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WALK 1

Crook o’ Lune and Caton

Start/Finish	Crook o’ Lune car park (refreshments, toilets) (SD521647)
Distance	6km (3¾ miles)
Total Ascent	45m (150ft)
Terrain	Riverside paths and old railway trackbed; be aware that the river often floods, making this route impassable
Maps	Explorer OL41 (Forest of Bowland and Ribblesdale)

This is a lovely and very gentle walk beside the River Lune, with excellent chances of seeing a wide range of birdlife, especially in summer when the sand martins and swallows return, and you can see kingfisher, oystercatcher and geese at any time of year.

The River Lune is a County Biological Heritage Site, and rises far away on the north-facing slopes of the Howgills, from where it heads west towards Tebay before being deflected through the delectable Lune Gorge, past Sedbergh and Kirkby Lonsdale to Hornby and Caton. It finally finds the sea south of Lancaster, feeding into the wide expanse of Morecambe Bay.

From the edge of the car park (which gets busy, so come early) there is a splendid view over the Lune towards Ingleborough, one painted by Turner. From this viewpoint bear right down a sloping pathway (ignore nearby steps), and at the bottom turn left across an old viaduct onto the trackbed of the former Lancaster-to-Wennington railway line, now part of the River Lune Millennium Park.

The Turner view, Crook o’ Lune

The River Lune Millennium Park stretches from Bull Beck near Caton to Salt Ayre in Lancaster, and offers leisure and everyday transport opportunities with linked footpaths and cycleways. The route is decorated with unusual and thought provoking artworks.

The River Lune is noted for its salmon, and September and October are the best times to see them, along with the many sea trout also found in the river. The Environment Agency monitors fish stocks, and in 1996 over 2000 salmon and sea trout went over Forge Weir. In the 1960s a disease hit salmon nationally, and while local stocks have yet to fully recover, the number of salmon is rising steadily. These days, over 13,000 fish are recorded annually in the Lune.

Cross the viaduct and continue a short distance further to a path on the right. This heads through a gate and then curves immediately right beside a wall to a narrow footbridge immediately below the viaduct. Cross another footbridge to gain the true left bank of the Lune (i.e. the left bank when looking downstream.)

Simply follow the riverbank upstream, keeping an eye open for the birdlife all around, and when you reach a shallow weir, spend a moment or two seeing if you can spot fish trying to leap up the mini-waterfall. A short way further on, the path briefly moves inland to cross a footbridge spanning Artle Beck, a hazard that until recent times you had to chance on stepping stones.

Continue past an aqueduct, and then cling to the course of the river as it sweeps round, with Ingleborough, one of Yorkshire’s ‘Three Peaks’, in the far distance. After passing through a gate, the riverside path becomes a wide stony track that soon moves away from the river, heading towards the village of Caton.

First recorded in the Domesday book, the name ‘Caton’ is believed to stem from either ‘Kati’ (Old Norse) or ‘C(e)atta’ (Old English), probably the name of an early settler. The Romans were present here, as evidenced by the discovery of a Roman milestone in Artle Beck. In more recent times, following the industrial revolution, the village grew to support several cotton mills – for example, Low Mill off Mill Lane.

Beside the Lune

Just before reaching the main road, turn right back onto the old railway trackbed. Later, when the trackbed reaches a surfaced lane (Caton lies just to the left if you want to go in search of refreshment), keep forward along the trackbed, which will guide you back to the start at Crook o’ Lune.

Extension

Walkers wanting to make a little more of this route can begin at Skerton Bridge on the north side of Lancaster and follow a surfaced path alongside the river, heading out of the city. This eventually runs beneath the M6 motorway and passes the village of Halton on the opposite side of the river, and continues quite delightfully all the way to Crook o’ Lune. To do this will effectively double the walk.