(S/E) From the car park of the Red Lion, turn right and walk out to the B5391. Turn right, then cross into Spinks Lane. Follow the lane to its end then follow a grassy track beyond the last entrance. Turn right at a footpath sign to a metal kissing gate into fields. Follow the left-hand side of the field then turn left before a footbridge, ignoring a track leading straight ahead. Follow a stream and hedge to a plank footbridge, where you turn right over the stream and through a metal gate. Cross to a similar gate in the hedge opposite leading into a green lane. Turn right and follow the track out to a road.
(1) Turn left and follow the sometimes vergeless road (Linnards Lane) over the Smoker Brook and then up to the A556. Cross the busy road with extreme care.
(2) Turn left for a few steps then right down a nothrough road by a brick farmhouse. Pass Holford Mill and cross the millstream. Turn right onto a public footpath before the Holford Estate gates. Follow the fenced path as it winds through woodland to emerge into a green lane. Follow this track, with distant views left to Holford Hall, to a T-junction with a track after a kissing gate. Turn left and follow the track to another junction. For a somewhat obstructed view of Holford Hall, go straight on for a short distance to a “viewing platform” with an interpretation panel, before returning to the junction. Take the Plumley turn and follow the track out of the trees and across a field. When a footpath leads off to the right, bear left along the track. At a set of gates, take the path over a stile on the left, then turn left over the stream.
(3) Follow the metalled lane out to the road. Turn left past Brookside Cottage and pass the junction with Moorcroft to the half-timbered Maltkin Farm, opposite Yewtree Road. Continue to a mini-roundabout by Plumley Methodist Church. Turn left along the left-hand pavement past the village shop and follow it to Henshaw Green Farm. Cross over and continue along the pavement on the right, beyond the junction with Whitehouse Lane. After a short section with no footway (care), you meet the A556 at the Smoker.
(4) Cross the main road at the lights in front of the pub then turn right, over another arm of the junction. Follow the main road for a quarter of a mile, crossing Smoker Brook partway along. Turn left up the driveway for Smoker Hill Cottage. Follow the track over a stream and between some farm buildings, then take the right-hand track when it divides below the cottage. Follow this track as it curves right, towards the radio telescope. Cross a stile by a gate and follow the track as it winds past the telescope to Providence Farm.
(5) Continue along the track for half a mile to a road. Turn left then right over a stile onto a field path (signposted “Frog Lane 1/2 mile”). Follow the right-hand edge of two fields, then bear left and right within a fence round a pond surrounded by trees. Cross a field to a stile then follow the hedge on your left to a track out to Frog Lane.
(6) Turn left and follow the lane to a triangular junction by a pond. Turn left here (signposted Lostock Gralam) and follow Park Lane, which is vergeless as far as the junction with Mere Lane. Unless detouring to the Mere, carry on along Park Lane back to the Red Lion.(S/E)
