Walks between stations

[bennorthyork]

I'm a big fan of walking and often go out for the day travelling by train to one station, walking to and returning from another station. I normally like to do a walk of reasonable length, up to say 15 miles, but not mountaineering! I sometimes do easier walks, sometimes more difficult. Some of my favourites include:
Todmorden - Hebden bridge (along the canal),
Redcar - Saltburn (along the beach),
Commondale - Danby (across the moor)
and Corrour to Rannoch (across the moor).

I have 1 week in Scotland later in the year and would like any suggestions of walks between stations or links to websites with suitable walks. Up to 15 miles (but shorter is fine) and not too mountainous!

Thanks in advance!

 

[jopsuk]

Signs at the stations promote walking between Linlithgow, Polmont and Falkirk High. It's a flat walk- along the Union Canal towpath. Until the Falkirk Wheel was built, there were no locks on the canal at all. There's a fairly long tunnel near Falkirk High. If you fancy an extension, walking to and from the Wheel is good. You could even go for the whole length, from near Haymarket in Edinburgh, though the parts through the west of Edinburgh are perhaps not so scenic...

 

[Any Permitted]

Berney Arms or Reedham to Great Yarmouth. It's along Breydon Water and there's a friendly pub at Berney Arms. The walk is about 5 miles from Berney Arms and about 8 from Reedham.

Sheringham to Wells-next-the-Sea is a beautiful walk along the North Norfolk coast and then you can take a bus to Hunstanton and on to King's Lynn to catch the train. The buses are fairly regular and the walk is around 15 miles. Going the other way from Cromer to Great Yarmouth is probably better for a cycle ride being as it's about 25 miles but it's equally lovely.

I haven't done this one but Ipswich to Felixstowe is apparently a nice walk along the estuary of the Orwell. You can take the ferry across from Felixstowe to Harwich if some extra excitement is needed. The countryside around Manningtree is lovely and it's about 15 miles from Ipswich and Colchester so that might be worth looking into but I don't know if there's a good route.

 

[4SRKT]

Shipley to Steeton & Silsden is one I do reasonably often. It's about 10 miles, on the towpath from Shipley into Silsden village, then along the road to the station.

Shipley to Leeds is also a good one using the L&L Canal, but a bit further. You can stop at Kirkstall if it's getting too much and walk up to Headingley station from there.

Ilkley to Bingley or Saltaire across the moor takes some beating IMHO, but the route to Saltaire is pretty difficult to find once you come off the moor. Bingley's easier, but it's along the road.

Marsden into Huddersfield is great, with the option to break at Slaithwaite.

A few times in my youth I did Bempton to Scarborough, which is a bit more of a stretch.

 

[bennorthyork]

Great ideas! Thanks!

 

[route:oxford]

Have a google about for Dunblane, Bridge of Allan, Dumyat, Sheriffmuir and the Ochils.

There are some great walks in the Ochil Hills if you go "the long way round" between Dunblane and Bridge of Allan.

There is also a good walk or two from Dunblane to Clackmannanshire over the Ochils - I'm not sure what the pedestrian routes are like between hillfoots villages and Alloa Railway station though.

 

[jopsuk]

The pedestrian routes aren't too bad, at least to Menstrie and Tillicoultry. To menstrie, it's a walk through Alloa and Tullibody- the short stretch between the two has pavement- and then the hill down into Menstrie is OK for walking. To Tillicoultry, there's the old railway route forming a path from Sauchie (which blends into Alloa) down. The roads down into Alva aren't quite so amenable to walkers.

Not so many trains (well, 13 a day), but you could also do a walk over the hills to Gleneagles.

 

[Z12XE]

There are walks between all stations on the Sudbury line, you can download the leaflets here, they are old leaflets but the walks are still valid AFAIA.

There are also station to station walks on all the other Great Eastern Branches (contact via the Sudbury Line website if you/anyone wants a scan of them), plus loads on the East Suffolk line, see their walks website for details

 

[northwichcat]

Greenfield-Marsden over the Pennines.

 

[Oliver]

St Ives back to Lelant Saltings, mainly along the beach. But remember when you get on the train at LS to ask for a ticket from Hayle to St Ives, which is cheaper even though it's two stops further away. IIRC it's because the County Council sets the prices from the P&R at LS. You have to ask, the conductor is not supposed to volunteer that advice.

 

[4SRKT]

I walked from Pont Croesor on the WHR to the FR station in Porthmadog. I didn't really want to, but as the WHR hasn't got into Porthmadog yet, I thought a walk would be nicer (and cheaper) than the connecting open top Bristol VR. I'm pretty sure I was right.

 

[LE Greys]

Berney Arms or Reedham to Great Yarmouth. It's along Breydon Water and there's a friendly pub at Berney Arms. The walk is about 5 miles from Berney Arms and about 8 from Reedham.

I remember trying Berney-Reedham once. The riverbank was so overgrown that I ended up hitch-hiking on a boat. Mind you, the pub has Woodforde's Wherry.

Lymington-Brockenhurst is quite a decent walk. You can start from Town or Pier, but there's a good fish and chip shop in the town, and the quay is a good place to eat them (I have loads of shots of CEPs crossing the bridge from there). Anyway, there are several routes, some along the river, others closer to the line, but they mostly end up running through the New Forest for quite some distance.

 

[Nightrider]

Glasgow Central to Glasgow Queen Street.

 

[imagination]

Pangbourne - Goring & Streatley
Marlow - Henley along the river Thames
Any pair of stations you like between Theale and Thatcham or Newbury and Bedwyn
Conwy or Llandudno Junction to Llandudno (although the main road makes one section of this horrible)

^all walks I've done and enjoyed

 

[At_traction]

Glasgow Central to Glasgow Queen Street.

Farringdon UndergrounD to Farringdon Thameslink.

But as for the cross-Glasgow connection, it's actually faster to walk between these stations than to use public transport - it seems that even the bus "connections" are such that walking beats them by a good margin. I myself took the subway merely to bag the Clockwork Orange - and as there was plenty of time before the connection...

 

[Proud Salopian]

The Heart of Wales Line, with its umpteen stations and halts, offers great walking potential.

 

[Chapeltom]

Hope or Edale to Chinley on the Hope Valley Line, 12/13 miles from Hope or 8 miles from Edale but it is a nice route and I know it like the back of my hand.

 

[PR1Berske]

glasgow central to glasgow queen street.

lol:d

 

[jamesontheroad]

I have 1 week in Scotland later in the year and would like any suggestions of walks between stations or links to websites with suitable walks. Up to 15 miles (but shorter is fine) and not too mountainous!

Despite going behind a paywall, this excellent walk between Courrour and Rannoch is still accessible on The Times' website. Provided you can catch the early morning train from Glasgow (not Sundays) this is supposed to be an excellent walk between two stations. Maybe too demanding, though? I haven't done it but mean to soon.

 

[General Zod]

Marlow - Maidenhead via Bourne End and Cookham along the Thames Path is really enjoyable on a warm day !
Banbury - Bicester along the canal
Haddenham & Thame Pkwy - Princes Risborough ( via Chinnor )
Wendover - Amersham and beyond
Cheddington / Tring / Hemel H along the Grand Union Canal

There are a plethora of walks to choose from on the Thames and Chiltern Lines.
Some very nice walks along the proposed route of HS2 !

 

[philjo]

Did a good walk Dent-Ribblehead last week.
A pull up the hill along the road to start with from Dent Station then turn right along tracks with good views. Later on there is a sharp pull up as you climb on to Blea Moor - the footpath goes directly above the tunnel so you pass the air vents. Then down past Blea Moor Signal box & past the viaduct. About 10 miles. Good views of the railway/Dentdale & the 3 peaks.

Another good one is to get off at Menston or Burley in Wharfedale & walk along the edge of Burley Moor to Cow & calf and descend into Ilkley.

 

[Nightrider]

Helensburgh Upper on the West Highland Line to Helensburgh Central on the North Clyde Line.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helensburgh_Upper_railway_station

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helensburgh_Central_railway_station

And the walk is downhill all the way.

 

[12CSVT]

Loughborough Midland to Loughborough Central

 

[yorkie]

Glasgow Central to Glasgow Queen Street.

Not particularly scenic, I reckon the OP is best looking elsewhere for inspiration

Farringdon UndergrounD to Farringdon Thameslink.

There's no such station as 'Farringdon Thameslink' but 8 steps plus about 5 paces either side of the steps doesn't count as 'a walk' in my book

Helensburgh Upper on the West Highland Line to Helensburgh Central on the North Clyde Line.

Done that. I wouldn't do it in the other direction! Not particularly interesting but I do like to do such walks to see what the places are like. It's a lot easier than Falkirk High to Grahamstone (again I'd not want to do that in the other direction).

My suggestions would be: Whinhill / Port Glasgow to Johnstone / Paisley Canal and Glengarnock to Johnstone / Paisley Canal. We cycled these routes, our route / timings were:

Whinhill [WNL]              1221              1224           3    
Port Glasgow Upper Pass     1259     Pass     1259           On time    
Kilmacolm          Pass     1322     Pass     1320           -2    
Bridge of Weir     Pass     1345     Pass     1341           -4    
Houston            Pass     1400     Pass     1349           -11    
Cart Junction      Pass     1407     Pass     1358           -9    
Johnstone [JHN]    1425     1430     1406     1430           On time    
Glengarnock [GLG]  1445     1450     1445     1447           -3    
Kilbirnie          Pass     1509     Pass     1459           -10    
Lochwinnoch        1540     1605     1528     1608           3    
Castle Semple      Pass     1620     Pass     1618           -2     
Kilbarchan         Pass     1645     Pass     1635           -10    
Johnstone North    Pass     1657     Pass     No log                
Cart Junction      Pass     1702     Pass     1649           -13    
Elderslie West Jn  Pass     1711     Pass     1655           -16    
Elderslie          Pass     1717     Pass     1657           -20    
Elderslie East Jn  Pass     1719     Pass     1659           -20    
Paisley West       Pass     1733     Pass     No log                
Pasiley Canal [PCN]1744              1711                    -33

We linked the 2 routes by getting the train from Johnstone to Glengarnock, to avoid doubling back.

Each route matches the 15 miles in Scotland criteria! Both disused lines, lovely surfaces. Just don't meander around the path without looking though - the surface is so good that some 'racer' types use the path, we were overtaken by some doing around 25mph.

Our timings were based on around 6mph average, with faster timings assumed for the downhill bits. I expect 'rail britain' to keep to our timings on foot though as he walks at 6mph but I'd say realistically each route could be done in 1 day walking. I wouldn't attempt to walk both routes in 1 day.

You could start in Port Glasgow rather than Whinhill. The downside is that there is more of a climb from Port Glasgow (the old Port Glasgow Upper station was a lot higher than the existing station) but the section from Whinhill to Port Glasgow is a bit rubbish, and we were lucky that none of us got a puncture (not a problem walking admittedly).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenock_and_Ayrshire_Railway
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridge_of_Weir_Railway
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lochwinnoch_Loop_Line
http://www.railbrit.co.uk/location.php?loc=Elderslie

 

[At_traction]

There's no such station as 'Farringdon Thameslink'

Well, there is one now.

 

[Waddon]

Hassocks to Lewes
Follow the footpath alongside the line from Hassocks until you get to the road bridge before the tunnel. Cut across the cricket pitch and go up to the jack and jill windmills, then follow the South Downs way all the way to Lewes (find your own way through Lewes town to the train station hehe) about 8 miles

Or just go Southease - Eastbourne on the South Downs way (long one, about 17 miles)

Also like Bedwyn to Newbury along the canal. Long and flat, and close to the rail line most of the way

 

[Invincibles]

Did a good walk Dent-Ribblehead last week.
A pull up the hill along the road to start with from Dent Station then turn right along tracks with good views. Later on there is a sharp pull up as you climb on to Blea Moor - the footpath goes directly above the tunnel so you pass the air vents. Then down past Blea Moor Signal box & past the viaduct. About 10 miles. Good views of the railway/Dentdale & the 3 peaks.

Another good one is to get off at Menston or Burley in Wharfedale & walk along the edge of Burley Moor to Cow & calf and descend into Ilkley.

I did the reverse, Ribblehead to Dent the other week but took in Whernside and then descended into Dentdale before climibing up to the station at Dent.

Ribblehead viaduct complete with The Waverley

some decent views to be had from Whernside

the shafts of Blea Moor.

A normal Northern service 158 approaches Dent station

 

[kennethw]

the following are advised on foot if you buy a though ticket

1. Farnborough Main to Farnborough North
2. Dorchester South to Dorchester West

And in Cornwall, if you just missed the Looe train at Liskeard, you could run downhill and catch it at Coombe

 

[trickyvegas]

This a real hobby of mine.

So far I have done:

Stalybridge -Huddersfield
Stalybridge - Marsden
Marsden - Hebden Bridge
Liverpool - Maghull
Maghull - Burscough
Burscough - Adlington (Lancs)
Adlington (Lancs) - Blackburn
Blackburn - Colne
Colne - Skipton
Skipton - Shipley
Shipley - Leeds
Rose Hill Marple - Macclesfield
Marsden - Greenfield
Edale - Hope
Garsdale - Ribblehead

This weekend I'm looking to do Hebden Bridge to either Oxenhope or Haworth.

 

[yTocynnwr]

The Cambrian Railways Partnership have put together some interesting walks from stations on both the coast and the main line. Maps of the walks can be found at Machynlleth & Pwllheli stations and on the Cambrain Rail Partnership website here http://www.thecambrianline.co.uk/Cambrian_Trailways.htm