Walk 1: Carnforth to Swarthdale

Walk Waypoints

1. 1 From Carnforth Railway Station entrance, walk up to the junction of Market Street and Haws Hill, where the Royal Station Hotel stands on the corner. Keep ahead up Market Street, crossing the busy Scotland Road, then continuing up Market Street as it rises to a junction with North Road by The Shovel Inn. Go left along North Road, and, just before Redmayne Drive, opposite Hodgson's Croft, turn right down a track to Hodgson's Bridge.
2. 2 Just before the bridge, steps on the right drop to the towpath of the Lancaster Canal. Go left, under the bridge, and walk out of Carnforth for nearly 3km. As you approach the hamlet of Capernwray, you will see at first the railway, then houses on the right-hand bank. Go under the next bridge, then climb left up to a road, and go left over the bridge, bearing right to walk between farm buildings to a junction.
3. 3 Turn left here, passing Capernwray Old Hall and then the entrance to Old Hall Caravan Park. Approximately 50 metres beyond there is a gate on the right. Go through it, and then keep ahead to cross a stile, and now slightly right, easing away from the Swarth Brook to climb up to a drive. Go left, and, within a few metres, right to cross a stile.
4. 4 Follow the boundary of Kellet Park Wood, which curves in a semi-circle to a stile. Cross this, and head slightly right up the hillside, where there are good views of South Lakeland behind. Cross the fencing by the gate/stile at the next boundary, and proceed ahead to the remnants of a wood rich in lichens and mosses. Keep to the left-hand edge of the wood, then bear right to drop down to a step stile.
5. 5 Keep ahead now through a large field where hedges and walls have been grubbed. Aim for the houses at Over Kellet. Climb a stile by a barred gate, and keep ahead to reach a stile leading to an old track. Follow this for over 100 metres, and cut left off this track, climb the stile opposite, and loop around with the fenced path to a track between houses, leading to Kellet Road.
6. 6 Go right for 20 metres along the road, and, before the Wesleyan chapel dating from 1835, go left along a drive by a small green. Just past the dwelling, there is a gap where a kissing gate leads to a path. This leads through to Greenways. Go right and immediately left to follow the road to a junction. Opposite is a narrow path between houses.
7. 7 This short path rises sharply up to a prominent waymark post. Go ahead on a well-worn field path leading to a stile either side of a track. Once over, proceed slightly right through an old slit stile and, descending slowly, into the secluded shallow Swarthdale. The next stile, which is not immediately noticeable, stands to the right of a solitary oak beyond the pylons. Cross it, and head slightly right once more across a low-lying pasture to another stile, this time situated to the left of a tree. Go over it and keep ahead, nearing a wood on the left as you rise up to a road.
8. 8 Turn left to walk along the road, passing the junction with Swarthdale Road. Fifty metres beyond the junction, go right over a stile, and climb up the field to the top right hand corner.