Walking in Barrow and Dalton
There are many great places to walk in and near Barrow and Dalton, whether you’re on your own or want to walk with a group. You’ll find streets rich in industrial heritage, a fabulous refurbished park, new pedestrian areas…and miles of fantastic coastline, much of it nature reserves.
Organised walks
The Furness Families Walk4Life project runs regular walks for families from children’s centres. It can help you follow a 12-week walking plan, including led walks and individual advice and support.
Feet First Furness runs short and easy health walks every day of the week at various locations in Barrow, Dalton, Ulverston and Walney, and summer evening walks at North Walney Nature Reserve. You can also sign up for a free email newsletter with details of these and other walks.
Local Ramblers Groups lead a wide range of walks, including shorter walks as well as more challenging countryside walks. Contact Furness Ramblersor Summit Good Walking Group for people in their 20s and 30s.
Details of all walks led by Ramblers Groups in Cumbria are available from Lake District Ramblers and most Ramblers walks in the area are listed here.
The Barrow and Peninsulas Walking Festival takes place in July with a variety of free walks, including the chance to walk across the sands. More information from the Tourist Information Centre.
For information about paid-for guided walks in the surrounding countryside, nature reserves and across the sands to Piel Island contact the Tourist Information Centre or see www.lakesguidedwalks.co.uk.
Parks and open spaces
Barrow Park is a splendid large Edwardian urban park with gardens, lakes, bandstands, sports facitilies and a dramatic cenotaph.
Other parks and green spaces include Channelside Haven on the Barrow side of the Jubilee Bridge, built in the shape of a shell; Hindpool Urban Park; historic Ormsgill Quarry with its dramatic sandstone cliffs, and the adjoining Ormsgill Reservoir; and the attractive play area of Vickerstown Park on Walney Island. Contact Barrow Park for details.
There are several coastal nature reserves that provide great walks as well as havens for wildlife, including:
How Tun Wood between Ormsgill and Hawcoat is a woodland created by the Woodland Trust to mark the millennium, with new trees, fine views and links to Ormsgill Quarry.
There are many good walks around the ruined Furness Abbey – the famous Bow Bridge is nearby and there are also paths that link to two lovely woodlands, Abbotswood and Millwood (information from Barrow Park).
Further afield, Barrow and Dalton are only a short bus ride away from the world-famous landscapes of the Lake District National Park with a huge range of attractions and excellent countryside walks to suit all abilities.
Walking routes, maps and leaflets
Discover Barrow on Foot is a series of four free leaflets published by the Dock Museum – all short, easy walks with a mix of town and coast, with wheelchair friendly sections. Exploring the Ancient Capital of Furness is a free leaflet with five short, gentle walks around Dalton exploring the town and countryside. Download here.
The Red Man Path runs on the Barrow side of the Walney channel from Channelside Haven to Cocken Tunnel, with a section over restored slag heaps. This is a surfaced path with good access. It runs through former iron smelting areas, where the iron ore stained workers red.
The new and fully accessible Furness Abbey Greenway runs from Roose station to Furness Abbey, from where there are good footpaths to Dalton. Walney Greenway coastal path runs from Biggar to Earnse Bay
Several longer routes pass through the area: The Haemetite Trail circular route via Barrow, Askam and Lindal; the Cistercian Way from Grange-over-Sands to Roa Island; and the Cumbria Coastal Way from Silverdale almost to the Scottish border.
More information, maps and leaflets on all these routes are available from the Tourist Information Centre.
The Barrow Official Guide and Street Plan with street maps of Barrow, Dalton and major villages, costs £2 from the Tourist Information Centre. For countryside walking, get the Ordnance Survey Explorer OL6 map (The English Lakes: South-western area). Order online at a discount from Aqua3.
Download this information as a printable leaflet (PDF, 188kB).
Note this leaflet is designed to be printed on both sides and folded in half.
