Walk round Warton Crag

Warton is the starting point for this walk, a village well-known for its association with the Washington family whose ancestors came to Warton around 1350.  An inscribed stone with the family coat-of-arms, which featured stars and stripes long before being adopted by the USA, can be seen inside St Oswald’s church in the village.
Warton Crag nature reserve belongs to the Lancashire Trust for Nature Conservation, although a part of the hill is owned by the R.S.P.B. Leighton Moss and Morecambe Bay Reserve.
This crag is the home for a great variety of plants and is the habitat for many varieties of birds and Butterflies.  It is a delight to walk over especially in spring.  From the top there are great views of Arnside Knott and over Morecambe Bay to the Lakeland mountains, while to the East there are good views of Ingleborough and the Pennines.  The beacon on the summit is a replica of the original of 1588.
The walk starts from a small quarry car park about a hundred metres up Crag road from the George Washington pub (previously Black Bull).  If this is full there is another larger quarry car park about half a mile further on.
The path leads up limestone terraces some of which requires a little easy scrambling, and descends through lovely woodland.  It can be modified to what ever length you wish to walk, a good day out is had by combining walks 4, 5 and 6 from the guide-book I have listed.
My favourite route is just over 9 miles with about 1600 ft of ascent in total, I have provided a guide map for this but it is not to scale and you will need an OS map to plan your route accurately.  The route ascends Warton Crag and leaves through woodland with a slight detour to Three Brothers, then on to summerhouse hill above Leighton Hall with marvelous views, go down past the Hall and over the stone causeway that crosses Leighton Moss Bird Sanctuary.  After going through Silverdale Golf Course the route passes through Eaves Wood belonging to the National Trust, go around Haweswater, through Cringlebarrow wood and Hyning scout wood to return to Warton along Main Street.
There is plenty to see on this route so allow about 5 to 6 hours; you can even get a coffee at the Leighton Moss visitor centre but this requires a detour of about 400 yards.   Enjoy the Crag, which ever route you chose it’s a beautiful area.

Guide Map for walk (not to scale)

Arnside Knott via Jenny Brown's Point

This is an interesting walk with a wide variety of scenery, including bare limestone pavements, salt marsh, foreshore fen, parkland, woodland and agricultural land. The route I chose is a little longer than the ones in the guide book, but there are so many variations that if you use the guide book I have listed you can’t fail have a very enjoyable day out. To plan this walk I just laid down the map and from the guide book joined the routes together so that I could visit the area’s I was interested in. The total distance was 11.5 miles with 1600ft of ascent, but if you prefer to walk the shorter routes in the guide I’m sure you will enjoy any of them.
My route starts from the Leighton Moss visitor centre car park and heads off down the road towards Silverdale but turning off on a path over Heald Brow to Jenny Brown’s Point (Jenny Brown was a nanny who was drowned whilst saving her charges). Just a little further on is Jacks Scout owned by the National Trust and well worth exploring, if only to sit on the Giant’s seat and take in the views. From here rejoin the road into Silverdale heading to Silverdale beach and then on through the caravan park on the rim of Middlebarrow wood, to Arnside Tower but don’t go too close as it is in an unsafe condition and looks as if it may collapse at any moment. From here we go through the farm, crossing the Silverdale-Arnside road and up to the top of Arnside Knott. This is a great place for lunch with views over the Kent estuary to the Lakeland fells; if the weather is fine that is.
After dropping down from the Knott we leave Arnside over a railway crossing to Hazelslack, then on to Gaitbarrows and Haweswater both, of which are worth taking your time over or maybe find time for another break. After a well deserved rest its, time to move off over to Yealand allotments and down to Yealand Storrs. From here a path leads across fields to a track that we turn right on through Grisedale farm and across Leighton Moss and back to the car park at Leighton Moss visitor centre.
Whether you follow this walk or chose one of the shorter walks out of the guide, I’m sure you will enjoy the area, it’s a great place. Have a good walk!!

Guide Map to walk (not to scale)