Stage 2: Little Lever to Walkden

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OS Explorer 276

OS Landranger 109

We leave this delightful township to experience lots of peaceful canal and two crossings of the River Irwell, a wonderful walk through Giant’s Seat Wood before experiencing the huge car-scar as we cross the footbridge across thirteen lanes of motorway on Kearsley Moss before skirting Blackleach Country Park to arrive in Walkden.

The Route

Cross over Stopes Road (on the 94 Radcliffe / Manchester and 524 Bury bus routes) (1) and walk down Hayward Avenue. At the t-junction at the end with Ladyshore Road, turn left and continue walking along the cobbled track, bearing left at the gateway to Ladyshore House, and cross the Bolton-Bury canal immediately after a gap stile at the canal bridge (2).

Turn right through a kissing gate and left (westwards) along the towpath – look out for the resident swans – and through a gap stile on the towpath.

Eventually, after the canal runs into a drained section, go through the loading bay of a large building over the now disused canal and pass under the Mytham Road bridge shortly afterwards, to continue along the old towpath.

The path then skirts round the site of the long-since landslip which drained the canal – watch for the spring that may have contributed to that event!

A little further along the old towpath, bear left at a demolished bridge over the now disused canal and descend what used to be a flight of locks, and through a gap stile to the Nob End basin.

Go around the basin, crossing a footbridge (3) over a disused leg of the canal, and head southwards on the next canal towpath, across the canal viaduct above the River Irwell and through a gap stile to the next bridge (4) across the canal.

Here you have an option of a short cut which would cut about a mile and a half off the full stage, albeit missing some wonderful walking. If you prefer the short cut, continue along the old canal towpath, under the Prestolee Road bridge, until you eventually arrive at A667 Kearsley Road (on the 512 Bury and 513 Whitefield bus routes). Continue ahead alongside the River Irwell until reaching Fold Road to arrive at the old stone arch bridge (11) over the River Irwell.

If opting for the full stage walk, bear right before the first canal bridge (4) after Nab End basin and cross the canal over the bridge and the two stiles on the far side. Continue up the field with the field boundary on your right until reaching a junction of field boundaries a few hundred yards ahead. There turn right, keeping the new field boundary on your left and follow that field boundary until arriving at Oak Hill farm (5).

Go through and turn left on Prestolee Road, which is more of a quiet farm access track. Continue on this for about three quarters of a mile to A667 Kearsley Road (on the 512 Bury and 513 Whitefield bus routes). Bear left, then shortly turn right into Ringley Road (6) and, after about a hundred yards, opposite a derelict farm building on your right, take the track on the left through a gap stile (7) to Higher Heaps farm.

This path eventually joins the access road to the farm. Immediately past the farm buildings in front of the entrance to Heaps Cottage (8), follow the track to the left at the end of the laurel hedge and then bear right alongside the top of the old railway embankment. Ignore the long flight of steps to the bottom of the cutting and keep along the farm track. 

At the entrance to the Scout camp, go straight ahead,keeping to the left side of the open field and, at the far end of the field, bear left on the footpath to descend diagonally down the slope through Giant’s Seat Wood.

At the foot of the hill, go across a stream near a small pond and bear right to emerge on a track leading right to Red Rock Road (9).

This is the most easterly point of the walk. Follow the road to the right, alongside the River Irwell. Before the road swings left round Ringley Fold Waste Water treatment works, turn right (10) in front of Lock House along a track which joins a path leading round the corner of the works through a chicane close to the railings.

Follow this path, along the line of the old canal at the rear of the sewage works through another chicane at the junction of another path. Go straight ahead to arrive at yet another chicane behind the Horseshoe Inn to arrive on Fold Road.

Turn left towards the old tower and bridge (11) at Ringley. Cross the old bridge to Kearsley Hall Road and there you may find those on the short cut waiting for you. (For Kearsley railway station, turn right on Ringley Road after crossing the bridge and then left on A667, also Ringley Road and the railway line is half a mile away).

Turn left along Kearsley Hall Road opposite the Lord Nelson Pub. At Hulme Road bear left, go across a roundabout and under the narrow road tunnel beneath the railway to arrive on Slackey Brow. Cross the road and climb the grassy slope ahead left, past the pylon, to rejoin Slackey Brow and continue to the A666 Manchester Road at the Spread Eagle pup (on the 8 Manchester and 22 Stockport bus routes) (12).

Turn left along Manchester Road and then take the first road on the right, Moss Lane (13). Beyond the houses, where the lane forks, bear left away from the golf driving range.

Just after the white gate leading to the house on the right, turn right through a swing gate into the golf course and keep to the left of the boundary, the pond and the fir trees to arrive at the motorway embankment.

There turn right, along by the fence, to the massive footbridge (14). Cross the motorway by the footbridge and , on the far side, through the stile to follow the farm track ahead, through another stile near the first house, as far as the left-hand bend shortly after Linnyshaw Moss Farm (a garden centre).

Here follow the footpath through the hedge ahead and diagonally across the field to join a footpath (15) along the disused railway track.

Bear right onto this footpath (along a disused railway) for nearly a mile until, shortly after passing Blackleach Reservoir, arriving at Worsley Road North (16) near Hilltop, Walkden (on the 25 and 27 Manchester, 500 and 554 Trafford Centre, 551, 552 and 553 Leigh bus routes). 

For Walkden railway station turn left (south) along A575 Bolton Road and Memorial Road for about one mile.

Waypoint details