroe Walks 2

West Bradford BridgeThis walk leads from Brungerley Bridge to Grindleton Bridge via West Bradford bridge.

 

Copyright - Ribble Valley Borough Council 2023.