B Walk - Downham with Sheila Marsh
7½ miles (12km) Undulating
Meet car park at the bottom of the hill (Sat Nav: BB7 4BS), ready for the usual start time of 10.30am.
The walk goes through four lovely villages in the Ribble Valley.
Starting from Downham we head uphill to the church and Assheton Arms before taking a left path to pastureland. At this point we have a panoramic view of the surrounding countryside. We walk across more fields, cross the A59 and follow a tree lined path which passes the remains of Sawley Abbey as we descend into Sawley itself. We cross the river Ribble and continue along the road for a while before taking a track to Hill House Barn then head to Grindleton. We cross the river again to climb a steep slope as we approach Chatburn. We then go along more leafy paths, cross A59 again to climb a steep limestone escarpment before reaching Downham.