(S/E) 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.
(1) Turn left up the driveway for Smoker Hill Cottage. Follow the track over a small 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 dish to Providence Farm. Continue along the track beyond the farm for half a mile to a road.
(2) 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. Turn left and follow the lane to a triangular junction by a pond.
(3) Turn left here (signposted Lostock Gralam) and follow Park Lane, which is vergeless as far as the junction with Mere Lane. Turn right down Mere Lane. Pass Beaver Close on the left, then right into Jacobs Way. Go through the gates ahead of you and down the slope to reach an interpretation panel by the side of the Mere.
(4) Turn left along the lakeside footpath to a kissing gate into open fields. Pass a jetty and go through a couple more gates into woodland, ignoring a path off to the left. A boardwalk leads through reeds to a kissing gate into a field; ignore another footpath to the left here and continue along the lakeside past another jetty. Another kissing gate leads to a further field, as the lake begins to narrow.
(5) Just before the top end of the field, turn right onto a signposted permissive path over a footbridge. This path bears right through reedy scrub before running below a field to a wooden kissing gate. Continue in similar vein, with a fence on your left and the wooded lakeside to your right. At one point the path bends away from the lake then turns back towards it. Eventually, turn right through another wooden kissing gate into trees and follow the path back to the waterside. Cross a grassy area to the interpretation board and turn left, back up the slope to Jacobs Way.
(4) Turn left and walk back towards Mere Lane. Just after Beaver Close, turn right into a small triangular park; bear right to an exit into Clover Drive.
(6) Take a few steps left to the T-junction with Park Road, and turn right. Follow the road for a little over a quarter of a mile, until you reach the Red Lion.
(7) At the T-junction beyond the pub, turn right, then cross into Spinks Lane. Follow the lane to its end then follow a grassy track beyond the last entrance on the right. 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 (Linnards Lane).
(8) Turn left and follow the sometimes vergeless road over the Smoker Brook and then up to the A556.
(9) Turn left and walk along the pavement back to the Smoker, crossing at the pedestrian crossing in front of the pub.(S/E)
