Walks you can reach from Hindley by train

Time: 4h30–9h30

Walk details: Slow Ways.

A scenic route. A scenic, easy-to-follow coastal walk on generally well-maintained paths, leaving Formby through a golf course and pine forest and then following the Trans Pennine Trail beside sand dunes and marram grass before a roadside stretch into Southport. Mostly flat; the woods have rougher pounded-earth paths with rises and falls. Follows the Trans Pennine Trail for a section; both ends are on the same railway line, and the walk can be started from Freshfield station.

Time: 3h30–7h

Lunch: Coffee shops at both ends.

Warnings: There is a footbridge and gated, signalled level crossings near Formby that are not accessible to all; the path can get sandy in places.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

The scenery was very pretty. Almost entirely along the Rochdale Canal towpath, crossing the Pennine summit, on pretty Millstone Grit bridges and lock walls. The towpath has puddles and a few cobbled, cambered or planked sections, plus a wooded and muddy final stretch to Todmorden station. Follows the Rochdale Canal (including its summit) and is part of the National Cycle Network. Waterfalls tumble down the hills either side of the canal; an air vent for the railway Summit Tunnel can be spotted.

Waterway: almost all along the Rochdale Canal.

Time: 2h30–5h

1 lunch spot: the Summit Inn

Warnings: One tricky stretch of towpath under the A58 Halifax Road and up the side of Durn Lock is cambered, sloping and cobbled. The wooded final section to Todmorden station can be muddy with planks across it.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

A long route mixing well-paved residential roads, earthen and tarmacked footpaths, long unpaved embanked roads with no verges, field paths crossing turf fields and farmland, with stiles and little footbridges and level crossings. The final section follows a canal and drops into reedbeds. Can be split at New Lane station, which the route passes.

Time: 4h30–9h

2 lunch spots: burscough — the Farmer's Arms, or the Slipway

Warnings: Follows a busy road for a sixth of the walk. A long, unpaved and often busy verge-less road built on embankments, including a humpback bridge over an old railway line that hides oncoming vehicles to the last minute, makes for a hair-raising and potentially dangerous section. Two level crossings with stair-stile access.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

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.

Time: 2h–4h

Warnings: 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.

Walk details: Slow Ways.