To get to the definitive map click here. This connects you to the Bolton Council transport and travel section of their website.

When you have got this webpage take the following actions:
1) Click on "definitive map".

2) You will probably have to do the next step the first time you use the map but may not on subsequent occasions. Give your postcode.

3) Click on "My Maps". You are now at the Bolton Definitive map and you have a number of options in the left panel.

4) In the list on the left panel, choose "transport and streets". Another list appears.

5) Scroll down this list. Tick the boxes "definitive map of public bridleways", "definitive map of public footpaths", "definitive map of restricted byways" and untick all the other boxes.

6) It may take a few seconds, but you will then be looking at the public version of the rights of way in Bolton.

You can now zoom in on a path and by left clicking on the path its number will be displayed. Sometimes you are given more than one name. If you zoom in sufficiently and you are not pointing at or near a junction you should get a single path number although some paths change number as you go from one area of Bolton to another. That is if a path crosses, say, the boundary between Horwich and Blackrod its number will change.

Going to the definitive map a second time on the same computer, you will probably be able to miss out step (2) because a cookie will remember your postcode. You may be able to miss all the steps after (1). I find that step (1) now takes me to the definitive map of public rights of way.

It would greatly help me if you are able to use the definitive map and give me the official Council name of that path when reporting a problem. But please do not be put off reporting a path just because you have failed to get the Council's definitive map working. How easy it is will depend on your computer, its operating system and your web-browser.

A final word of warning, the definitive map is fairly good at giving the official name of a path but it is pretty useless at finding a path given its official name!!!