Bardal one

Verified Slow Way

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A pleasant walk between the two towns, with a nice green interlude in the middle, along good footpaths.

From Barrow station, it's a lengthy pavement walk gradually uphill, but the pavements are wide, and it's a nice leafy neighbourhood, despite walking alongside a busy main road. Eventually, we reach the area of Furness Hospital, and here we leave the road, cutting through a small wood before joining a quiet road heading down into a valley.

Paved on one side, with a short break as we walk through the ruin of a medieval gateway, we come into view of the grand site of Furness Abbey. The pavement switches sides as we cross towards the abbey, before running out as we pass the museum and entrance to the majestic ruins (which I thoroughly recommend if you want to take a break in the route). As the unpaved road turns away uphill, we take a footpath. Through a tunnel, the footpath runs alongside the railway running through the lush, green snd wonderfully named Vale of Nightshade. At the end, the footpath becomes a track leading uphill to the road.

Here, we have to cross, which may be a problem if busy, as it's on an uphill bend. Once across, the route passes down a drive passing a couple of houses, before coming another shady, wooded footpath. Only broken by a couple of tunnels, it's a long walk into Dalton.

Another road crossing to gain access to a footpath, and we eventually arrive at Dalton railway station, and the end of the route.

A good route, despite the initial road walk. The road crossings are the only real points of concern, but easily surpassed by keeping an eye on traffic, and, once out of Barrow, the pavements and crossings lack any ramps or low kerbs, so, coupled with sometimes muddy footpaths, may not be accessible to wheeled users.

Walked Barrow->Dalton February on a nice day. First section up Abbey Road is comfortable enough with wide pavements but a lot of side road crossings and I'd find an alternative route if you're sensitive to fumes, as it's very heavily trafficked. Once you come off it's quiet roads and footpaths the rest of the way, but the crossing of Abbey road past the abbey itself isn't great, wide road with poor visibility along the bends. On that note Furness abbey is well worth a shuffle around, and it's a crying shame English Heritage deem fit to only open it on a weekend and charge you a fortune to get in (unless of course you're willing to engage in a little willful trespass). Beyond that the path to Dalton is pleasant with well-kept hedgerows and only a little muddy in spots. A few benches too sit and look at the birds and plenty of bridges to tunnel under. The Brown Cow at Dalton is perfectly placed for a pint and very friendly and charming, and the "castle" is a short walk up a steep hill from there. The final stretch of footpath to the station carries a severe dog turd warning.

I followed this route from Dalton to Barrow, and most of the first 60% of it was along an enclosed footpath/cycle route, away from the road but near the railway, often with smallholdings nearby. It was quiet and free from rubbish. I liked it, but I suppose some may feel it was a bit isolated. Crossing the busy Abbey Road was a bit tricky, with a blind bend from this direction, but the Vale of Nightshade was nice, and led, via a very low tunnel, to the grounds of Furness Abbey, which was a real treat.
From here the route goes along a straight busy main road into the town centre. There are some pleasant buildings, and the pavements are wide and tree-lined.

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