Since starting this site, I've always hoped that one or two people might read my tales and be prompted to explore more. That could be the path at the end of the road as much as it should be the high mountains and the open countryside (for some lucky people, those two scenarios aren't mutually exclusive!). At the moment, here in the UK at least, the only place you can explore is the path at the end of the road!
One of my favourite walks starts right on my doorstep, and I've planned to write about it for a little while. Alas, it is a little too long for our presently-mandated hour of exercise, but it is one I'm looking forward to experiencing again in the future.
As I've mentioned before, I'm a season ticket holder at Altrincham-based Manchester Storm, and over the last couple of seasons I've found myself in the habit (when both time and weather allows) of walking along the Bridgewater Canal from Walkden to Altrincham. It's a long stretch - the route I'll describe in this article is 22km or just shy of 14 miles - but as the Bridgewater Canal is a contour canal with no locks, it does have the benefit of being almost entirely flat. This is quite a change from my regular walking terrain in the Lake District!
All photos on this article were taken in January 2020, well before the current restrictions were imposed.
All the way back in 1864, the London and North Western Railway opened a new line to link Eccles with Wigan. The route headed north-west from Eccles through Monton Green and Worsley, before heading almost due west from Roe Green through Ellenbrook and on to Tyldesley, the latter of which giving the line the name "Tyldesley loop". A few years later, Roe Green became a junction, with a branch continuing north through Walkden and Little Hulton to Bolton's Great Moor Street station. This article is about walking, not railways, so you’ll already have worked out where the story goes next. The branch line to Bolton through Walkden low level closed to passengers as early as 1954, and the remainder of the Tyldesley loop saw the final passenger services run in 1969.
On the Salford sections, the trackbed now forms the backbone of the loopline network of pathways and cycleways, and that's where my long wander to Altrincham starts. The loopline has been comprehensively upgraded in recent years, so except in truly torrential conditions it provides a great all-weather path all year round. That's reassuring on a bright but cold Saturday afternoon in January. I start in Walkden before the two loopline branches join at Roe Green to head south towards Worsley and Monton. On the right here, for those with more time to spare, there are some great walking opportunities in Worsley Woods (which must have been even more peaceful before the motorway was built through the middle of it). I have an ice hockey game to watch and 13 more miles to walk, so on I plough towards Worsley.
Worsley station feels like a missed opportunity to me. Before it closed and was demolished, it was an impressive little station and would have been well-known locally. With the platforms largely still extant, it's a real shame that more has not been made of the location. At the very least, some throwback signage similar to that added to the likes of High Lane station on the Middlewood Way in Stockport would be very welcome.
Past Worsley village, the loopline sits high on an embankment with the open spaces of Broadoak and then Dukes Drive on the right, and Worsley Golf Club to the left. The path then abruptly ends and slopes down to the roundabout at Monton. Whilst Worsley station left a visible legacy, there's nothing but thin air where Monton Green station used to be - it sat perched on a bridge over the road and was completely demolished. There's precious little left of the remaining section of line from here to the main line in Eccles either. Taking a right turn at the end of the loopline, I head for the nearby canal towpath.
It is worth pointing out at this point that this is one of three ways to join the canal from the Walkden area. You can join the towpath earlier at Worsley Green, which is a similar length of walk, or continue on the road through Winton to meet the canal in Patricroft, which is shorter. Both involve significantly more road walking than following the loopline, though - and you wouldn't have been able to read about the old railway!
Like most people who grew up in the Worsley area, for me the story of the revolutionary impact of the Bridgewater Canal and the mines at Worsley is well ingrained. My old primary school was even named after James Brindley, the engineering genius behind some of the canal's most innovative features. The canal - commissioned by Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater - hauled coal from the the Duke's mines at Worsley into Manchester. In case we forget the transformative power of improving our infrastructure, the price of coal in Manchester halved following the opening of the canal.
Brindley's local masterpiece was the Barton Aqueduct, carrying the canal high over the River Irwell. This was the first navigable aqueduct in the UK and built in the face of severe scepticism and ridicule. I would have loved to have seen it, but sadly it was demolished in 1893 to make way for the latest new dawn - the Manchester Ship Canal. It does live on on the uniforms of James Brindley Primary School pupils to this day, though…
After strolling down the canal from Monton, I take a moment to visit what little is left of the original structure, now part of a quaint little pocket park on the banks of the Ship Canal. The structure that replaces it does still stand, and is itself an engineering marvel - the world's only swing aqueduct. Sadly, you can't walk across it. The towpath disappears and those of us on foot have to divert over the adjacent road bridge.
On rejoining the canal, I double back on myself to visit the aqueduct's viewing platform. It's overdue a lick of paint, but it is worth the minor diversion.
From here, the canal arrows through Trafford Park. Every time I walk this way, I'm astonished at how quiet it is. A smattering of trees lines the canal but they barely conceal it from the heavy industry and huge retail offerings nearby - it is, after all, only a few yards from the Trafford Centre car park. You'd think a few more shoppers might venture onto the towpath for a few moments of calm, but evidently not.
Once you've passed the Trafford Centre, ducked under the new Metrolink extension to Trafford Park (just in case you weren't paying attention earlier when I wrote about investment in infrastructure), and wandered past the Kellogg's cereal factory, the towpath reaches Waters Meeting. Here the canal splits, with the branch to Castlefield heading north and then east as it heads into Manchester. The trunk of the canal heads south-east to Stretford and then south-west to Altrincham, before meandering west across Cheshire to Runcorn. There's no longer a connection to the Ship Canal at Runcorn, but you can join the Trent and Mersey Canal at Preston Brook. Still, I digress - we're not heading anywhere near that far today!
Despite the urban surroundings, there's precious little in the way of facilities on this section. Once you've passed the bright lights of the Trafford Centre, it's a sizeable diversion off the canal just to find even a shop. In fact, there's barely a litter bin. Don't be fooled by the building at Stretford Marina which, mirage-like, tempts you from a distance into thinking it is a pub. It isn't, and you'll only end up disappointed. There are no facilities close to the canal until you hit Stretford Metrolink stop, and most of the time there's nothing actually by the canal banks until you hit The Bridge, the pub adjacent to Dane Road Metrolink stop in Sale.
On a Sunday afternoon, there is a glorious exception though - the Watch House Cruising Club bar in Stretford. I love this little place, which is open to all those using the canal towpath and serves a very reasonably priced pint or indeed a very reasonably priced soft drink. Alas it is Saturday, and the bar is not open. No bag of plain for me.
The tram line appears on the far side of the canal near to Stretford station, and it'll be an almost constant companion from here all the way to Altrincham. It's also exceptionally handy if the longer walk is beyond your tolerance, or indeed if you find yourself short on time. From Stretford, the canal runs in two almost arrow-straight sections all the way to Timperley, with a shallow right turn near Dane Road connecting the two.
After Stretford, I walk into the closest I'll get to open countryside on the whole walk, with first Turn Moss and then (after the aqueduct across the Mersey and into Cheshire) Sale Water Park coming into view across the canal. Also looming into view: the giant electricity pylons which hang over Sale Water Park. Oh, and the M60 motorway. Swings and roundabouts I suppose.
From here, you are firmly back in suburbia. I take a refreshment break in Sale town centre. It's nearly a mistake - the light is fading - but the towpath is quiet and peaceful now. I don't see the sunset but I do manage to capture a delightfully pink-tinged sky as dusk falls.
Sunset over Sale
At Timperley station, it's time to leave the towpath for the final time. It's possible to stay on the canal a little longer by exiting onto the A56, but this is a little longer and with daylight expiring it isn't the right option for today. It's not quite the end of my canal adventure for today though - my walk continues on Canal Road on the opposite bank, before winding into Altrincham's residential suburbia around Navigation Road railway station.
From here, it's road walking all the way. It's dark by the time I reach the ice rink, but I've had a great afternoon and covered almost exactly 22 kilometres. Storm cap off the day with a third-period comeback to beat the visiting Fife Flyers 5-2.
The “Storm Shelter”: Planet Ice Altrincham
Date of walk: Saturday 18th January 2020
Total distance: 22 kilometres (13.67 miles)
Ascent and descent: negligible
Bus links: plentiful, especially at the Trafford Centre and Altrincham
Tram links: any Metrolink stop from Stretford to Altrincham, as well as the new stop at the Trafford Centre
Train links: Walkden, Patricroft, Trafford Park, Navigation Road, and Altrincham