Sedbergh and Millthrop

A closed loop starting and finishing at the Information Centre on Main Street in Sedbergh, 4 km (2.5 miles) total, with a minimum time of about 1 hour and roughly 1 to 1.5 hours at an unhurried pace with stops. The going is moderately level, staying in the valley bottom between about 105 and 137 m, so there is no sustained climb.

From Main Street the walk turns up Vicarage Lane, crosses the Settlebeck school grounds and the narrow New Bridge over the River Rawthey, then picks up the riverside path downstream to Millthrop Bridge. Cross that narrow bridge and follow the signed Birks footpath through fields and Akay Wood, passing Birks House, before returning beside the sports fields and cricket pitch into the town centre. The rewards are the riverside stretch, oak and ash woodland with exotic 19th-century planting, and a bench with a view out toward the Howgill Fells.

Easy to moderate, but not a smooth path throughout:

This is not a wheelchair or pushchair route.

• Riverside tread can be rocky and muddy, so grippy footwear is worth it.
• Narrow stiles and gates appear along the field sections.
• Two narrow bridge crossings, single file in places.
• Short sections on and across roads near the town.

Park in Sedbergh, either the Main Street car park at SD 65906 92180 or near the library at SD 65785 91993. Toilets, cafes, pubs and shops are all in town, which makes this a good walk to bookend with a meal or a browse rather than carrying much with you.

Dogs are welcome on the public rights of way here. Keep them on a lead in fields with livestock, use a short lead between March and July, and keep them under close control around livestock and wildlife. Expect field boundaries and stiles that dogs need help with.

It is a short, low-relief loop rather than a fell walk, so anyone after big ascent or long views for most of the way will find it modest. Parts pass school grounds, a rugby pitch, sports fields and a cricket pitch, so it feels town-edge rather than remote. The stiles, narrow bridges and muddy riverside limit who can comfortably do it. If you want a much bigger day, a long-distance valley stage from Sedbergh is a materially different and far longer undertaking, not an extension of this loop.