Thursday 24 April 2025 - A Bike Ride to Pennington Flash and the Sankey Valley

On a lovely summer's day it was a delight to enjoy this gentle 70km bike ride.

Sue and I set off at 9am from Timperley Bridge and soon observed a Mallard with a rather large recently hatched family.

There's lots of waterweed in the Bridgewater Canal in the Stretford area. Sue identified it as Cape Pondweed, an exotic introduction from South Africa.

There's also lots of Cuckoo Flower on the verges of the canal, as well as Wild Garlic, Forget-me-nots, Bluebells and huge expanses of Dandelions.

Cuckoo Flower

The towpath takes us past the Trafford Centre, where a big expanse of land has recently been cleared. I wonder what is going on there?

Anyway, the canal makes its way through picturesque Worsley, soon passing RHS Bridgewater gardens and continuing its tranquil way in pleasant countryside past Astley and Leigh.

A short way beyond Leigh, we dived off to the left (the steep descent feels a bit like a dive) and joined a friendly couple with whom we enjoyed a good chat over our coffee and cake. (Slow service, excellent cake.) Nigel and Diane retired about ten years ago and have spent much of that time exploring the waterways (canals) of Britain. They have recorded their exploits on Facebook, under the title 'Narrowboat Escapology' which is well worth a browse. The wildlife pictures are excellent.

It was a delight to bump into you, Nigel and Diane, and enjoy a leisurely break with no time pressures.

As Sue's time on a bicycle is restricted by a recurring neck problem, she turned round here and pedalled home along the towpath. A ride of over 50km, so not to be sniffed at, and quite speedy compared with my gentle pace, so she was back for lunch at 1pm.

Meanwhile, I took to the earth paths around the Flash, then minor roads through Golborne and Newton-le-Willows to reach the Sankey Valley at Mucky Mountains Nature Reserve.

This is a lovely spot. The Mallards were out in force with their partners and their youngsters.

After a delightful 8km or so heading south through the linear nature park in the Sankey Valley, the Trans Pennine Trail (TPT) is reached and the path travels through a 'Memorial Forest', where I lunched on a bench 'In Memory of John McCloskey, 1951 - 2014'.

I soon joined the familiar TPT route beside the Ship Canal that we join when doing the 'Moore Lane' circuit towards Runcorn.

The once muddy paths through Warrington have been sanitised, though there's no mud anywhere in our current dry spell of weather.

I know I'm near home when I exit Warrington and encounter the River Bollin.

The TPT takes to the road for a short way at the site of the Bay Malton pub, so it's more enjoyable to take a cut through about 300 metres earlier, beside a wood, that links with the furthest point to which the Bridgewater Way towpath has been resurfaced. Here's my bike on the link path I've just joined, with the canal towpath being the other side of the hedge in the middle distance.

The towpath leads in about 4km to our house in Timperley.

On this occasion the 70km circuit took me about 6 hours at a gentle pace, including a long stop at Pennington Flash and two shorter ones on the TPT. 

Here's the route:

Back home to sit in the sunshine at 3pm. What a lovely outing.

Friday 11 April 2025 - A Bike Ride around Manchester

It was a 9am start from Timperley Bridge, where nobody else turned up despite the continuing sunshine, and a pause more or less opposite our house, for a first photo of the glassy canal.

I took a familiar route to Didsbury, sticking to the Trans Pennine Trail (TPT) - picked up in Stretford -  and soon passing through Chorlton Ees on the way to Jackson's Boat Bridge.

The River Mersey is low at present thanks to a lack of rain, but debris in trees the height of the upper embankment are a reminder of January storms. 

Workmen were removing debris that was caught in the weir at Northenden.

With the lower path being impassable by bike in places of deep sand, I took the narrow path on the high embankment bordering the golf course. Banks of Dandelions glittered beside the river.

At Fletcher Moss the TPT heads into Didsbury where the well signed route passes beside the Metrolink railway for a little way to its terminus at East Didsbury station.

The TPT then takes to a fairly new path near the River Mersey, with lots of freshly spouted Cowslips in evidence.

After this a narrow path beside the M60 motorway leads to a choice of routes. On this occasion I chose to avoid the fleshpots of Stockport Town Centre and headed past the Decathlon store and to the north of the centre.

I fumbled my way past Heaton Norris and soon reached the comfort of the old railway lines in Reddish Vale. Time for a break after an hour and a half in the saddle.

After pausing at the Visitor Centre in Reddish Vale, where the café was open today, I continued along the TPT and under the railway viaduct in Reddish. The next two pictures were taken from the same place, in opposite directions.

On leaving the Country Park, the TPT crosses the M60 motorway by way of a bridge that houses an old farm track.

The track emerges into housing at Haughton Green, from which a ginnel leads briefly to more housing and a right turn onto the A6017 main road. After a fast descent to a left hand turn into the woods, the road is left for the remainder of the route apart from a short section in central Manchester.

The TPT now enters Haughton Dale, once a hive of industry, now a Country Park where the path continues beside the River Tame, which feeds into the Mersey in Stockport.

Several weirs remind of an industrial past hereabouts.

After pleasant paths with the occasional bench or picnic table if needed, the TPT rises to reach the Peak Forest Canal. My route leaves the TPT after a bridge across the river and ascends to the canal towpath, leaving the TPT to find a way to Broadbottom and beyond.

The towpath switches banks a couple of times as it makes its way past Hyde and Dukinfield to reach a junction in Ashton-under-Lyne.

A left turn at the junction ahead takes us onto the Ashton Canal.

There's a café and museum across the basin from this junction. I didn't visit on this occasion, having plenty of refreshments and a break from the saddle nearby after three hours.

The Ashton Canal takes us into the centre of Manchester on a route that's familiar, apart from muddling through city centre roads on Whitworth Street where the towpath has been temporarily shut. It's the same route as that taken by the Fallowfield Loopline bike ride.

 

Approaching Manchester, there's also a problem with the towpath near Piccadilly, where I found myself on a bike lane on an unfamiliar street with sculptures.

The rest of the ride passed uneventfully. I stopped by the Merchant's Bridge to finish off my provisions, then pedalled home at a gentle pace along the Bridgewater Canal towpath.

A  'jiggle' at the end took my mileage for the morning up to 60km, and my Garmin gadget optimistically reckoned on 350 metres ascent during the five hour outing that was followed by lunch in the garden at 2pm on a sunny afternoon. Here's my route.

Next bike ride:

Thursday 24 April - A 70km circuit starting at 9:00 from Timperley Bridge. Bridgewater Canal > Pennington Flash > Mucky Mountains Nature Reserve > Sankey Valley > Trans Pennine Trail > Timperley. All welcome.

Wednesday 9 October 2024 - A Phoenix Park Circuit

I'd advertised this ride, so felt obliged to do it despite rain and no other takers apart from Sue, who joined me for a 22km outing to Lymm before turning back. She took the above photo before retreating to Timperley

I left the Trans Pennine Trail (TPT) here, taking back roads and tracks to avoid the angry dog walkers of Lymm, before joining the Bridgewater Canal towpath at Moore. Time for elevenses.

On then to Runcorn and Phoenix Park, where the cafe was well sealed up, as expected.

On rejoining the towpath, autumn colours perhaps disguised the fact that it was still raining, albeit fairly gently, on the warm day, so not really at all less than pleasant.

I chose not to go to Norton Priory, as I think the cafe would have been shut. The North Townfield Bridge was crossed where the towpath was deserted in favour of a series of meadow paths, where I found a bench for another coffee break, to reach the Manchester Ship Canal. That canal was crossed, then the Trans Pennine Trail was joined. After a while, that trail re-crossed the Ship Canal, with the M6 and Thelwall Viaduct in view through the old railway bridge at Latchford.

The TPT then follows the disused railway line all the way to the outskirts of Altrincham. It passes by the Lymm Ranger Centre, where I found another bench on which to enjoy the last of my provisions.

There's a huge information board at the Ranger Centre.

The Bridgewater Canal is rejoined before Seamons Bridge, for the final ride home along the towpath, to conclude this gentle 60km ride with about 250 metres ascent. I was home, and the bike was washed, by around 2:30, after our 9:30 start. Here's the route (click on the image to enlarge it).

Reports on previous similar outings can be found here.