Distance: 21km/12 miles
Time: Time 5-6hrs
Type: Moorland
Where: Circular walk from Dunsop Bridge in the Forest of Bowland.
Start/End: Dunsop Bridge (SD660501).
Terrain: Boggy moorland, with some steady ascents, stiles and a small stretch of paved road.
Maps : OS Explorer OL41; Landranger 103.

Hang your hat amid the sheer, isolated desolation of Whitendale Hanging Stones and – says the Ordnance Survey – you’re at the very centre of Great Britain and its outlying islands. But there is more to Bowland than merely massaging your inner pedant. A remote Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, it hosts the UK’s largest breeding site for hen harriers, and is also home to merlins, short-eared owls and ring ouzel. The 17th-century Pendle witches, outrageously accused of murder by witchcraft, hailed from here too. What’s more, Bowland isn’t really a forest (much of the area is moorland) but retains the name as a former royal hunting forest, as the New Forest does. But it proved too arduous a journey for the gentlemen of London, and ownership deteriorated into something of a free-for-all. The Duke of Westminster now owns a sizeable chunk. This mixed history made Bowland a cause célèbre among campaigners demanding the right to roam and, perhaps in recognition of this, Bowland was the first area to be opened up under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000.

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Distance: 18km/11 miles
Time: 7½hrs
Type: Type Hill
Where: Circular walk from St John’s in the Vale, over Clough Head and the Dodds, with a return over High Rigg (or along the valley).
Start/End: Wanthwaite (NY316231).
Terrain: Stony track and grassy fell, with a steep but straightforward ascent and descent and easy walking over high, grassy tops.
Maps: OS Explorer OL5; Landranger 90.

The lovely valley of St John’s in the Vale is one of the quieter areas of the Lake District, the fells
either side of it far less frequented than many elsewhere. To the east lies the northern end of the
Helvellyn range, a great ridge of fells whose highest point, Helvellyn, is the most climbed mountain in Lakeland. It can get very busy up here, but just a few miles away – north of Sticks Pass – the broad, grassy tops of the Dodds and Clough Head afford equally fine views, but without the crowds. To the west of the valley is a small, much lower fell referred to as High Rigg (also known locally as Naddle Fell),
which stands on its own surrounded by its much loftier neighbours. This, too, affords solitude and super views – but with much less effort – and is a good option for a short day’s walk (with a return along the valley) if the weather isn’t suitable for the higher fells.

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Distance: 10km/6 miles
Time: 4hrs
Type: Hill
Where: Circular walk from Ambleside via Stockghyll Force, Wansfell and Troutbeck.
Start/End: Long-stay car park near Ambleside TIC (NY376047).
Terrain: Clear paths, quiet lanes and woodland tracks, with a steep climb up Wansfell.
Maps :OS Explorer OL7; Landranger 90.

The bustling tourist town of Ambleside makes an excellent base as a walking centre, with a fine variety of local routes from which to choose. For novice fell-walkers, or those new to the Lake District, there are two nearby fells — Loughrigg to the west of the town and Wansfell to the east — which make excellent introductory hill walks, both within the abilities of most. They are also ideal as half-day routes if poor weather spoils some of the day. Wansfell Pike is the higher of the two, at 484m/1588ft, and affords superb views over the surrounding fells and down the whole length of Windermere. It’s a steep but straightforward climb to the top, followed by a descent at a more moderate gradient to the village of Troutbeck. The return route via Skelghyll Woods provides more fine views of Windermere.

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Distance: 13km/8 miles
Time: 4hrs
Type: Hill
Where: Circular walk from Todmorden in the South Pennines.
Start/End: Todmorden (SD936241).
Terrain: Towpath, lanes, moorland tracks and paths.
Maps: OS Explorer OL21; Landranger 103.

A renovated extravaganza of locks, lengths and pounds strikes through the South Pennines, linking the Victorian industrial behemoths of south Lancashire’s cotton towns with the woollen and worsted centres of Yorkshire’s Calder Valley. The Rochdale Canal, reopened in 2002, is a daunting challenge to boaters but a delight for ramblers, revealing both the fascinating, hidden faces of the old textile towns and villages and some of the most enchanting landscapes and countryside at the core of the Industrial Revolution’s heart. This walk explores part of this heritage at Todmorden before heading for the hills and an airy perambulation on the Pennine Way to Stoodley Pike, capped by a notable monument and blessed with extraordinary views across the roof of England. Your return to Todmorden takes you via charming hillside hamlets lost amidst haymeadows.

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Distance: 8km/5 miles
Time: 2hrs
Type: City tour
Where: Circular walk around Leeds’ Civic Hall and canal.
Start/End: Leeds Town Hall (SE297338).
Terrain: Mostly level roadside pavements and towpaths, with some steps to negotiate.
Maps: OS Explorer 289; Landranger 104 (A to Z Leeds and Bradford is best, though).

Leeds was once famously described by Charles Dickens as ‘one of the beastliest places in England’. Well, he would hardly recognise the place these days. The West Yorkshire capital has undergone a great transformation in the last two decades. Back at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the mid-1700s, Leeds had a small but well established woollen industry centred around Briggate. What really acted as the catalyst for Leeds’ transformation from town to city was mechanised flax spinning. John Marshall’s success, in collaboration with Matthew Murray, encouraged others to build ‘the dark Satanic mills’ that flourished in Dickens’ Victorian era. These buildings, which brought such prosperity to the city, can be seen on Marshall Street. In the 1920s, Leeds began upgrading its inadequate civic buildings, and the impressively grand results can be seen around Headrow.

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Distance: 13km/8 miles
Time: 4hrs
Type: Upland farms and moorland
Where: A circular walk exploring a lesser-known area of the Brontë moors near Haworth.
Start/End: Oxenhope station, the terminus of the heritage Keighley & Worth Valley railway (GR032353).
Terrain: Quiet tracks, lanes and moorland paths, which can be boggy in places.
Maps:OS Explorer 21; Landrangers 103 and 104.

Why jet off to Madeira to walk the famous levadas (man-made watercourses) when Pennine Yorkshire can offer something very similar? This walk includes a path high up above the Worth Valley, which follows a carefully built watercourse around the contours of the hillside – just like the levadas, though in this case supplying rainwater to neighbouring reservoirs. The walk heads up from Oxenhope village on to the open access land of Haworth Moor, climbing to the watershed between the Hebden and Worth rivers, beside an old standing stone known as Oxenhope Stoop. There’s an opportunity to combine the walk with a day out on the Keighley and Worth Valley steam railway, made famous in the film version of The Railway Children.

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Distance: 11km/7 miles
Time: 4hrs
Type: Hill, woodland valley, open farmland
Where: Circular walk from Hebden Bridge via Heptonstall and Hardcastle Crags.
Start/End: St George’s Square, Hebden Bridge (SD992272).
Terrain: Mainly footpaths and tracks, some cobbled, with two fairly steep ascents and descents. Some swing gates and stiles.
Maps: OS Explorer 21; Landranger 103.

The rugged moorland and deep, wooded valleys of the South Pennines have long inspired writers and poets, including the Brontë sisters and Ted Hughes, and provided recreation for generations of mill workers. This walk begins and finishes in the picturesque former mill-town of Hebden Bridge, now a vibrant creative community, described by British Airways’ magazine High Life as ‘the fourth funkiest town in the world‘.

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Distance: 18km/111⁄4 miles
Time: 6hrs
Type: Valley and moorland
Where: Circular walk from Bowlees via Cronkley Fell and High and Low Force waterfalls.
Start/End: Bowlees visitor Centre car park (NY907283).
Terrain: Moorland and riverside path.
Maps: OS Explorer 21; Landranger 103.

The North Pennines, Britain’s second largest AONB, is one of the most remote and unspoilt places in the country, and hence often described as ‘england’s last wilderness‘. Slicing through this landscape of high, isolated moorland are the Durham Dales – Weardale, Teesdale and the Derwent valley. Unlike the more famous and crowded Yorkshire Dales to the south, the Durham Dales remain relatively unknown, but they afford some beautiful scenery and excellent walking. Three of the country’s finest waterfalls – low Force, High Force and Cauldron Snout – are found along the River Tees, all linked by the Pennine Way. In each case the waterfall has formed where the river cascades over outcrops of the Great Whin Sill. This highly scenic walk in Upper Teesdale leads you over wild Cronkley Fell, then back past low and High Force – both
very impressive sights.

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Distance: 14km/8½ miles
Time: 4½hrs
Type: Countryside
Where: Circular walk in the Langdale Valleys, Cumbria.
Start/End: The Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel (NY286061).
Terrain: The Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel (NY286061).Minor roads, tracks and paths, with one steady climb near start. Waymarking is variable and it can be very boggy beyond Blea Tarn.
Maps: OS Explorer OL6 & OL7; Landranger 90.

Cocooned in the spectacular chasm of Great Langdale’s enclosed trough of a valley, The Old Dungeon Ghyll’s Hikers Bar has drawn countless walkers to its welcoming room since 1949, when it was converted from a shippon. The extraordinary location of this watering hole lends itself easily to countless walks; this route keeps to the low levels, offering a taste of mountain walking without the serious exertion. There are awesome views, a sprinkling of tarns, miners’ tracks and pretty bridges, and an unforgettable final return to the pub along the Cumbria Way’s much-loved route in the shadows of some of the finest mountains in England.

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Distance: 11km/7 miles
Time: 3hrs
Type: River
Where: Circular walk around River Wear, just south of Durham.
Start/End: Shincliffe bridge (NZ288410).
Terrain: Easy riverside footpaths, with some stiles.
Maps: OS Explorer 308; Landranger 88 & 93.

Located just to the south of the historic city of Durham this picturesque walk encircles two huge loops of the River Wear. The section of the route just past Shincliffe Hall follows paths that were extensively lobbied for by the Ramblers. The area around Low Burnhall is set to change dramatically due to its recent acquisition by the Woodland Trust. An area of 68ha/168 acres will be planted with 86,000 new trees which will extend and protect the existing ancient woodland and create large areas of new woodland to be enjoyed by all.

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