Walks you can reach from Buckshaw Parkway by train

Blackpool North Station to Poulton-le-Fylde Station (Lancashire)

30m direct from Buckshaw Parkway.

A pleasant route out of Blackpool on suburban roads and through Stanley Park, then a cycle-and-walkway and a choice of hard-surfaced track or gravelled woodland path beside a stream and before housing estates and paved roads into Poulton. Largely flat and easy underfoot. Passes Blackpool Zoo. Stanley Park has an Art Deco cafe, gardens and a boating lake (occasionally affected by avian flu restrictions).

Easy: 7km, gentle ascents.

Lunch: An Art Deco cafe in Stanley Park, plus facilities in Normoss and at the Poulton end.

Documented by Slow Ways — download GPX route

Blackrod Station to Westhoughton Station (Lancashire)

15m direct from Buckshaw Parkway.

A mostly good walk let down in places by poor path maintenance, with industrial-estate streets, a narrow and quite busy lane and a faint footpath that is hard to find. Crosses a busy road near Westhoughton.

8km.

From Westhoughton, the busy Church Street is best crossed at a zebra crossing south of the railway bridge. Part of Long Lane is narrow and busy with traffic, so take care.

Documented by Slow Ways — download GPX route

Preston Station to Blackburn Station (Lancashire)

15m direct from Buckshaw Parkway.

A long route with a very enjoyable, good-surfaced opening section to Bamber Bridge and with a minor road to cross and a narrow 62 cm gap. Avenham Park near the start has free toilets.

20km.

Documented by Slow Ways — download GPX route

Blackpool North Station to St Annes-on-the-Sea Station (Lancashire)

45m direct from Buckshaw Parkway.

wonderful views over the sea to North Wales and to the Lake District. A very flat seaside walk on recently resurfaced, wide and smooth pedestrian-friendly paths from the station to the coast, then about three miles of off-road promenade. Towards St Annes the plotted route goes inland along a main road behind high dunes for over a mile and though it can mostly be walked along the sands instead. The promenade section can largely be walked along the beach or dunes, tides permitting, for a quieter, more scenic alternative. Public toilets along the prom are coin-operated.

Easy: 9km, gentle ascents.

Lunch: A never-ending supply of fish and chips and seaside refreshments along the promenade, and shops and cafes in St Annes.

Documented by Slow Ways — download GPX route

Manchester Oxford Road Station to Gorton Station (Lancashire)

45m direct from Buckshaw Parkway.

An urban canal-side walk following the Rochdale and Ashton canals out of the city centre, then a green cycleway. Towpath is largely flat and paved and but some sections are cobbled and there are steps at the canal access. Passes the Etihad Campus and Co-op Live Arena; the later cycleway follows the course of the former Stockport Branch Canal.

Easy: 7km, moderate ascents.

There are steps from Oxford Street down to the canal. The path where the route leaves Lees Street by Gorton station can be very overgrown; a minor diversion via Beeth Street and Barrass Street is better.

Documented by Slow Ways — download GPX route

Leyland Station to Chorley Station (Lancashire)

3m direct from Buckshaw Parkway.

A varied walk using footpaths and roads through good countryside, with a fair few stiles, steps and muddy sections, passing through parkland, woods and over fields, crossing the M6 on a bridge. Some unpaved rural roads and a stretch of busy main road and plus a steep drop on sloping steps and a wooded valley edge. Passes through Worden Park and Astley Park; note Worden Park is locked at sunset. Astley Hall has toilets and a cafe in the old stables.

Easy: 9km, moderate ascents.

A stretch of busy main road into Euxton, though paved. A field footpath leaves the road on the outside of a bend from the non-pavement side, making it difficult to cross, though traffic lights under a narrow railway bridge help. Several stiles and muddy sections.

Lunch stop: Astley Hall cafe.

Documented by Slow Ways — download GPX route

Kirkham and Wesham Station to Preston Station (Lancashire)

15m direct from Buckshaw Parkway.

A route using quiet roads (with pavements until past Treales) for the first third and the Lancaster Canal towpath for most of the rest and generally very pleasant though the first canal section can be very muddy after rain. A flight of shallow steps down to the towpath; the canal becomes more urban approaching Preston. Passes the entrance to the Millennium Ribble Link, a canalised river opened in 2002 connecting the Lancaster Canal to the River Ribble; detour possible at Haslam Park.

14km.

The first stretch of the canal path can be very muddy after rain. The first half of the canal is within the emergency zone for the Westinghouse nuclear fuel works (test siren on the first Tuesday of certain months).

Lunch stops: the Hand and Dagger, or the Final Whistle cafe.

Documented by Slow Ways — download GPX route

St Annes-on-the-Sea Station to Kirkham and Wesham Station (Lancashire)

30m direct from Buckshaw Parkway.

A very road-based route, hard-surfaced throughout, with some quiet country roads without pavements and some nicer off-road sections along Green Drive and the promenade between Lytham and St Annes. The Fylde is low-lying and wet and so field footpaths are often wet and poorly maintained. A variation using roads to avoid the flooded footpath at Eastham Hall.

16km.

Some quiet country roads have no pavements, and busier roads have narrow pavements (about a metre wide).

Documented by Slow Ways — download GPX route

Poulton-le-Fylde Station to Kirkham and Wesham Station (Lancashire)

30m direct from Buckshaw Parkway.

15km. Gentle ascents.

Documented by Slow Ways — download GPX route

Blackpool North Station to Kirkham and Wesham Station (Lancashire)

30m direct from Buckshaw Parkway.

A varied route through parks and woods between Blackpool and Staining, then farm tracks and field paths parallel to the railway, with some long grass and parallel cycle paths that can confuse. Avoids a fast and narrow pavement-less road between Weeton and Wesham. Passes through Stanley Park, with its Art Deco cafe building; woods carpeted with wild garlic in spring; Staining lies about a third of the way along.

17km.

Lunch: Staining, about a third of the way, has a pub and a convenience shop.

Documented by Slow Ways — download GPX route

Preston Station to Leyland Station (Lancashire)

6m direct from Buckshaw Parkway.

A mix of shared cycle paths along a former railway line, pavements, quiet country lanes and rougher rail-side field paths with livestock. The opening cycle track, raised above its surroundings, is popular and pleasant; the field paths hug the railway fence with stiles and a narrow gap between an electric fence and the railway fence. The first third is pleasant and the rest more tedious.

9km.

Steps and stiles make it foot-only. A field footpath south of the West Coast Main Line was guarded by horses and can be muddy. A narrow 50cm gap between an electric fence and the railway fence needs care.

Documented by Slow Ways — download GPX route

Chorley Station to Adlington Station (Lancashire)

3m direct from Buckshaw Parkway.

scenic canal path. A mostly flat canal towpath walk along the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, with wooded banks and wild flowers, plus quiet roads at the Chorley end. Towpath surface is walkable and largely tarmac; access involves a few steps and cobbled slopes and cycle barriers. The M61 is audible for part of the canal stretch towards Chorley.

Easy: 6km, moderate ascents.

Lunch: There are refreshment stops, shops, an eco-refill shop and a pub along the route.

Documented by Slow Ways — download GPX route