An interactive map of the Western Loop can be found below courtesy of Ordnance Survey maps. You can subscribe yourself using this link, https://osmaps.ordnancesurvey.co.uk, which will enable you to import the GPX file which can be downloaded below.
Download file for GPS
To download the GPX file for this Stage click on the link above.[/vc_column_text]
In 2021, I completed the Eastern Loop of the Lancashire Way, the fourth Loop, and believed that this long distance path, whose initial conception goes back to the twentieth century, was finished and all I needed to do was “sell” the concept and introduce as many people as possible to walking the Lancashire Way.
I stated that the Eastern Loop was created to ensure that the Lancashire Way was complete and missed no parts of Lancashire, that was worthy of a walk. There was, however, one very obvious omission as all points of the compass had been used except the West! At the time I believed that the Lancashire Way was complete and the West Lancashire, effectively the Fylde, was not worthy of becoming the fifth and final Loop.
But over the past two years, I kept coming back to the question – “Should there be a Western Loop?”. I also foolishly dared to utter this publicly. One man, Nick Caunt, started to push me on this point and in December 2023, sent me a GPX file of a route starting and ending in Kirkham, 80 miles in length with an accompanying narrative explaining the logic of the route.
I responded shortly afterwards as follows
”Thanks for the GPX, which I have uploaded and looked at. I must say it took me a few days to summon up the courage to look at it as I knew that once I did I would set a process in motion that I would not be able to stop!! It looks a great route. In the past when I have idly thought about it, which I have on many occasions, the western side of the Loop along the coast was always obvious and it is good to see that you have thought similarly. My issue was the eastern side and what you propose works well. I know parts of it. Indeed, when I was putting together the Central Loop one option back to Preston was down from Parlick, over Beacon Fell and then down the River Brock to the Lancaster Canal. I remember walking that section a few years ago in Spring with bluebells along parts of the river bank. Beautiful.
You tick all the boxes of places I would expect the Loop to visit such as Garstang, St Michaels, Kirkham and of course all the coast from Lytham to Knott End.
One requirement of the Loop is that it can link with the other Loops, such that all now five Loops can be walked in one continuous walk – now almost 500 miles!! Your route almost does this around Bleasdale, which is close to the Central Loop and can be easily reached from either Fiensdale Head or more likely the bottom of Parlick. The other alternative would be to branch off the Northen Loop at Grizedale Bridge and link up around Calder Vale. Or could the Western Loop change slightly and head to Scorton or close to Scorton from Calder Vale and then down to Garstang?
Starting point is not that important but I am minded to make this Blackpool but can see the logic in Kirkham.”
And so the Western Loop began with my first walk on the 7th January 2024, with a circular walk from Bilsbarrow on the A6 taking in Beacon Fell and Calder Vale. It was a lovely winter’s day and I was sold – the Western Loop would become a reality. My sincere thank to Nick, who then joined me at various points to help me investigate the route including picking me up and driving me around at times to speed up the process. By March I had walked most of the route apart from a section of canal from Salwick to Bilsborrow and I was almost decided on the final route.
It has since taken me over six months to start writing this introduction to the Western Loop and there is still much to do. It just emphasises how much work goes into creating a walk.
It also shows how much effort goes into determining the final route. I am pleased to say that it is largely the route that Nick first proposed with two major exceptions. The first was between Lytham and Kirkham. Nick’s route continued along the coast behind the Warton airfield and from the trig point at Naze Mount, headed north to Kirkham via Freckleton. I did walk this in winter and it was very wet and muddy and not particularly well used which gave me doubts about this option. It also followed over 20 miles of coastal walking so I was looking forward to a change. I also felt the route should visit Wrea Green, one of the prettiest villages on the Fylde.
Secondly, the route from Calder Vale to Garstang needed investigation. It took a route south across to the Lancaster canal at Stubbins but I knew the countryside to the north west of Garstang better and felt this was prettier.
After much deliberation and investigation of the alternatives, the route was settled upon although I have created an Alternative Stage from Lytham to Kirkham, which largely replicates Nick’s original route. The final route is 76 miles long and divided into 14 stages. The longest Stage is just under 8 miles and many are short allowing more flexible planning. It does use the Wyre Way and the Lancashire Coastal Way in large sections, although the former is in need of some work and on a number of occasions I ignore this and take a simpler route to avoid difficult walking along poor paths. It also uses a large stretch of the Lancaster Canal, which we came across on the Northern Loop.
The detail of the various Stages will be added one by one so that you have detailed route instructions and accompanying photographs and narratives. Update – as of January 2025 all are now finished and available.
I very much hope you will enjoy this final walk of the Lancashire Way and I can assure you that, when you have finished, you will truly know the beautiful county of Lancashire.
Click here to go straight to Stage 60 (W1) – the first Stage of the Western Loop
| LANCASHIRE WAY | ||||||||||||
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| WESTERN LOOP | ||||||||||||
| Stage No | West No | Name | Miles | Hours | Cum Miles | Cum Hrs | Highest Ft | Climb ft | Cum Climb ft | Link | Grid Ref Start | Grid Ref End |
| 60 | W1 | Blackpool to St Anne's | 6 | 2.5 | 6 | 2.5 | 79 | 25 | 25 | Click Here For Stage 60 | 310 367 | 317 285 |
| 61 | W2 | Lytham | 5.75 | 2 | 11.75 | 4.5 | 19 | 74 | 99 | Click Here For Stage 61 | 317 285 | 365 274 |
| 62 | W3 | Kirkham | 7.75 | 3 | 19.5 | 7.5 | 108 | 184 | 283 | Click Here For Stage 62 | 365 274 | 423 321 |
| 63 | W4 | Salwick Bridge - Hand & Dagger | 3.75 | 1.5 | 23.25 | 9 | 97 | 142 | 425 | Click Here For Stage 63 | 423 321 | 464 330 |
| 64 | W5 | Bilsborrow | 7 | 2.5 | 30.25 | 11.5 | 80 | 48 | 473 | Click Here For Stage 64 | 464 330 | 511 401 |
| 65 | W6 | Beacon Fell | 5 | 2 | 35.25 | 13.5 | 750 | 798 | 1271 | Click Here For Stage 65 | 511 401 | 565 427 |
| 66 | W7 | Calder Vale | 6.5 | 3 | 41.75 | 16.5 | 871 | 595 | 1866 | Click Here For Stage 66 | 565 427 | 533 458 |
| 67 | W8 | Garstang | 4 | 1.5 | 45.75 | 18 | 629 | 275 | 2141 | Click Here For Stage 67 | 533 458 | 492 452 |
| 68 | W9 | St Michaels's on Wyre | 5.25 | 2 | 51 | 20 | 29 | 114 | 2255 | Click Here For Stage 68 | 492 452 | 461 411 |
| 69 | W10 | Great Eccleston | 3.5 | 1.5 | 54.5 | 21.5 | 56 | 65 | 2320 | Click Here For Stage 69 | 461 411 | 427 402 |
| 70 | W11 | Shard Bridge | 5.25 | 2 | 59.75 | 23.5 | 27 | 106 | 2426 | Click Here For Stage 70 | 427 402 | 370 412 |
| 71 | W12 | Knott End | 6 | 2.5 | 65.75 | 26 | 74 | 149 | 2575 | Click Here For Stage 71 | 370 412 | 346 485 |
| 72 | W13 | Cleveleys | 5.5 | 2 | 71.25 | 28 | 61 | 71 | 2646 | Click Here For Stage 72 | 346 485 | 312 430 |
| 73 | W14 | Blackpool | 5.5 | 2 | 76.75 | 30 | 80 | 158 | 2804 | Click Here For Stage 73 | 312 430 | 310 367 |
The Practicalities of completing the Western Loop
The Western Loop is well served by public transport enabling you to generally divide the walk as you wish and have a form of transport to retrace your steps at the end of the day.
The following bus services will help in your planning:
Services 40/41 is the Preston to Morecambe route and covers places along the A6 such as Garstang (Stage W8) and Bilsborrow (Stage W5). It also covers the area south from Bilsborrow as far as Barton. There are frequent stops along the A6 and this enables you to divide the long Stage W5 from Salwick to Bilsborrow. There are various points to come off the canal if you want to finish the stage early and walk to the A6.
Service 42 is the Blackpool to Lancaster route and takes in Little Singleton (Shard Bridge at the end of Stage – a 1 mile walk) and Great Eccleston, St Michaels and Churchtown.
Service 74 links Fleetwood to Preston can also be useful in that it passes through Catford just north of the Lancaster canal at Swillbrook. This means that you can just complete 2 miles of Stage W5.
Service 88 links Knott End with Garstang and the 5C with Poluton le Fylde.
Service 78 links Great Eccleston to St Annes taking in Kirkham, Freckleton and Lytham.
The Blackpool coast is served by trams, buses and trains.
Trains from Preston link Salwick (although there are only four trains a day so be careful with timing), Kirkham, Lytham, Fairhaven and St Annes.
The only black spots are Stages W6 to W8, Bilsborrow to Garstang, with no transport at all. These Stages total 15.5 miles and therefore if this is too much for a day’s walking then you will have to be inventive i.e. car lifts or taxis.
Walking the Western Loop
Three days.
It is possible to walk the entire Loop in three days if you are a strong walker and I have recently completed this.
Day1 is from Blackpool to Salwick – 23.25 miles. Both are accessible by train although there are only two trains in the afternoon to Preston and two to Blackpool so please make sure you time your walk carefully. You may want to think about extending this day and continuing towards Bilsborrow and catching a bus back into Preston – there are a few options including Catford and Barton on the A6. I came off the canal just before Swillbrook and walked up the road to Catford, where I caught the Number 74 bus back to Preston.
Day 2 – you should try and make as much progress after Garstang as possible but please bear in mind that this includes most of the ascent of the Loop. From Salwick, excluding the walk from the railway station it is 22.5 miles to Garstang, which has good transport links. I finished in Garstang and caught the bus back to Preston.
Day 3. Having finished in Garstang, this left a very long final day of 31 miles back to Blackpool, which is possible as it is largely flat but will be a very long day. I thought it easier than trying to break off at Michael’s on Wyre for instance. The day took about 10 hours.
Four and five day options are probably best for most. The five day option has short and long days as follows
Day 1 – 19.5 miles Blackpool to Kirkham.
Day 2 – 10.75 Kirkham to Bilsborrow.
Day 3 – 15.5 miles from Bilsborrow to Garstang.
Day 4 – 14 miles to Shard Bridge – alternatively 20 miles to Knott End
Day 5 – 17 miles to Blackpool.
These are for guidance and I am sure you will enjoy planning your own individual route depending upon your circumstances.
