Friday 13 February 2026 - Knutsford to Northwich (Altrincham to Chester Stage 2)

For this stage, eight of us met up on the 9:36 train from Altrincham to Knutsford, where we enjoyed a leisurely coffee in the most hospitable Booths café. (Stage 1 report is here.)

It has taken me some time to produce this report, thanks to various distractions ranging from grandchildren to TGO Challenge vetting. Meanwhile, AlanR has composed a very comprehensive report on the walk. His full report is here, and the snippets I've used in this report (why reinvent the wheel) are included in blue text. Thanks go to Alan for all his research. Readers may also enjoy visiting his posting concerning the project that distracted him from attending the last few GM Ringway walks - that's here.

After passing several interesting buildings in Knutsford, including this Victorian building dating from 1897, recently refurbished and now in use as offices....

....I tried to find a rural exit from Knutsford, via Blackhill Farm, onto a field path around which it looked as if dog walkers enjoyed their stroll without crossing the M56 motorway. The gang (sort of) posed for a less distorted record of attendance than the one shown above.

The exit from a large field looked unlikely, but when we reached the far corner we were pleased to find steps concealed by vegetation that gave access to a welcome footbridge, without which a long diversion would have ensued. 

Reaching Parkside Farm was a mud fest, in some parts knee deep, we tried our best to navigate the sink holes. Quite a few farming relics were left to die here but I couldn't get close enough to get detailed images so had to settle for zoom.

I think Alan must have gone looking for mud. There was an easier way!

More fields were crossed and a wobbly stile led onto a minor road.

Over the road stood a very old cottage with a thatched roof. Parkside Cottage was unoccupied and looking quite sorry for itself. It is grade 2 listed and would probably take a good amount of money to restore it to a liveable standard.

A viewing platform (above) for Holford Hall was advertised, but it was something of a disappointment.

The hall is now a private home and wedding venue. It was built in 1601 and is Grade 2 listed. It is timber framed and was built on an earlier 13th century moated site. The house was built for Lady Cholmondeley 1562-1625 who was known as the Litigator due to the amount of time she employed in the courts fighting for the the family estate.

I had intended walking around Plumley Lime Beds Nature Reserve, but we soon discovered that not all Nature Reserves are open to the public. This one was very private, so we were restricted to the public path around the perimeter, lined with recently planted trees.

Around here we found a variety of fungi and lichens, just a few of which are shown below.

Witch's Butter - this is about as big as it gets after a lot of rain, and it's edible uncooked

Silverleaf Fungus

Jelly Ear

Hairy Curtain Crust

We carried on along a good path, crossing a railway line and joining a minor road. Between the railway and the road were 2 large pipes containing water. Very unusual; we were to come across these pipes numerous times on the route ahead. 

Also within the tree line to the south of the road ran an old overgrown railway track. It took me some time investigating and I found out that there used to be a chemical works and it had its own railway siding leading off from the main line.

The chemical works was the site of a former Ammonia Soda company factory (later acquired by Brunner Mond), historically significant for producing ammonium nitrate for explosives during WW1. It was designated a scheduled monument in 2018 for its role in war time munitions. But there doesn't seem to be much left.

We went under the A556 main road bridge and eventually joined the road at Lostock Gralam. It was lunch time and so we went to St John's church to find a bench but someone must have known we were coming and hidden the benches. We retraced our steps and had lunch in the shelter on the railway station platform.

That was a good move. The waiting area (it could hardly be called a 'room'), sheltered us from a very nippy breeze.

For miles around a large factory dominates the skyline. The plant is an energy from waste facility that will export 69.9 MW of electricity to the power grid using residual waste. The waste remaining after processing can be used as fuel.

Heading south along a very flooded road we found a footpath east which would take us into the old Bonners Green factory grounds (used to be a power station prior to the waste facility), adjacent to the Trent and Mersey canal.

A footbridge we were hoping to use was blocked off and so we had a short distance of road walking until we came to an access point on the towpath at the Lambs Wharf pub. We were lucky with timing as the narrow boat repair yard was just lifting a boat out of the canal and into the yard. Impressive.

A menagerie adjacent to the canal stopped our progress for a few minutes. Many peacocks, chickens, and other heritage animals can be seen. The house, Canalside Cottage looked very run down.

Next to the run down cottage, an attempt at a very ambitious tree house?!

At the first bridge over the canal we turned off the towpath to find a footpath that was being restored by a very friendly chap. It seemed a shame to walk over the area he had just levelled and raked but he was quite happy with that and engaged us in a long conversation regarding devious practices that led the owner to abandon plans to provide additional footpaths and other facilities. He had been told there was no point in his buying part of the land as it was blighted by mining subsidence. The truth of that has been placed in doubt by the appearance of a large housing estate on this 'blighted land of no use to anyone'.

Across a field led us to a bridge over Wincham Brook and again the huge pipes went overhead. They looked as though they had only recently been installed. Then we were into Northwich suburbs. 

Our path exiting a small trading estate was at first missed as the sign was overgrown and the fencing blended in so well that we actually walked past it. A quick look at the map put us right. The path was narrow and very overgrown. At the end a very old set of concrete steps were descended. I thought at the time that these steps must have been used for something more demanding in the past. I checked the map again and we were now dropping down and across an old dismantled mineral railway. 

It was difficult to tell exactly where the line went because it was now overgrown and quite boggy in places. The path led us again to a wide bridge across Wincham Brook, but before we crossed we spotted more Silverleaf fungi on a tree.

We then made our way on easy tarmac to the railway station in Northwich, where we had 40 minutes to wait for the return train to Altrincham. So we enjoyed a visit to Costa coffee in the nearby Tesco for refreshments and a warm up. It was bitterly cold now, especially when we stopped walking.

Here's our route - 15 km with 50 metres ascent (= flat), taking us rather less than 4 hours. Click on the image for a better version.

Thanks to everyone who came along today and made it both an enjoyable walk and a social occasion, and thanks again to Alan for letting me use some of his excellent text.

The third stage of this walk will start from Northwich station on Thursday 5 March. Here's the flier.

Altrincham to Chester - Stage 3 - Northwich to Cuddington.
9:36 train from Altrincham to Northwich (10:05),then walk to Cuddington, approx 18km. Return on 16:18 train.