Great dog friendly walk starting from Hest Bank following the beach of Morecambe bay until Carnforth and coming back by the Lancaster canal. Amazing views during the whole walk.
Hest Bank to Carnforth Walk Information
- Distance: 14 km
- Duration: 4h
- Ascent: 20m
- Level: Easy
- Car park: The Shore Car Park, Hest Bank, Lancaster (LA2 6HQ)
- Dog friendly: Yes, dog can roam freely most of the walk only a small section on a busy road
Veuillez faire défiler vers le bas pour la version française.

This is actually a walk we did during summer 2022 and unfortunately I have a long backlog of walks that I have not published yet. By a nice July day, we met our friends from Manchester at Hest Bank in Lancashire. We had decided to do this walk as it is located nearly half distance between Whitehaven and Manchester.
We have not done a lot of walks in Lancashire so it was great to discover new places and a nice change of scenery. We were also lucky to have a great weather that day. It was during one of the short heatwave we had last summer so the little breeze coming from the sea was very welcome.

We decided to start by walking along the beach but it is totally possible to start by the Lancaster canal. We had a great view on the Morecambe bay. Skye enjoyed running on the beach and marshes bordering it. The path is mostly flat and well visible. Only near the last campsite we struggled a bit to find it as the grass was very high and we could not see it. After a couple of meters off tracks we found again the main path.
We left the beach to arrive at Carnforth village, that we crossed in order to join the Lancaster canal. We didn’t really visit Carnforth as we were starving and wanted to stop for lunch. I am not sure if there are a lot of things to visit to be honest. Any recommendations?

Joining the Lancaster canal, we kept walking until reaching the Canal turn pub where we stopped for lunch. The pub has a great terrace by the canal and that day they had live music. After this well deserved break we continued our walk along the canal.
I have to say that I was not expecting the section along the canal to be that nice. The houses along the canal are absolutely gorgeous and with my friend we chatted about which ones we liked the most. There are as well some great bridges along it, with some canal boats. We even saw a family of swans slowly passing us.
For people liking Geocaching there are plenty of geocaches along the canal. Unfortunately my friends are not into it so I quickly tried to find two of them but as they were not easy to find I gave up to not let to them wait to long for me.
We all really enjoyed the day and it made us want to explore more of Lancashire. Hopefully this summer we will be able to again.
Do you know this walk? What is your favourite walk in Lancashire?










Nous avons fait cette randonnée pendant l’été 2022 mais malheureusement je n’ai pas eu le temps de la publier avant. J’ai encore pas mal de randonnées que nous avons faites en 2020, 2021 et 2022 à publier. C’est donc par une journée ensoleillée du mois de July que nous avons retrouvé nos amis vivant à Manchester à Hest Bank dans le Lancashire. Nous avions choisi cette randonnée car elle est située à mi-chemin entre Whitehaven et Manchester.
Nous n’avons pas fait beaucoup de randonnée dans le département du Lancashire c’était donc super de découvrir un nouvel endroit et cela nous a changé des montagnes du Lake District. Nous avons été chanceux ce jour là car le temps était magnifique. C’était pendant la petite vague de chaleur que nous avons eu cette été et le vent de la mer était très agréable.

Nous avons commencé la randonnée en suivant la plage mais il est tout à fait possible de la commencer en longeant le canal de Lancashire. La randonnée offre de belles vues sur la baie de Morecambe. Skye a adoré courir sur la plage et dans les marécages en bordure de la plage. Le sentier est pratiquement plat et bien visible tout le long de la randonnée. Juste vers le dernier camping nous avons un peu galéré à trouver notre chemin car il y avait des herbes hautes et nous ne voyons plus le sentier. Après quelques mètres nous avons finalement retrouvé notre chemin.
Nous avons laissé le bord de plage pour arriver au village Carnforth que nous avons traversé pour rejoindre le canal de Lancaster. Nous n’avons pas vraiment eu le temps de visiter Carnforth car nous avions faim et nous voulions nous arrêter manger. Je ne suis pas très sure de toute façon s’il y a beaucoup de chose à voir à Carnforth. Avez vous des recommandations?
Après avoir join le canal, nous avons continué à marcher jusqu’à trouver le Canal Turn pub où nous nous sommes arrêtés pour manger. Ce pub a une très belle terrasse le long du canal et en plus ce jour la il y a avait un chanteur qui chantait. Après cette pause bien mérité, nous avons continué à marcher le long du canal en direction d’Hest Bank.

Je dois dire que j’ai été agréablement surprise par la beauté de cette randonnée et la partie le long du canal était super belle. Les maisons le long du canal sont magnifiques et avec mon amie nous avons passé notre temps à discuter de celles que nous préférions. Il y a également de très beaux ponts et péniches. Nous avons même croisé une famille de cygnes.
Pour ceux d’entre vous qui aiment faire du géocaching, il y a pleins de geocaches le long du canal. J’ai essayé d’en trouver deux mais malheureusement elles n’étaient pas si facile et j’ai du abandonner car je ne voulais pas faire attendre mes amis plus longtemps.
Nous avons beaucoup apprécié cette journée et cela nous a donné envie d’aller randonnée plus dans le Lancashire. Il faut espérer que nous en aurons l’opportunité cet été.
Connaissez-vous cette randonnée? Quelle est votre randonnée préféré dans le Lancashire?
Find all our walks in UK here. Retrouvez toutes nos randonnées au Royaume-Uni ici.
You certainly got a beautiful day for your walk and you got some lovely pictures. That rusty wreck of a car on the beach was a good find, whereabouts was it? I intend to walk Hest Bank to Carnforth along the canal this summer but starting from a lay-by on the main road just north of Hest Bank itself.
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It is close to the Hest Bank car park along the beach in the direction of Carnforth. I hope you will like the walk along the canal, hopefully you will do it during a sunny day.
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Thanks for taking me on another beautiful journey that is also dog friendly!
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Thank you for your comment. It is the perfect walk for dogs.
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merci de nous faire découvrir à chaque fois un petit bout de ton coin d’Angleterre
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Merci beaucoup pour ton comment, je suis ravie de te faire découvrir des endroits un peu moins touristiques en Angleterre.
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I haven’t walked that exact walk but have walked a shorter one along the beach from Hest Bank to Red Bank Farm Campsite at Bolton Le Sands. It’s a nice beach for dog walking. I would like to visit Carnforth as there is an old fashioned railway station there that was used in the filming of a classic British film from the 1940s called Brief Encounter. Apparently it is a 1940s style cafe bar with a museum about the movie. There are some nice walks in Lancashire. I like coastal ones like Silverdale and Half Moon Bay to Heysham.
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I have heard of this movie my friend was telling me about it. We did a walk between Arnside and Silverdale several years ago it was an amazing walk. I have never been to Half moon, I will have a look. Thank you for the recommendations.
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Très belle marche 😍 Je ne connais pas du tout cette région mais ça a l’air très joli
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Cette région n’est pas très connue pourtant elle mérite à être visité. Peut être un jour tu en auras l’occasion.
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Such beautiful scenery. Looks like you had fabulous weather for going on a long hike.
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Thank you, yes we were very lucky with the weather it was so great.
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Ah, I wondered why the name Carnforth sounded familiar! Then I read Shazza’s comment. Great film if you like old black and white movies. I have been to Morecombe but not to this area to the north of it – looks lovely.
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My friends were telling me about the movie when we were walking in Carnforth. I have never watched them. We haven’t been to Morecambe yet. It is another place on our list.
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This looks like a wonderful walk and great way to spend time with friends!
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It was a nice one and had a great time together.
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It’s a small world sometimes, isn’t it? We have some friends, currently over here in the Algarve, who live in Garstang and are almost certain to know this walk. It’s years since I’ve been to Morecambe Bay and probably never to Carnforth but the canal looks lovely.
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It is a small world indeed. Do they recommend to visit Garstang?
I am sure you would love to walk by the canal.
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It’s a market town and quite attractive, I think. They live in the outskirts 🤗🩷
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I would have to visit one day.
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