Walk 4: Roeburndale to Hornby (via Wray)

Walk Waypoints

1. 1 Turn left along the lane. It descends to a point where a closed hedge track cuts off right. Go down this old track, signposted to Alcocks Farm. It drops to a ford and a footbridge across the sparkling waters of the Hunts Gill Beck. The path climbs slightly right up the bank to a gate by Alcocks Farm.
2. 2 Turn left, and follow this very quiet lane as it rises for approximately 500 metres. When you see a barn ahead, as the road bends slightly to the left, go over a wall stile here on the right as signposted. Your way is ahead through rough ground, proceeding over another wall stile. Keep ahead, proceeding through the remnant of a hedge and over a trickle of stream, then bear slightly right before reaching another gate. Keep ahead on a raised green strip.
3. 3 This leads to a gate and into Roeburndale. The sunken path descends through woodland to a gate, and then angles right to a long bridge across the River Roeburn. Climb up steps, then bear left on a track. At the junction, keep ahead to climb out of the valley on a zigzag track, but at the next junction, keep left to pass to the left of a dwelling, where you cross a stile by a barred gate.
4. 4 In the field, head slightly right along the boundary fence until you reach a stile. Go over this, and climb up the steep valley side by way of steps to a stile. Go ahead to cross another stile, then bear right to walk up to farm buildings. Keep to the left of the buildings to go through a gate/stile.
5. 5 Head slightly left over the moor to a narrow clough. Dip down to cross the stream, then climb up. Head for Back Farm, where you go through a gate. On the track, go right up to the road. Turn right, and walk down Moor Lane through the flanks of Whit Moor, dropping steeply at times. Pass by a junction on the right for Wray, and continue to a point where the road bends and dips just after Cold Park Wood. Cross a stile on the right over fencing just beyond a little bridge.
6. 6 Head slightly left across the field away from the stream to align yourself with the fencing on the left. Go ahead through the gate and onward through the pasture to another. Once through, keep to the fence line on the left to dip down to a gateway, and now follow the slightly raised green track (presumably an old hedge line) towards the wood. Cross a double stile, and keep ahead along Neddy Park Wood. At the far end, continue to the field corner, go over a wall stile and, wall on your left, walk to the gate at the corner to join a road. Drop down the hillside into Wray.
7. 7 In Wray, bear right to approach a bridge. The bridge across the river at Wray is the most tranquil of spots, and here you drop left to the riverside. This soon rises up to a kissing gate, and then ahead to a gap stile. Follow the riverside through fields to a building and kissing gate before stepping up to Meal Bank Bridge. Cross the road (not the bridge) with care, and go through a gap in the barrier down to a bridleway.
8. 8 This pleasant old route, Back Lane, winds past a disused sewerage works and through to a rough crossroads. Turn right here, and trace the field-edge path to the riverbank. Go through the kissing gate, and walk downstream to another, pass through this, and turn left along a green lane to meet the old railway. Pass through the kissing gates and turn left.
9. 9 Keep the wall on your left to reach a stile. A few yards after this, bear right, and head across the meadows, crossing four stiles and heading in line for the towers of Hornby Castle, rising above the trees. Turn left through a muddy gateway to join a concreted track which leads alongside the River Wenning to a farmyard. The route passes to the left of a barn, and then ahead to the main road in Hornby.