Walking

Bowland Knotts

Moderate

7.9 miles | 12.8 km | 401 m Ascent | 9.9 Naismith miles | Mary Pickstone & Valerie Eccles
Living in Bentham gives us easy access to three of the great walking areas; The Lake District, the Yorkshire Dales and the Forest of Bowland. Each have their own distinct character, yet only the first two are really well known. Perhaps that is the great attraction of the Forest of Bowland though – the opportunity to walk in solitude in truly stunning surroundings without feeling like you are on a tourist trail.
But is it empty because it’s dull? We think not, and this walk proves it. Even the drive to the start at the Cross of Greet Bridge is a treat – we then add views over to Stocks reservoir and Gisburn Forest, and after the Bowland Knotts themselves we return with great views of Giggleswick Scar and Ingleborough. On the way we see lots of bilberries, cranberries, and even a few carnivorous sundew plants.

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Pinhaw Beacon – Elslack

Easy

6.9 miles | 11.0 km | 322 m Ascent | 8.5 Naismith miles | Glyn Barnes
Our group typically walks once a week, so presenting fresh new walks to the group is a never ending challenge, and we owe our walk leaders huge respect for the hard work behind all this.
But how do our walk leaders generate a new walk? Some are based on walks in books, some come from websites similar to our own, and some will be re-runs and variations on past walks. This walk showcases an entirely new approach though: Our walk leader looked at the Big Picture page on our website and picked a spot where there appeared to be no existing walks, then created a route from the OS map that filled the gap.
So was this area un-walked because it’s dull and unattractive or was this new approach an act of genius. Read on . . .

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Low Tatham church to Melling and back

Easy

3.5 miles | 5.7 km | 151 m Ascent | 4.3 Naismith miles | Mary Taylor
Most of the walks we do are around 7 miles in length. They are all great walks but given that we tend to average around 2mph when we factor in time for pausing to enjoy the view, we need to set aside at least four hours to enjoy them.
So that leaves a gap for the evening walk where we have a couple of free hours and want to fill them with something more challenging than a stroll around the village or watching another failed politician eating unhygienic bits of a kangaroo in the jungle.
This excellent shorter walk fits the bill perfectly: It’s easy and short enough to undertake in the evening, and close enough to home to make a last minute decision viable.
Does short and easy inevitably mean dull though? No, of course, not – you can rely on our expert walk creators to pull together a route that includes great views, interesting landscapes, a rare (for here) taste of arable farming, and some local history, all with easy parking and even a well rated pub close to the end.

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Downham Circular

Easy

7.3 miles | 11.8 km | 269 m Ascent | 8.7 Naismith miles | Kate Rowe / Kate Butcher
It seems like a while since we visited the Forest of Bowland, and a quick check on the website confirms that it was on April 15th that we walked at Newton; so it’s a nice to renew our acquaintance with this quieter area.
This time we base our walk at Downham, a lovely village just outside Clitheroe. It’s one of the traditional starting points for a walk up Pendle Hill. We have the famous hill looming above us for much of the route, but we don’t climb it. Instead, we follow beck-side paths up to Twiston, and then loop back via Twiston Mill, and Downham Mill using the Lancashire Way path. A quick visit to the lovely Swanside packhorse bridge makes a great lunch stop before we head over to Chatburn crossing the A59, and a Roman road to skirt round Worsaw Hill, known for burial mounds and fossils, before returning to Downham for ice cream.

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Latterbarrow and Claife Heights from Far Sawrey

Moderate

8.7 miles | 14.0 km | 489 m Ascent | 11.1 Naismith miles | Terri Kwiecinska
This walk to Latterbarrow and Claife Heights – to the west of Windermere – is at the far end of our range, which we tend to think of as within one hour of driving time. Add a longer than average walk to that, and we have a full day to manage – hence our early start.
Was this extra effort worthwhile? Absolutely . . . the walking to the west side of the lake is quieter and more tranquil than to the east, and the views are just as good. Add secluded tarns, links to Beatrix Potter, woodland paths, fungi, lots of wildlife, a great view from the peak of Latterbarrow, Basecamp, the enchanting Scab Moss, a lovely lakeside track, and finally a welcoming pub at the end make this a walk to savour.

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Silverdale and Arnside

Easy

5.2 miles | 8.3 km | 228 m Ascent | 6.3 Naismith miles | Alison Kinder & Colin Stroud
Having enjoyed a run of five walks over 12km and therefore graded as “moderate”, we return to Silverdale and Arnside, a favourite area of the group, for an easier walk.
Easy is not the same as dull though, and this walk manages to pack a lot into quite a comfortable distance: Great views of Morecambe Bay and the Kent estuary, sandy beaches, coves and caves, Heathwaite Woods, an area particularly known for orchids and other wild flowers within the Arnside and Silverdale National Landscape, the intriguing stunted trees of Arnside Knott, a rare fragment of the once common temperate rainforest that covered much of western Britain, and an ancient pele tower.

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Middleham Circular

Moderate

7.8 miles | 12.5 km | 298 m Ascent | 9.3 Naismith miles | Glyn Barnes
We enjoyed an excellent walk from Horsehouse to Carlton in Coverdale in March 2025, noting how quiet this lovely dale is in comparison to many of the others we have walked. That first impression is confirmed by this return visit where we explore the banks of the river Cover at Middleham, slightly downstream of our last visit – quite close in fact to the point where Coverdale and Wensleydale meet. Middleham claims to be the smallest town in Yorkshire, but it is a giant in the world of horse racing with its 15 professional stables earning it the nickname ‘The Newmarket of the North’.
As well as providing a particularly lovely riverside walk, this route, starting in Middleham, gives us much else of interest – Splendid Georgian architecture, all the horse racing infrastructure around the town, two (or perhaps 3) castles, a particularly lovely church and many good options for refreshment in the town centre. All with ample parking and well maintained toilets. Perfect.

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Whernside from Ribblehead

Moderate

8.2 miles | 13.2 km | 516 m Ascent | 10.8 Naismith miles | Alison Kinder & Colin Stroud
The Yorkshire Three Peaks are a marketing triumph, and perhaps something of a distraction: They are indeed in the Yorkshire Dales, and there is no doubt that each of the three make a great walk in their own right. Whether they are best combined and walked as gruelling challenge is more open to question.
Within the group we do have some super-fit heroic types who tackle all three at pace to raise money for charity, but they were unavailable on the day, so we sent the B* team to walk Whernside, taking as long as it takes, with plenty of stops to enjoy the views and have a chat. Add a glorious sunny day, and this is Dales walking as it should be. [* Bentham]

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Nidderdale moors and mines

Moderate

8.0 miles | 12.8 km | 396 m Ascent | 9.9 Naismith miles | Sandra Craggs
Nidderdale is a dale, and it’s in Yorkshire – so it must be in the Yorkshire Dales, right?
No. Nidderdale is one of the 46 National Landscapes, which until recently were simply called Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs). Legally the designation AONB still applies, but the name National Landscape is being applied across all of them to highlight the national importance of these special places.
Whatever name we use, Nidderdale is well worth visiting, and offers some great walking. This route combines England’s highest artwork, with jaw dropping views into a vast working quarry, an industrial heritage trail with two lead mines, deer, bluebells, and if you are really lucky, red kites.

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Rigmaden Bluebells

Moderate

7.6 miles | 12.3 km | 264 m Ascent | 8.9 Naismith miles | Kate Rowe / Kate Butcher
A walk in the spring that features daffodils or bluebells is a long-standing tradition with the Bentham Footpath Group. Scheduling such a walk months in advance and then getting the spring blooms to cooperate on the chosen date is a challenge though, and one that might daunt lesser leaders than ours.
Having seen bluebells passing their peak elsewhere in the last couple of weeks, there was a little jeopardy – there was no doubt this would be a good walk, because it’s a route that works well at any time of the year – but would there be a good show of bluebells, and would they be at their best?
Yes – of course there were. In fact, we think ours were better than those reported by BBC TV at Rannerdale Knotts. Despite this BFG is not funded by the licence payer.

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