Walks near Bolton by train
MapA day hike in the countryside is just a simple train journey away — explore the most charmingly located railway stations near Bolton and plan your next day of green.
Clitheroe Circular via Pendle Hill (Lancashire)
1 hour direct from Bolton.
Challenging circular climbing steeply to the summit of iconic Pendle Hill, with sweeping views over the Ribble Valley and southern Forest of Bowland, through the village of Pendleton.
Time: 4h30
Warnings: Steep climb; chilly and exposed on the summit. Decent footwear, waterproofs and extra layers essential.
Walk details: Discover Bowland (PDF).
Whalley to Clitheroe (Lancashire)
45 minutes direct from Bolton.
Abbey precinct, town centre, riverside path, golf course, open pasture, old drove road, moorland ridge, plateau summit, steep scarp, lush valley, meandering river and nature reserve.
Time: 2h30–5h
Warnings: Can be muddy.
Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).
New Mills Newtown to Chapel-en-le-Frith (Cheshire)
1 hour from Bolton, with one change.
Beautiful Peak District fringe landscape. Valley floor walk with canal towpath and former tramway trail. Historic route tracing pioneering industrial transport infrastructure through Peak District foothills.
Waterway: three quarters along the Peak Forest Canal.
Time: 2h30–5h
Warnings: Busy road sections; rough ground with old concrete and limestone blocks.
Walk details: Walk Midlands (tips, photos and local insights).
Buxton to Macclesfield (Derbyshire)
45 minutes from Bolton, with one change.
Spectacular views. Wild landscape of deep valleys and gritstone peaks and studded with peat bogs and pine forests. Buxton developed as a fashionable spa in 18th-19th centuries using profits from Dukes of Devonshire's copper mines. Macclesfield granted borough charter for market in 13th Century.
Time: 5h30–10h30
Warnings: Stiles; busy road with no pavement and fast traffic.
Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).
Similar walk: Walk Midlands (inc. GPX).
Entwistle Circular via Turton Tower (Lancashire)
15 minutes direct from Bolton.
West Pennine Moors circular on the Witton Weavers Way, past a string of reservoirs, into the steep-sided Turton Bottoms valley and Grade I-listed Turton Tower. Rich in industrial heritage and birdlife.
Turton Tower: A Grade I-listed manor house built around a medieval peel tower.
Warnings: A few short steep ascents.
Walk details: Community Rail Lancashire (PDF).
Langho Circular via Dinkley Suspension Bridge (Lancashire)
45 minutes direct from Bolton.
Countryside circular to a never-used railway cutting, crossing the Ribble on the Dinkley Suspension Bridge on the Ribble Way, past the twelfth-century Old Langho Church and an old Roman road.
Walk details: Community Rail Lancashire (PDF).
Whalley Circular via Whalley Viaduct (Lancashire)
45 minutes direct from Bolton.
River Calder circular contrasting two viaducts: the 48-arch brick Whalley Viaduct and the disused ten-arch stone Martholme Viaduct, near the historic village of Whalley with its parish church and abbey ruins.
Whalley Viaduct: A 48-arch brick railway viaduct striding across the Calder valley.
Whalley Abbey: The ruins of a 14th-century Cistercian abbey beside the River Calder.
Walk details: Community Rail Lancashire (PDF).
Accrington Circular via Baxenden (Lancashire)
45 minutes from Bolton, with one change.
Moorland circular up the high ground above Baxenden along the closed Accrington-Manchester railway, past bridge piers, old stone waggonway, the castellated New High Riley farm and broad town viewpoints.
Walk details: Community Rail Lancashire (PDF).
Rufford Circular via Mere Sands Wood (Lancashire)
45 minutes from Bolton, with one change.
Short, flat: the village of Rufford, the Lancashire Wildlife Trust's Mere Sands Wood (42 ha of lakes, woodland, wildfowl and waders) and Tudor Rufford Old Hall.
Mere Sands Wood: A 42-hectare Lancashire Wildlife Trust reserve of lakes and woodland rich in wildfowl and waders.
Walk details: Community Rail Lancashire (PDF).
Macclesfield Circular via Lamaload Reservoir (Cheshire)
45 minutes from Bolton, with one change.
Steep residential roads, rolling pastures, quarried hilltop, moorland edges, forest, isolated chapel, reservoir, long ridgeline and canal towpath.
Time: 7h
Warnings: Steep ascents.
Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).
Huncoat Circular via Huncoat Pit Top Nature Reserve (Lancashire)
45 minutes from Bolton, with one change.
Circular round the village of Huncoat, near Accrington, level then climbing to viewpoints over the Calder valley, past the pit-top nature reserve and remnants of the old brickworks and Perseverance Mill.
Walk details: Community Rail Lancashire (PDF).
Altrincham Circular via the Bridgewater Canal (Cheshire)
1 hour from Bolton, with one change.
Pedestrianised Altrincham, the Devisdale, woodland, a golf course and the Bridgewater Canal towpath, near the Dunham Massey estate.
The Bridgewater Canal: England's first major industrial-era canal, completed in 1761, whose tree-lined towpath threads continuously from rural Cheshire into central Manchester.
Dunham Massey: A National Trust Georgian mansion set in a 300-acre deer park, lying just west of the Altrincham circular route.
Time: 2h30
Lunch: Various pubs, cafes and takeaways in Altrincham, plus the Axe and Cleaver and Bay Malton pubs on the route.
Warnings: Take care crossing the golf course; towpath can be very muddy.
Walk details: Mid Cheshire Community Rail Partnership.