Start : Plough & Flail pub (WA16 7DB) Grid ref. SJ 817 797
(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 right here and follow the bridleway (past a sign reading “Bridle Path to Moor Lane – No Through Road for Vehicles”). Continue straight on, beyond a gate, past recent peat workings on your right. Ignore a track between the workings on the right, and another restricted byway on the left. Beyond a gate by a house, carry on along the surfaced drive and pass the end of Springfield Drive.
(4) 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)
