Littledale Walk
Start Point
Little Crag Car Park, Littledale Road. Map reference SD 546 617
Distance/Time
5 miles. 2 hours
Terrain
Roads, tracks and fields. Some stiles. Can be wet underfoot.
Walk Description
- To reach the start of this walk from the A683 in Caton, take the road to Brookhouse at the mini roundabout. In Brookhouse, turn right up Littledale Road next to the Black Bull pub. Follow this road out of Brookhouse and follow the sharp right bend by New House Farm. Pass Littledale Scout Camp on your right. Carry on up the hill until you reach Little Cragg car park at the top.
- Walk back up the road towards Cragg Farm and at the cattle grid take the sign-posted footpath to your left, diagonally across the field. Use the stiles to cross the fence and wall, and follow the path until you reach a track.
- Turn back right along the track and follow it until you come to the Pott Yeats farmyard. Go through the farmyard and take the farm track down to rejoin the road.
- Turn left and right down the hill until you reach the bridge over Udale Beck. Turn right up the private road. Follow the track for a short time until the footpath leads up to your left. The footpath follows an old track through woodland and up the hill into open fields.
- Follow the path across the fields, crossing several field boundaries, until you reach a track. Cross the track and follow the raised line to your right.
- Follow this path for a while before joining the track just before Belhill Farm.When you reach the farm, do not go up to the house, but through the next gate into the old farmyard.
- On leaving the farmyard, follow the path through the field and down to your right. Keep going until you reach the footbridge over the Beck,
- Climb up the hill following the track to a stile on your right. Cross this and follow the footpath over an old bridge and up to Skelbow Barn. The path leads down across the fields staying on the right hand side of the wall. It then joins a track up the hill and back to Little Cragg car park.
About this walk
Caton and Brookhouse are situated on the north-facing slope of the Lune Valley. The villages lie in a scenic area near the celebrated Crook O’Lune - painted by Turner, praised by the poets Thomas Gray and William Wordsworth, and admired by Queen Victoria.
Caton-with-Littledale Parish contains a wide range of habitats, which are home to a variety of special birds, including the rare hen harrier, the symbol of the Forest of Bowland AONB.
Birds to look out for include:
- The lapwing, thousands of which are attracted to Bowland’s farmland in springtime. They nest in fields and need damp, boggy areas, which teem with the insects and bugs they eat.
- The grouse, which makes its home in the heather moorland. Careful management of heather for grouse also helps other birds like the golden plover and curlew.
- The rare hen harrier and our smallest falcon, the merlin. The heather moorland in the area is the most important breeding ground for hen harriers in England.
