Summit to aim for

Reach your peak on this tough walk up Gregareth from the tiny village of Ireby

- John Lenehan

Those who hold with the re-working of the county boundaries will tell you that Gregareth is the highest mountain in Lancashire at 628 metres/2060 feet. There are plenty of higher peaks within the traditional county of course, but size isn’t everything and there are plenty of reasons to climb Gregareth, as I have done many times.

Its summit is 200 metres west of the county border between Lancashire and North Yorkshire, but confusingly it’s been in the Yorkshire Dales National Park since 2016. Locals insist it’s in Lancashire so I will go with them on the matter. I have only ever reached the summit from the Leck House Farm side and wanted a different way, so I worked out a route to climb Gregareth from Ireby, a lovely little hamlet just off the A65 near Cowan Bridge.

1 Leave the car and walk up the street with the stream that flows through the village on the right. Pass Rose Cottage on the left and then turn right and cross the bridge over the stream then turn left. Go straight up the lane, passing to the left of a house called Shearings and reach the gates of Over Hall. Pass through a stile to the side of the gates and follow the track up to Over Hall. As the track turns left into the grounds of Over Hall, keep straight on to a metal gate with a footpath sign. Go through the gate and straight on uphill then keep left passing Over Hall on the left.