(S/E) From the car park entrance, turn left down the lane past the front of the Plough & Flail.
(1) At the beginning of the drive to Barlow House Farm, turn left (“Private Drive”). Follow the drive round a right-hand bend to the gates of Lindow Manor Farm, where you take the byway to the left. Follow the byway round a right-hand corner and past some mobile homes on your right.
(2) After the mobile homes, look out for a waymark post, where you leave the byway to cross the field and drive on your left. Go through a kissing gate opposite, into birch woodland. Follow the path beyond, with former peat workings on either side. Cross a footbridge onto a crossing track, take a couple of steps to the right and then cross a second footbridge to continue in the same direction as before. The path continues through woodland to a further footbridge, beyond which you bear right and leave the trees below Saltersley Hall. Negotiate a stile and a couple of steps and turn right along the track in front of the farmhouse.
Beyond the farmhouse, leave the track over a stile on your left. Walk along the field parallel to the lakeshore to a stile in the far right-hand corner, ignoring a path off to the left at the end of the field. Ignore a (padlocked) fisherman’s gate, instead of walking to the left of and above the lakeside fence to a footpath sign. Bear left along a brief hollow way then turn right up a few steps to a kissing gate. Turn left and follow the lakeside path, with mobile homes to your left. Bear right where a path straight on is blocked by barbed wire to continue around the lake. At a footpath sign, leave the lakeside path to follow the slightly higher public footpath on the left which leads to a stile into a track. Follow the track ahead of you (left) past houses to the crossroads with Rotherwood Road.
(3) Turn left at the crossroads, past the gates of Sylvia Cottage. Pass the Animal Sanctuary and the sign reading “Bridle Path to Morley – No Through Road for Vehicles”, and then a further sign reading “Private No Through Road”. At a junction marked by a large stone block, turn right. Pass behind Cedar Lodge Farm until you reach the entrance to Newgate Nature Reserve; turn left onto a bridleway just past the reserve sign. Climb a low hill, bearing left when a footpath joins from the right. At the second junction of paths, carry straight on down the hill to a footbridge and barrier. Follow the path beyond to a gate and past a barn on the right.
(4) Walk up the track to a house called Sunnyside, where you turn right. Follow the pleasant hedged path until it bends left towards the road, at which point you go through a gateway into a field to continue in the same direction as before. Go through a kissing gate at the end of the field into another hedged section which, beyond another gate, becomes a rough drive that passes a couple of houses. At a junction, turn left and walk out to the road.
(5) Turn right and then, opposite Kings Road, right again along another rough track. Keep straight on at a junction to emerge in Racecourse Road. Cross over and go through the wooden kissing gate onto Lindow Common. Take the right-hand path, signposted to Oak Lane via Black Lake. Follow the path ahead until the Lake comes into view; leave the path to reach it and turn right, with the water on your left. At the end of the lake, turn right onto a path that passes a bench and bears right, across the common between two areas of heather, shortly meeting a fence on the left. At a crossroads of paths at the end of the fence, turn left and walk out to Racecourse Road.
(6) Cross into Lindow Lane and follow it to a T-junction beyond a house called The Nook. Turn left down a track between gardens. Carry straight on when a bridleway crosses, and follow the track past Battery House. Carry straight on when another track joins from the left. When you meet the Rotherwood Road bridleway at a T-junction, turn left. Beyond a gate by a house, carry on along the surfaced drive and pass the end of Springfield Drive.
(7) At the road, turn right, down Moor Lane, passing a bridleway (Clay Lane) on your left and new housing development (The Larches) on your right. When the metalled road bends right, take a track straight on that bends right to a gate. Follow the fenced track beyond across a field to Barlow House Farm. As you approach the farm, follow the path round to the left. At the farm entrance, turn left down the drive. When you meet the road, carry straight on to return to the Plough & Flail.(S/E)
