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 go through two stiles 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
