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Start & Parking : The Shireburn Arms, Whalley Road, Hurst Green, (BB7 9QJ) Grid ref. SD 685 378
(S/E) From the front door of The Shireburn Arms pub, turn left and, after 25 yards, take the farm track on the left (South) along Lambing Clough Lane. Descend passed the houses and over the cattle grids for half a mile and to the bottom of the hills and follow the track between farm buildings.
(1) Bear slightly right then South-West to follow the footpath along the edge of the woods which leads to the newly restored footbridge over the Ribble. Cross the bridge over the river, then turn right and follow the riverbank path (West) for half a mile to Marles Wood. Continue through the woods, to where the river widens into a picturesque lagoon; be sure and look at the view back upstream. Bear left following the path away from the river.
(2) Then after a short distance, and just before the steps, take the footpath to your right down across a footbridge and up the other side to continue straight on through woods to the lane. Turn right (West) along the lane and continue passed Salesbury Hall. Follow the lane for 3/4 mile to the stone bridge at Ribchester.
(3) Take care crossing this road bridge, and then turn right along the track following the Ribble Way footpath upstream (North-East). Follow the lane to the farmyard.
(4) Then turn right, down to the river where you bear left to follow the path upstream. Continue for half a mile through a kissing gate and over a footbridge into the woods as the river meanders round to the right.
(5) Soon after the right-hand bend in the river, the footpath leaves the riverside and climbs left through the woods and through a kissing gate onto open pastureland. Continue along the edge of the woods then head straight across the field, taking in the spectacular view of Pendle Hill, and through the next gate.
(6) After the gate, head slightly left across the field, slightly uphill, to a signpost on the edge of the coppice then continue over a stile in the corner of the field. Go diagonally over the next field to a gate, to a track and turn right and then almost immediately left through a gate. Follow the left-hand field boundary as it curves round to reach a footbridge in the corner of the field.
(7) Across the footbridge, follow the path along with the woodland on your left for 50 yards then head half right, diagonally across the field through a little dry valley, to a stile next to a solitary oak tree. Continue straight over the next field for 250 yards, descending to a stream.
(8) Cross the footbridge and follow the path along the edge of the woods for 200 yards before crossing a stile and continuing across the field to return to Lambing Clough Farm. Turn left into Lambing Clough Lane and follow it uphill back to the village. At the top of the track turn right and the Shireburn Arms is just 25 yards on your right.(S/E)
Walker
Easy 
Difficult 
