Walking the Ribble Way: A one-week walk across Lancashire into Yorkshire from Preston to the source

About the Author

Both natives of Lancashire and living not far from Preston, Dennis and Jan Kelsall are no strangers to the Ribble Way and the splendid countryside through which it runs. As professional outdoor writers and photographers, they have written and illustrated many guides covering some of the country’s most popular walking areas. For many years, they produced a weekly walking feature for the Lancashire Evening Post and continue to contribute to various magazines.

Their enjoyment of the countryside extends far beyond a love of fresh air and open spaces and an appreciation of scenery. They also have a keen interest in the environment and its geology, plants and wildlife, as well as a passion for delving into the local history that so often provides a clue to interpreting the landscape.

For a full list of Cicerone books and articles by Dennis and Jan Kelsall, visit their author page www.cicerone.co.uk/authors.

WALKING THE RIBBLE WAY

A ONE-WEEK WALK ACROSS LANCASHIRE INTO YORKSHIRE FROM PRESTON TO THE SOURCE

by Dennis and Jan Kelsall

JUNIPER HOUSE, MURLEY MOSS,

OXENHOLME ROAD, KENDAL, CUMBRIA LA9 7RL

www.cicerone.co.uk

© Dennis and Jan Kelsall 2023

First edition 2023

ISBN 9781783629466

Printed in Singapore by KHL Printing on responsibly sourced paper

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

© Crown copyright 2023 OS PU100012932

All photographs are by the authors unless otherwise stated.

Updates to this guide

While every effort is made by our authors to ensure the accuracy of guidebooks as they go to print, changes can occur during the lifetime of an edition. Any updates that we know of for this guide will be on the Cicerone website (www.cicerone.co.uk/1091/updates), so please check before planning your trip. We also advise that you check information about such things as transport, accommodation and shops locally. Even rights of way can be altered over time. We are always grateful for information about any discrepancies between a guidebook and the facts on the ground, sent by email to [email protected] or by post to Cicerone, Juniper House, Murley Moss, Oxenholme Road, Kendal, LA9 7RL.

Register your book: To sign up to receive free updates, special offers and GPX files where available, register your book in your Cicerone library at www.cicerone.co.uk.

Acknowledgements

Dennis and Jan Kelsall greatly appreciate the help and information they were given by rights of way staff at Lancashire and Yorkshire county councils and the Yorkshire Dales National Park while they were researching this guide. Thanks are also due to the staff of the Lancashire and Yorkshire tourist information offices covering the area. Many other people have also contributed in a host of different ways, offering advice, information and hospitality in true northern fashion. To them all, the authors wish to extend a very warm thank you.

Front cover: Looking down Ribblesdale towards Pen-y-ghent (Stage 6)

CONTENTS

Overview map

Route summary table

Route symbols on OS map extracts

INTRODUCTION

The Ribble Way

Landscape

Industry

Wildlife

Practicalities

Navigation

Using this guide

THE RIBBLE WAY

Stage 1 Longton to Penwortham Bridge

Stage 2 Penwortham Bridge to Ribchester

Stage 3 Ribchester to Brungerley Bridge

Stage 4 Brungerley Bridge to Gisburn Bridge

Stage 5 Gisburn Bridge to Settle

Stage 6 Settle to Horton in Ribblesdale

Stage 7 Horton in Ribblesdale to the Ribble’s source (and return to Ribblehead)

Appendix A Useful information

Heading back into the fields beside the Shireburn Arms (Stage 3)

ROUTE SUMMARY TABLE

a including 6¼ miles (10.1km) back to Ribblehead

b including 3¼ hours back to Ribblehead

Beside the Ribble towards Giggleswick (Stage 5)

INTRODUCTION

Although Lancastrians might like to claim it as their own, the River Ribble actually springs from limestone high on Cam Fell in the heart of Three Peaks country, in the Yorkshire Dales. Gathering water from the countless streams that spill from this sombre upland, the river quickly asserts its identity as it forces a passage between high, rugged moorland hills. Eventually breaking free to meander through gentler countryside south of Settle, it still has another 10 miles (16.1km) to go before broaching the boundary with Lancashire. Yorkshire folk with long memories will remember an older border between the rival counties that ran south of Sawley, and they might say that the river here still remains in Yorkshire.

By the time it reaches Gisburn, the river has assumed a completely different character, winding lazily through alternating pasture and ancient woodland, where old manor houses and early-18th-century cottages offer a welcome contrast to the all-too-pervasive tide of modernity. At Preston the river encounters the only sizeable conurbation along its course, but even here it remains largely isolated from the commerce and industry of the city. It flows instead below the elegant Victorian parks that were laid out for the recreation of the thousands of workers brought in to operate some of the first factory mills built in the country, replacing what had previously been a cottage industry.

Beyond Preston the river changes dramatically yet again, now running straight to the Irish Sea through an almost featureless plain that was once regularly inundated by the tide. Dykes and drainage ditches have turned what was once a virtually dead-flat waste into productive arable fields, although further to the west a vast expanse of the salt marsh remains, attracting huge populations of birds, particularly in winter, which find a rich and plentiful source of food in the shallows and mud.

Approaching Horton in Ribblesdale (Stage 6)

The Ribble Way

The idea for a long-distance footpath along the course of the River Ribble originated in the 1960s with the members of the Preston and Fylde group of the Ramblers’ Association. The original survey suggested a mainly riverbank route from the mouth of the Ribble, where it flows into the Irish Sea, to its source far above Gearstones, a former drovers’ inn beside the moorland road between Ribblehead and Hawes. This plan immediately ran into difficulty, however, as more than half the proposed way relied on the use of private fishermen’s paths. Further progress was thwarted by a storm of local objection, and it was not until the 1980s that an alternative route adopting existing rights of way attracted official support. The first leg of the path, covering just over 40 miles (almost 65km) between Longton and Gisburn Bridge, was opened by Mike Harding, president of the Ramblers’ Association, and Derek Barber, chairman of the Countryside Commission, on 1 June 1985.

Several factors determined the start of the path. Industrial land and Preston Docks dictated that the path begin along the river’s southern bank; however, starting from Banks on the coast requires an early 5-mile inland detour via Tarleton to cross the Ribble’s lowest tributary, the River Douglas. So, in the end, the Dolphin Inn at Longton was chosen as the most westerly accessible start point beside the river. Dating from the early 19th century, when it was a lonely farm known as Lower Marsh Cottage and selling beer as a sideline, the pub stands beside a track out to the former Longton Ferry, which crossed the Douglas onto the Hesketh Marshes.

The adventure begins at the sign of the Dolphin Inn (Stage 1)

But things did not stand still and almost as soon as the Ribble Way opened, it was extended east beyond