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.

Tuesday 17 March 2026 - Cuddington to Mouldsworth (Altrincham to Chester Stage 4)

Rick, Sue B, Paul, Sue W, Jeanette, Andy and Rufus

From starting points ranging from Deansgate to Hale, seven of us managed to congregate at Cuddington for this short but pleasant walk through Delamere Forest and its surroundings. We started by retracing our steps to a railway bridge near Ravensclough where the above photo was taken.

The snowdrops have gone, to be replaced with banks of daffodils and lesser celandine. Bluebells are imminent.

We were soon heading west, after those walking faster than me were called back from an erroneous attempt to follow the Whitegate Way towards Northwich! (That was last time.)

 

Fences barricaded us from the railway line on our right, and a sand quarry on our left. For some reason the small pyramids of sand reminded me of more natural mounds seen in Turkey.

Anyway, a lovely swathe of grass, with a good path, saw us moving fairly quickly along the route that I'd chosen for this stage of the walk to Chester.

Our route encompassed some of the Oakmere Way, Oakmere being a nearby village. Thanks go to Jeanette for this and other pictures, and also to Sue, whose photos are mixed up with mine.

Our route continued towards Delamere station.

A slight jink in the path, signposted with a strange horseshoe marker, brought us past fine stands of Scots Pine to a good picnic bench for elevenses.

 

Woodpeckers were heard close by, if not seen by many of us.

After a chat with a dog walking lady who was trying to learn from 'Merlin' how to identify various birds by their calls, we continued past a new housing estate with miniscule gardens.

Goat Willow catkins towered above us as we passed the entrance to Delamere Forest Golf Club.

 

Bird's-eye Speedwell had taken hold in one area - almost crop-like.

The next fungus is False Puffball.

Sue fell back and re-joined the group, exclaiming "Deer Vomit". We wondered about this ID. There must be deer in the forest, though do they vomit?

It turned out to be 'Deer Vomit Fungi', a new one for us.

Nearby, Birch Woodwart Fungi.

Anyone not sure where they were would be reassured by the signs in the next picture.

There are lots of routes through Delamere Forest from here, and some of the party were called back from the road that leads to Go-Ape and the Visitor Centre.

We crossed the railway, and the Sandstone Trail, and passed through a clearing with a few sculptures.

For a while, we followed the Sandstone Trail to the edge of the forest at Manley Common.

Another lovely Peak & Northern sign, but this lunch spot lacks a picnic bench.

Sue B's rucksack became home to a diminutive (2cm wide) Brindled Pug moth.

A well adorned post directed us away from the forest. Do people have a tendency to become lost hereabouts?

Good paths then took us on a roundabout route to Mouldsworth.

Opposite the station, the Goshawk pub, but we continued past it to check the train times.

Our plan was to catch the 16:08 towards Altrincham. The time was 14:30.

Here's our route - 15km with 200 metres ascent, taking a bit over 4 hours.

It was a lovely afternoon to sit with a refreshing beer outside the Goshawk. Most of us went back to the station to catch the 15:08 train, but Paul and Jeanette took advantage of the opportunity to spend a further hour in the pub, waiting for their pre-purchased tickets to become valid.

What a lovely day out.

Next - Thursday 26 March:

Altrincham to Chester - Stage 5 - Mouldsworth to Chester, by a roundabout route.
9:36 train from Altrincham to Mouldsworth (10:26), then walk to Chester, approx 18km. Return on 15:56 or 16:56 train, or more likely later after refreshments in Chester.