Thursday 26 March 2026 - Mouldsworth to Chester (Altrincham to Chester Stage 5)

One of the pleasures of this series of walks has been the train journeys on the line between Altrincham (pictured above) and 'all stops to Chester'.

Today we were greeted by the familiar blue skies, and I took a couple of pictures whilst crossing the magnificent viaduct at Northwich. The playgrounds were empty and the Weaver Navigation locks looked quiet.

Much to our surprise, our record turnout excelled itself at Mouldsworth, where an old friend, Judith, who I first met on the TGO Challenge in 2007, strode up to greet us, thus bringing our number into double figures. Brilliant. 

We strolled past The Goshawk on this occasion, for obvious reasons.

A short walk back along the route of stage 4 brought us to the outskirts of Ashton Hayes and a dodge around some trees before crossing the road and joining the Baker Way. A very brief encounter with the Baker Way, as that soon left our route to head south before winding up in Chester, whereas the route we were taking was designed to follow the railway line that we were using so successfully for transport.

Today's team: Sheila, Alan, Andty, Sue B, Sue W, Judith, Jeanette, Paul and Rick

After a team photo near Brook House, we continued past secluded Peel Hall, pausing to admire the Blackthorn blossom near Swinfordmill Farm.

Not all trees are yet in blossom.

The railway was soon crossed, and a curious family of alpacas and their friendly goats approached to investigate Rufus, who masquerades as a lamb.

This is an area where Sue and I have been baulked by missing bridges recently - forcing river crossings by way of thin girders. So I was pleased to find that the footbridges that lead into Plemstall were intact.

I don't fancy crossing the River Gowy by way of a narrow girder!

A rather isolated church, St Peter's, at Plemstall, offered a nice seated porch that would have been fine to host our lunch if the weather had been cold or wet. Around the back were some 'interesting tombs'.

The recorded history of the church goes back to the 7th century, but most of what we see today dates from the 15th century. There's a Wikipedia entry here.

Three industrial lawnmowers and their operators were having a lunchtime snooze by the church - they soon passed us on their way back to work on the communal grassed areas of Mickle Trafford, a suburb of Chester. The residents here clearly want to keep visitors on the 'straight and narrow'. It was hard to imagine anybody failing to stay on this path lined by high barbed wire fences. To be fair, hedges have been planted behind the barbed wire and this should become a nice sort of passage into a housing estate.

On exiting the village, we passed Meadowbrook station. Sadly no trains were running today. If they were, the rest of our route into Chester would have been in jeopardy. It turns out that we missed the last passenger train by 75 years, and the line hasn't run any proper trains since 1963. 

Turning off Station Lane and onto the disused railway line (which turned out to be very much in use by dog walkers, cyclists and others) we were greeted by a picnic table just about large enough to accommodate all ten of us.

After a pleasant leisurely lunch on the acceptably warm spring day, we spent the next 6 km of our journey on the route of the old railway, rendering navigation somewhat straightforward. Though Jeanette did succeed in veering off course and appearing to fall out of a tree!

There's an assortment of sculptures next to the track.

Hidden by the sign below, is a bike shop that attracted some attention.

We arrived in Chester and passed the railway station that marks the end of Stage 5.

However, it was too early to stop, so we continued to the intersection of the disused railway with the 'in use' Shropshire Union Canal, opened in 1835 and pre-dating the railway by some 40 years.

Flowers were coming into blossom on the canal's verges.

Green Alkanet, with visiting bee and ladybird

Common Dog Violet

Acrobatic cyclist crossing a bridge

Pigeons in love next to a skeleton

Smart barge

Nearing the centre of Chester, we followed the canal up some steep locks.

Rick (aka Richard Nelson) spotted a relative.

I'm not quite sure what a crashed hurricane is doing here.

Eventually we reached the station, the end of this particular trek, and assembled to record the moment, apart from me taking the photo and Alan collecting some luggage.

 

Sue and I posed with Thomas Brassey (1805 - 1870). Born outside Chester in 1805 to a yeoman family Thomas Brassey went on to become the "greatest railway builder in the world" during the 19th century.

Here's today's route - 18 km with 100 metres ascent, taking 5.5 hours.

A stroll through Chester brought us to a nice café.

Then we went to the Market, where all ten of us enjoyed a celebratory meal.

Paul and Jeanette chose pizzas. Others had all sorts.

That's it for now. A link to Alan's entry will follow. I plan to walk a Chester to Altrincham route, using trains as before, but using different paths, in the autumn. Hope to see you there. And there will be more walks in the meantime.