Nature reserve

Chapel le Dale and Ingleborough environs

Moderate

8.0 miles | 12.9 km | 226 m Ascent | 9.2 Naismith miles | Kate Rowe
Last week’s walk to the Old Man of Coniston from Torver was a real treat, but it’s not a walk that you could decide to do whilst eating your breakfast and be back in Bentham by mid-afternoon.
So, this week we offer a more local walk: For those of us lucky enough to be based in Bentham it is easy to get to, and despite being on the slopes of both Ingleborough and Whernside is generally quiet and peaceful.
We visit a lovely church, see a well-known statue, walk under the most photographed railway viaduct in the UK, have lunch in a nature reserve, before passing close to Viking settlements, seeing some wonderful limestone pavement, and the entrance to a cave. There are great views of the hills all the way along, and you could even have an ice cream or a pub lunch halfway round.

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Glasson Dock and Lancaster Canal Spur

Easy

6.0 miles | 9.6 km | 67 m Ascent | 6.3 Naismith miles | Alison Kinder & Colin Stroud
The Lancaster Canal features in a number of Bentham Footpath Group Walks – not entirely surprising given that Bentham has a Lancaster postcode, and canals generally offer scenic walking opportunities. This time, we explore Glasson Dock and the Glasson Branch – one of the last parts of the UK canal network to be built, before the railways largely replaced water transport.
From convenient parking at Conder Green, we first head inland first through farms and up to the Lancaster Canal at Galgate. We then go south along the towpath until we get to the junction with the Glasson Arm, which we follow all the way down to Glasson Dock – one of the few places where our canal network connects to the sea.
The return from the Marina and Dock is via a disused railway line offering great views of the estuary, and there are several opportunities along the route to combine this easy and generally flat walk with pub lunches.

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Winster Valley

Moderate

8.3 miles | 13.3 km | 391 m Ascent | 10.2 Naismith miles | Kate Rowe
Spring is such an optimistic time of the year, and getting out and about on a walk with friends is a great way to experience it. So the Bentham Footpath Group have developed an informal habit of taking a walk each year that celebrates the season by picking a route that features the best of the new daffodils or bluebells.
So, here is a “daffodil walk”, and as all Wordsworth fans will appreciate, it really has to be in the Lake District to be authentic – which means of course that as well as the spring flowers we get great views of the fells, tranquil tarns and on this walk, links to Arthur Ransome.
Although our focus was the daffodils, this is a great walk at any time of the year. We rate it as “moderate” based on distance and elevation change but you should be aware that it can feel challenging under wetter conditions.

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Bouth

Challenging

9.8 miles | 15.8 km | 665 m Ascent | 12.1 Naismith miles | Susan Badley
Starting from a convenient and little-used layby on the A590 at Pool Foot, we head upstream to the village of Bouth. From there we enter Old Hall Woods and head over to Colton before taking a path North to Oxen Park.
We then pick up a woodland route over to Whitestock Hall before a short section on-road brings us to Hulleter. Excellent views across the Rusland Valley and Rusland Moss National Nature Reserve are enjoyed through this section of the walk.
At Hay Bridge we enter the nature reserve with its tranquil tarns, before heading over to Moss Wood. This track brings us back to Bouth, but rather than returning exactly as we started, we now turn right and head toward the woodland at Ashes Intake. We divert back to the causeway south of Bouth before retracing our steps back to the start

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Lancaster: City and Country

Easy

6.6 miles | 10.6 km | 319 m Ascent | 8.2 Naismith miles | Susan Badley
Walking from a city centre is unusual for The Bentham Footpath Group. This interesting walk starts in Lancaster city centre and takes the Lancaster Canal South to the Fairfield Nature Reserve, where we loop round the “Fauna”, “Flora” and community orchard areas to arrive back at the canal.
We then head through Aldcliffe to the Lune estuary and the Lancashire Coastal Way, before returning via Freemans Woods to the city centre.
Good views of the Priory and Castle end this refreshing walk.

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