*Saltaire, West Yorkshire*
SATURDAY, 14th November 2026
Some useful information:
The usual car park and toilets are closed off at the moment so we can go to Salt’s Mill where there are two sets of toilets on the top floor, stairs to one set and a lift to the café toilets. Pubs & Cafes – The Boathouse Inn, Don’t Tell Titus (pub/café), Cultures (draft house and deli), Salt’s Mill Café, Giddy Arts (coffee/pastries), Salt’s Village Bakery (small seating area/takeaway)
‘A’ (Strenuous) Leader: Julie Longley
Distance: 10-11 miles. Mainly flat.
West through town and a park to the river, along the river to Beck Foot then up to St Ives estate. Round the park past Coppice Pond to Lady Blantyre’s Rock, then loop around on Altar Lane. Possible detour to Druids Altar, down to canal at Bingley. Short detour to look at Five Rise Locks, then 3 miles back along the canal to Salt’s Mill.
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‘B’ (Moderate) Leader: Sue Davies
Distance: 6.75 miles. Total ascent 920 feet.
We start our walk from Salt’s Mill heading down to a footbridge and across the River Aire. Walk through Walker Wood and Baildon Bank, up some steep steps and onto a bridleway. Passing Hope Farm where we may see llamas being walked. Skirt around Hope Hill and up to Dobrudden Farm – this high spot gives us amazing views, weather permitting. Steep decline now to join the Millennium Way. Walk alongside a beck, over a few footbridges and through Shipley Glen and Trench Wood. Downhill onto the Leeds/Liverpool Canal towpath heading back to the impressive Salt’s Mill.
Stiles, gates, footbridges, fields, minor roads.
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‘C’ (Easy) Leader: Kay Smith
Distance: 5 miles
After visiting toilets (in the mill} we cross over the canal and River Aire, past Roberts Park to take the path up along Shipley Glen Tramway. Through Walker Wood and Midgeley Wood above Baildon Bank. Onto West Lane and up to Dove Hall, past Hope Farm Crook Farm then downhill past Mitton Spring, Soldiers Trench and on to Glen Road. Turning at the pub and café, down through Trench Wood on a wide path then over a footbridge over the river to reach the canal towpath. Along the canal back to Saltaire.
Lovely views over Shipley Glen.
‘D’ (Easy Amble): Jackie Gudgeon
Distance: 3 miles
We will set off from Saltaire into Roberts Park where there is a nice café for refreshments before we continue through the park, followed by a delightful path through woodland along the side of the river to where the Leeds/Liverpool canal crosses over the river on an aqueduct. We join the canal here and follow back to Saltaire. Plenty to see on our return in Salt’s Mill – David Hockney Gallery, retail outlets, Salt’s Diner. Good underfoot, could be a bit muddy along the river, one set of steps to reach canal towpath.
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When available please make sure you read the notes on the walks carefully – they will help you to decide which walk will be the most suitable for you.
If you have any doubts, do not hesitate to ask the leader for advice. For the safety and enjoyment of yourself and others, please try not to join a walk which is beyond your capabilities.
Please respect the wishes of the walks leader and remain with the walk until the end. If you are struggling – inform the walk leader so that he/she can make a decision to shorten the walk, have more rest, etc
* Notes on the area *
Saltaire’s founder was Sir Titus Salt, a Victorian industrialist and patriarch, who already owned six textile mills in Bradford. He made a considerable fortune from spinning alpaca fleece and, seeing the smoky, Dickensian squalor or life in the city, he decided to build a new settlement for his employees.
Sir Titus designed Saltaire as a community where his workers could live in clean, sanitary conditions. Begun in 1851, it was 20 years in the making. As a contrast to many areas of Bradford, even the most modest dwelling in Saltaire had gas, running water and a toilet. In his plan, Sir Titus included schools, a bathhouse, laundry, hospital and a row of almshouses. A workers’ dining room could seat 800 and was available for people to bring their own food and have it cooked or they could purchase tea or coffee at half a penny, a bowl of soup for 1d or a plate of meat for 2d. The neat streets of terraced houses were named after the founder (Titus Street), his wife Caroline, and children – not forgetting the reigning monarch (Victoria Street) and her consort (Albert Road).
The centrepiece of his scheme was Salts Mill, a monumental example of industrial architecture which straddles the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. The chimney is a copy of the bell tower of a church in Venice. In recent years the mill has enjoyed a new lease of life as a showcase for the artworks of David Hockney, who was born in Bradford. There were no Public Houses within the confines of the village, and the Club and Institute was erected to cater for the moral and physical welfare of the community. Its cost was £25,000. There were reading rooms, a library and a lecture theatre.
Shipley Glen is a typical Pennine gill, or ravine, and can be reached by The Shipley Glen Tramway, a rope-hauled passenger carrying railway dating from 1895, which operates most weekends throughout the year. The open cars are hauled by cable 386 yards up a 1-in-12 incline beneath overhanging trees.
Roberts Park, on the other side of the canal, is another example of early town planning. A splendid bronze statue of Sir Titus Salt was erected in 1903 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of his birth. It stands on a plinth decorated with an angora goat and an alpaca, symbols of the wool industry on which he built his very considerable success.
The Leeds-Liverpool Canal is Britain’s longest inland waterway. Two impressive pieces of engineering in the Bingley area are the stepped Three Rise Locks, and Five Rise Locks where boats passing along the canal rise or fall 60 feet over a distance of 320 feet.
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* Coach Pick Up Points: *
Burscough War Memorial 8.20 am
Ormskirk Bus Station 8.30 am
Ormskirk School 8.30 am (ready for pickup)
Skelmersdale War Memorial 8.40 am
ASDA Bus stop 8.50 am (the coach will pick up at the bus stop on Northway near Asda – on the opposite side of the road to Bannatyne’s).
Upholland Labour Club 9.00 am
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NEXT RAMBLE:
Saturday 12th December 2026. Chester, Cheshire
