Hike File

Distance: 30 km – Climb: less than 50 metres – Time: 7.5 hours (excluding breaks)

Start:  " The White Lion " – Earby – GridRef: SD 926497

Finish:  "The White Lion" – Clitheroe – GridRef: SD743419

Going: This is a long walk, but the going is very easy. You start at 130m altitude and descending steadily to 80m. You leave the moorland Pennine Way behind at Earby and cross rolling farmland for about 12 km. Then you follow the banks of the Ribble down to Clitheroe.

Waymarking: Until you join the Ribble Way there are few signposts. Following field paths requires some navigation skills and the 1: 25 000 Outdoor Leisure 21 is highly recommended. The Ribble Way is well waymarked from Gisburn down to Clitheroe.

Maps:

• Outdoor Leisure 21 (South Pennines) 1:25 000 scale – Latest addition (printed on both sides) is essential as this now extends to overlap Pathfinder 669

• Pathfinder 669 (Clitheroe & Chipping) 1:25 000 scale

Books:

• The Ribble Way – A 70 Mile Walk – by Gladys Sellers -Cicerone Press – ISBN 0902 363 697-
  My edition of this is dated 1985 and the route has been changed in places by the Lancashire Planning Office so try also to get the following booklet.
• The Ribble Way – by Ian Goldthorp – for Lancashire County Council and Yorkshire dales National Park
  Obtain from – County Planning Office, Eastcliffe, County Office, PO Box 160, Preston PR1 3EX
  Telephone: 01772 263920

Earby to Leeds – Liverpool Canal – 3.5 km

Start:  " The White Lion " – Earby – GridRef: SD 926497

Walk into the centre of town, making for the four ways junction by the Post Office. Turn right and walk 100 m up the main road towards Skipton. Cross the road and take the track that goes under a bridge that once carried a railway line. Head due west toward Kay Field Farm, about 1 km off.

  2 km Kay Field Farm

Follow the track going west for 500m to a junction with a small lane and turn right. Follow this lane for about 200 m then take the path bearing NW towards the outskirts of Barnoldswick and the bridge over the Leeds – Liverpool Canal

Leeds – Liverpool Canal to Horton – 7 km

3.5 km Bridge over Canal

Cross the bridge and follow the towpath north, past several mills and factories of Barnoldswick, counting the bridges as you go. At the fourth bridge, including the one where you joined the canal, get off the tow path.

5 km Fourth bridge

Turn left, take the lane going east for about 100m, past a large building. Here a footpath heads off NW across the fields.

After 800m a small footbridge takes you over Stock Beck. Go east for about 500m to the top of a small rise to a junction with another path going north. This descends in only 300 m to another bridge crossing the beck. Cross the bridge and head NW to a small hamlet called Stock.

8 km Stock

At the lane through Stock, turn left for about 70 metres and take the path going NW roughly parallel with the beck. In 1500 m you will reach Monk Bridge, where the A59 crosses the beck.

Attention: The A59 is a very busy road where drivers show little regard for walkers.

9.5 km Monks Bridge

By the bridge is the "Coronation Arms" 

Follow the lane north for 1 km into Horton Hamlet.

Horton to Gisburn Bridge – 4.5 km

10.5 km Horton

After the village green, the main lane turns left and heads west for about 1 km. Just after a right-hand bend a track on the left goes west to Painley farm. Take this track and at the farm carry on along the path going west, not south west.

700 metres after the farm you should go under a railway line and emerge just 300 metres from the A682.

  13.5 km A682

Cross the road and almost opposite is a public right of way leading into Gisburn Park. This track heads off west for about 300 then turns left and descend to a bridge over Stock Beck.

Go straight on across the cross roads and be sure to keep to the right of way around the Hall. The tracks eventually descends to Gisburn Bridge on the River Ribble.

Gisburn Bridge to Sawley – 7 km

15 km Gisburn Bridge

At the bridge turn left and go up the slope toward Gisburn for 500m as far as Coppy House.

• If you were to continue a further 1000m up this road you would come to the small town of Gisburn. Here you would find "New Inn"  Tel: 01200 54264

15.5 km Coppy House

Look carefully on the left side of the road and you will see the Ribble Way sign pointing right across the road at what looks like a private road to Coppy House. Take this road for about 300 m towards some houses. Follow the signs carefully and you will loop round the left of the buildings, through a farmyard and across a steep sided little clough.

The path winds past Wheatley Farm; climbs a little towards the railway line; then descends to the river bank at Steep Wood. 500m after descending to the river you reach the weir opposite Fooden Gill.

18 km weir 

•  The river bank overlooking the weir makes an ideal resting place. The wooded banks on this stretch are very beautiful, especially in spring when flowers abound. Look out for bluebells, ramsons, cowslips, primrose, early purple orchids.

Keep to the well signed path along the river and you will pass through the delightful Cold Park Wood, pass below Rainsber Scar and down to Sawley lodge. At the lodge you join a metalled track into Sawley

Sawley to Clitheroe – 8 km

22 km Sawley

•  "The Spread Eagle" Sawley Tel: 01200 41202
•  Sawley Abbey The Cistercian Abbey founded in 1147, can be visited free of charge. Most of the outer walls remain and the site has been excavated to give an idea of the overall layout.

Follow the river road past the "Spread Eagle" and cross the picturesque stone bridge. Over the bridge, on the left hand side, a small stile lets you onto a short riverside path. After 300 metres, going west, you rejoin the road which you follow for a further 1 km as far as Foxley Bank.

23.5 km Foxley Bank

Just after Foxley Bank House, a stile on the left allows you to cross the fields to the south and regain the river bank. This you follow to Grindleton Bridge.

26 km Grindleton Bridge

Turn left and cross the bridge to the south. The road leads back SE for 300 metres before you take a stile on the right. This takes you along the rim of a small ridge that boarders Salthill Quarry. This brings you back down onto the river bank which you follow to Bradford Bridge.

28 km Bradford Bridge

Keep to the south bank for 1.5 km to Municipal Park at Brungerly Bridge.

29.5 km Brungerly Bridge

Turn left and follow the road into Clitheroe. Take the second left after the railway bridge and you enter the market place.

Finish: 30 km  "The White Lion" – Market Place, Clitheroe – GridRef: SD743419