Start/Finish Dunsop Bridge village, SD659501 Total distance 27.4km (17 miles) Total time 3-6 hours Maps OS Landranger 103 Blackburn & Burnley, Clitheroe & Skipton. Or Garmin GB Discoverer 1:50K Northern England & Midlands (GPS). Summary Superb natural riding with some steep climbs out of the valleys and long grassy descents. 1 Turn right out of the car park, over Dunsop Bridge, follow the road left at T-junction, turning right after 2km, signed Wild Boar park, just before Burholme bridge. Head uphill for 1.7km then go right on a (Tarmac) bridleway, uphill, keep right at fork. 2 Turn right off the Tarmac, off-road on the bridleway as the track bears left, following rough track through a gate into the trees. Follow the obvious trail, mostly downhill, until a climb out of the trees, through a gate and keep left, uphill through the grassy field. 3 Keep to the left of a red container and Mellor Knoll (hill on right) on no obvious trail, becoming grassy downhill, choosing your line down to the farm. Turn right to the road by the house, continue to the main road. Go left on this for 2.5km then right on a good bridleway (by a barn), uphill. 4 At field entrance bear left (no obvious track), uphill across the grassy field to/through a gate and continue (walk) to a fence along the top. Keep left, beside the fence, along a slightly more obvious track, to/through a gate. Keep ahead, bearing left, becoming downhill, hidden start to rocky, narrow singletrack with a big drop to the right. Take care. Follow faint grassy finish to Brennand farm. 5 Turn left on the good track, over a bridge to a junction and bear right (no access left), keeping right at immediate junction (ahead is steep bridleway). Keep left at fork after 100m (re-joining bridleway), continuing uphill, to/through a gate at the end of the track and keep right (wall on right), along no obvious trail, getting boggy and rough across a field for gradual but hard uphill section. 6 Go through the gate, cross small wooden bridge and follow slightly more obvious track to the left, uphill. Bear left at a wall, downhill, looking for a small gate, go through this, then head very steeply down a grassy hill to Whitendale (farm). Cross footbridge and keep ahead past the farm, through gates and bearing right, zig-zagging up a rocky uphill. 7 When it becomes more rideable look for faint right fork on the bridleway near the top (leaving the better track), following the occasional waymarkers and over a short boardwalk section, to the top. Go through a gate in a wall and bear right beside the wall on a grassy, shortly veering away to the left, away from wall, becoming a ridgetop trail on right side of valley, downhill. 8 The trail gets steeper and bumpier before turning to a nice worn singletrack. Go through gate at bottom and take very faint, rough track on left beside tree enclosure to a farm. Go through gates and then left on Tarmac. Go right on road for 2km then right on the (new) North Lancashire bridleway, follow the signs to the bottom (stream), then bear diagonally right uphill across the grassy field towards the barn. Join the good track by the barn, bearing right down to the farm and join the Tarmac leading back, downhill, to Dunsop Bridge.by wmbsu
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