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WALK 4

Rivington Pike

Start/Finish	Car park, opposite Horwich and Blackrod High School (SD634128)
Distance	5km (3 miles)
Height gain	230m (755ft)
Terrain	Farmland; moorland; woodland – good paths throughout

The tower on Rivington Pike is a conspicuous landmark, and is also included in Walk 3. Here, the ascent is rather more direct, and for most of the climb, follows the course taken during the annual Rivington Pike Fell Race, which the winning runners contrive to complete in around 17 minutes – that’s up and down!

Leave the car park by walking out to the road and turning right to pass the high school. Having crossed the entrance to the school, take the next turning on the left, a narrow, surfaced lane that runs up beside the school.

When you meet two wide, stony tracks branching off to the left, ignore them, and stay with the surfaced track that swings right and climbs towards Higher Knoll Farm. Ignore the turning to the farm when you get there and, instead, continue up-field, climbing a sloping farm pasture for about 500m to meet, at a gate, a broad, stony track directly below Rivington Pike.

Rivington Pike from the edge of Wilderswood

Through the gate, bear right a little, but then swing left, still on a broad, stony track. Pass through a metal gate and follow the rough track beyond. When the track forks, you have the choice of making a beeline for the top of the pike, or of bearing right and following the stony track to the far side of the hill and ascending from there – the choice is yours. For information about Rivington Pike, see Walk 3.

From the top of the pike, take a constructed path descending roughly in a northwesterly direction, and follow the track below until you rejoin the lower track at a fence barrier. Turn left now, but before you reach the gate at the top of the farm field, branch sharply right at a clear path junction (gate pillars) to continue descending. This path drops easily, and at the edge of the Terraced Gardens woodland, swings round to the left.

A short way further on, while the choice exists to keep straight on (the way Walk 3 concludes), turn sharply to the right again, and continue descending until you intercept a lateral track. Now turn left, and before long pass a metal gate, with a broad track running off to the left. Ignore this, and keep forward, soon reaching the main Rivington road. Cross the road and turn left onto a path beside it that will guide you back to the start.