Lancashire walk: Garstang, River Wyre and Lancaster canal

Park next to the visitor centre and take the riverside footpath upstream, with the river Wyre on your left. Turn left after crossing the bridge and walk down Castle Lane. You will see the castle ruins, which the Royalists held in the Civil War and which Parliamentarian forces destroyed in revenge. It is on private land.

At Greenhalgh Castle Farm, look for a gate on the left of the house leading to a track. Where it bends right, take the kissing-gate on the left-the first of four such gates. Stay left and, at the third gate, follow the sign pointing across a field to the fourth gate. Steps lead to an old railway track and then up the other side.

Cross the bridge over the main line and motorway. Cross the stile and continue through a field with the motorway on the left. Climb two ladder stiles, keeping right along the stream to the next stile, leading onto Delph Lane. Pass the Edwardian All Saints Church, Barnacre.

The River Wyre at Garstang. PHOTO: Kirsty Thompson Keep right. Look for a white painted house and then turn left onto a farm track. Cross the right-hand stile into a field. Head slightly southeast, crossing two footbridges and a series of stiles, as well as North Toppings Wood. Find the way mark pointing slightly right and follow to a footbridge and stile, turning sharp right to head back to Garstang through a descending field, along a right-hand boundary.

Pass Janet’s Hill Wood on the right and, at the corner, cross a stile on the right and cut the corner of the field to a stile which meets the road. Cross and take a track back over the motorway and railway line. Go through two gates, heading for a stone bridge crossing the Lancaster canal. Walk back to Garstang along the towpath.

How to get there

Garstang does not have a railway station but there are stations in Preston and Lancaster, with bus connections to Garstang.

The town stands beside the River Wyre, the Lancaster Canal and the A6 mid-way between Lancaster and Preston.

To drive: take the M6 to Junction 32 (if coming from the south, use Junction 33 from the north) then follow the A6. Garstang is well signposted along this route to the B6430, which will take you to the town.