Walks you can reach from Kearsley by train

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: 3h30 (2h walking, 1h30 lunch)

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.

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: 6h (4h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)

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.