Tuesday 10 November 2026 - Chester to Mouldsworth (Chester to Altrincham Stage 1)

After the success of my 'Altrincham to Chester in five stages' walks earlier in the year (see here), I was encouraged to design a route back to Altrincham, using a mix of the same paths in reverse, and a new route. Today's outing, stage 1 of the return journey, was mostly a new route and worked out well.

Sue and I met Sue W on the planned train to Chester - the 8:10 from Piccadilly. It was a frosty morning and Paul and Jeanette abandoned their planned bike ride in favour of joining the walk from Chester. But their late decision meant that they would be on the next train, an hour later. So the Sues and I spent a pleasant time over our coffees in the splendid surroundings of the Chester Station Tap Room. We emerged (above) just in time to prevent the latecomers and Rufus from delaying us further, and we set off towards the canal towpath well before 11 am.

Outside Chester station is a memorial to Thomas Brassey (1805 - 1870).  Brassey was responsible for building much of the world's railways in the 19th century. By 1847, he had built about one-third of the railways in Britain, and by time of his death in 1870 he had built one in every twenty miles of railway in the world. This included three-quarters of the lines in France, major lines in many other European countries and in Canada, Australia, South America and India. He also built the structures associated with those railways, including docks, bridges, viaducts, stations, tunnels and drainage works.

There's more from Wikipedia, here.

We were soon on the towpath, heading towards Boughton Water Tower, which at 70 feet high is the main structure of the former Boughton waterworks, built between 1851 and 1853. We also passed the unlikely emblem of a mallard with a dagger.

The Shropshire Union Canal ascends through a series of locks as it nears the water tower, and there's room for two barges at a time.

With the canal looking quite high despite there having been very little rain, these renovated cottages do look as if they may be prone to flooding.

We continued along the towpath for about 3 km before leaving at the bridge shown below and turning into the smart suburb of Christleton. Up to this bridge we had been following the Baker Way, a waymarked trail of 21 km from Chester to Delamere. That route continued along the towpath and we would re-join it later.

Christleton House seems to have escaped the lens of my camera, but judging by its blue plaque it's an interesting place.

I found this picture:



Christleton turns out to be a smart place with period properties, a grand old church and an elderly resident meticulously gardening the borders.

There's a display of 'Best Kept Village', 'Community Pride' and other awards.

Nearby, 'High Walls' has high walls and a gated entrance. Outside, another blue plaque announces that 'High Walls' is a 18th Century farmhouse with a dairy. Apparently it has many fine internal features and was occupied by a Preparatory School from 1945, prior to which children from Liverpool were billeted here during WWll, from which time an Anderson Shelter remains in the grounds.

Birch Heath Lane proved busier than expected, so we took a nice field path to Birch Heath Farm, then walked a few metres along the quiet Stamford Lane to pick up the bridleway and footpath to Cotton Hall.

Sue found a giant parasol mushroom, inedible Lepita aspera.

Whilst signage discouraged walkers from leaving the path, at least the farmers had in the main left pathways around and through the fields of winter greens and other crops.

We made our way to an elevenses spot at SJ 458 659, after which a short climb brought us into view of Cotton Hall.

Field Mustard is one of the crops still in flower here.

A flock of Waxwings flew in to gobble up the plentiful rose hips.

Or was I imagining that, as we passed Cotton Hall, where a 'Save the Family' charity provides temporary accommodation and 24/7 wrap-around support to homeless and at-risk families. Each family is supported by a trauma-informed mentoring team to address complex challenges and equip the families with the skills and resilience to create a positive future.

We were soon on the path to Stamford Mill, where I recall Sue and I enjoyed a walk in March 2025. On that occasion we visited the packhorse bridges that we'd have encountered today had we followed the Baker Way through Tarvin. 

Our path leading to a metal bridge near Stamford Mill passes through an area of marshland - happily dry in this fine weather.

A white horse kindly said hello to Rufus and ushered us past a stile and over a footbridge.

The route taken by Sue and me last year took us WNW from Stamford Mill, crossing a couple of iron girders over deep channels. My plan to avoid these girders by taking an alternative path backfired slightly when we arrived at a stile just before crossing the busy A51 road. The way to the stile was blocked by a curtain of brambles. Sue W and I muscled our way through; the others turned around before realising that this was the only way. This is clearly not a maintained path, though there is a footpath signpost at the stile.

After crossing the busy road we passed The Limes and took the good footpath along the course of the Roman Road towards Tarvin. It was soon time for lunch.

The enclosed footpath around a small chemical plant was deep in leaf litter, as we made our way back to the Baker Way.

Continuing on to Ashton Hayes, I was pleased to discover a bridge over Salters Brook. (That could have been tricky!)

Around here, the verges were full of Scentless Mayweed.

There was also plenty of Conical Brittlestem.

The path now headed through fields of harvested grain crops.

As we made our way towards Mouldsworth, we passed a clever sign reminding us that we had to go to the left of a hedge.

Soon we realised that if we increased our pace and took a short cut we might just make the 15:07 train to Manchester, the next one being two hours later as they don't all stop at Mouldsworth, especially when the rails are forecast to be slippery.

We finished up waiting for ten minutes before catching the 15:07 train which en route to Altrincham was clearly a means to and from school for many teenagers.

Here's a thin blue line showing our route. 16.5 km with 120 metres ascent, taking 4¼ hours.

On the journey home, Rufus was encouraged to find an alternative to being trodden into the carpet by the feet of many children.

Like Father, like Son?

Stage 2, Mouldsworth to Cuddington, will be on Thursday 19 November, and Stage 3, Cuddington to Northwich, has been brought forward from 26 November to Wednesday 25 November. 

5 to 12 November 2026 - Another Week Flies Past

Thursday 5 November 2026

Another visit to Aspire with Paul and Jeanette.

Tonight the students were sponsored by 'Open Kitchen', a 'Sustainable and Ethical Catering' organisation that accepts rubbish from providers such as supermarkets and eliminates their waste by converting it into delicious food like that served to us tonight.

As usual, there was some bread and flavoured butter to start, and the rest was delicious.

Black pudding and apple bonbon, and caramelised onion and cheese gougères

Potato, pumpkin and feta gateau, with pipérade

Prawn tortellini

Lamb ballotine, cauliflower, spinach and Jus

Lemon tart with Italian meringue and blueberry compote

Plus a final morsal to be washed down with coffee, all for £30 plus cocktails and wine.

Friday 6 November 2026

A stroll in De Quincey Park.

Saturday 7 November 2026

Greg's 700th parkrun, at Philips Park, with mum and dad, and daughter Isabella.

Relatively few for the first timers' briefing. There were just 148 runners and walkers here, whilst the flat route in Alexandra Park apparently attracted 1,073.

Here's a view from half way up the hill that has to be climbed twice on this course. I walked up, and you can see from my view back that there weren't many behind me...

Shy Isabella stayed ahead of me for the first lap.

But she needed dad and granny;s encouragement to sprint to the finish.

Greg shared out some cake, the volunteers cleared up, and a final celebratory picture was taken.

A helpful chap took the celebratory picture - about 100 times!

Nearby, some cycling artwork - you might have noticed the parkrun finish is next to a mountain bike trail.

Full results are here.

Sunday 8 November 2026

Another visit to De Quincey Park.

Tuesday 10 November 2026

A walk from Chester to Mouldsworth - full report on the next posting.

Wednesday 11 November 2026

Lovely sunlight by the Bridgewater Canal in Timperley.

Thursday 12 November 2026

Beside De Quincey Park with Rick, who is feeling much better after suffering from a debilitating cold for some time. He's pictured with Sue in the header, on a 6.5 km stroll around Timperley and Broadheath.