When planning the walk between Sheffield and Manchester, I knew from the outset that the final day (Thonsett to Manchester) would be very different from the others.
I opted to head from Thornsett the very short distance to New Mills, and from New Mills walk along the Peak Forest Canal to Ashton-under-Lyne and then from Ashton, along the Ashton Canal to Manchester. Very different walking from the first two days!
Greater Manchester is vast. New Mills is very close to Derbyshire’s north western boundary with Greater Manchester. It takes around half an hour by train to get from New Mills to Greater Manchester. Like all urban, or mostly urban areas, Manchester has an extensive network of footpaths. However, many of them are not marked on Ordnance Survey maps, so it is tricky to navigate the county on foot without reliable local knowledge.
For this reason I decided to walk along the reliable canal towpaths which I knew would get me there. Even though the total distance from Thornsett, to Manchester via Ashton-under-Lyne was somewhere around 21 to 22 miles. Further than the 14 to 15 miles I had walked on the other days.
I set off from where I was staying in Thornsett just above New Mills in pretty bad weather.
New Mills is a blend of the slightly bohemian and the still quite industrial. It is a dormitory for Manchester (and to a lesser extent Sheffield which is not all that further away by train…).
I rather like it. One of the highlights is the Tors Park right in the centre. I passed through on my way to the Peak Forest Canal.
From the Tors Park I made my way through a residential area to the Peak Forest Canal (love that name).
This section of the walk confirmed my belief that whilst in the midlands, the High Peak District of Derbyshire is definetly part of the north.
The mill I was passing was very much still in business. Great to see.
The next section of the walk to Marple (yes, it did inspire the name of the Agatha Christy slooth whose been a fixture of ITV’s schedule since the 1980s…) is supposedly very beautiful passing through the foothills ofnte Peak District. Unfortunately I walked it during some of the worst weather of the day, so hardly saw a thing. Below is a misty glimpse of what I could have won.
Marple: I’ve walked along plenty of canal towpaths in my time, but seldom many where they are quite so integrated into the town.
It has a truly spectacular aqueduct (as well as a seriously impressive railway bridge alongside it).
The bridges span a seriously steep, and very beautiful, gorge. Tragically the presence of bouquets and a laminated notice asking people to seek help if they were considering suicide, revealed that a young man (evidently much loved) had not to long ago decided to end his life by jumping off it. My thoughts are with his loved ones. May he rest in peace.
Shortly after the aqueduct the canal enters a short tunnel, without a towpath. Meaning that I had to deviate from its course and head over the top.
Back on the towpath the route soon began taking on a more urban character as I entered the suburbs of Greater Manchester.
Not utterly urban, however. Large sections of the route parallel where Tameside Metropolitan District Council (who adminster those parts) have set up a rather nice green corridor of trees, dells and little brooks, along the course of the River Tame itself.
Presently, after passing Hyde (famous for murderous GPs and being the place that John Simm’s character in “Life on Mars” pretends to have been a copper prior to central Manchester, prior to being sent back to the early 1960s), I approached Ashton-under-Lyne, a sign that I had done roughly two thirds of the day’s walk.
The cafe I had hoped to visit at Ashton (in the super Blair era “Heritage Wharf”) where the Peak Forest Canal joins the Ashton Canal was closed.
So I decided to get lunch from the cafe at ASDA on the edge of the centre of Ashton instead. I’m not a huge fan of carbonate soft drinks (sparkling water aside) but because it was part of the £5.35 “meal deal” large pizza slice, and fries I ended up having my first paper cup of Fanta since I was an adolescent. Impressive array of old mills in Ashton.
After the centre of Ashton-under-Lyne the canal (now the Ashton Canal) takes a turn for the industrial.
This doesn’t last, and soon you are back in a primarily residential area. The bridge below, is the point at which Tameside gives way to the Metropolitan Borough of the City of Manchester.
It was just my luck (of course) to walk this route during the very brief season when Canada Geese are super aggressive. I must have been hissed at, at least a dozen times during the walk. And been lunged at on half a dozen occasions. On the plus side I saw this group of seriously cool looking ducks.
Manchester is a great city. I really like it. It is also a place of enormous contrasts. It is long and thin, never more than a few miles wide. So it squats at the centre of its urban region in a way that Birmingham never could.
I walked in via a mixture of comfortable looking neighbourhoods (with a distinctly New Labour feel) and utter dereliction). It was interesting.
Then I reached New Islington, right on the edge of central Manchester. It makes a lot of its canal heritage. Rightly so, in the late 18th Century it was clearly a key inland port for the city. Even compared to central Birmingham (where admittedly we infilled many of the branch canals) it is quite something.
After New Islington I briefly left the canal network. Only to return to it by Canal Street, which of course is one of the most famous gay districts in the entire UK. I recalled the days in my early to mid 20s when I used to watch programmes like GBH (1991) and Queer as Folk (1998) on 4oD. A brilliant and brave TV series.
From Canal Street I headed slightly further north into the city. Heading for Manchester Town Hall (currently wreathed in scaffolding), Manchester Town Hall Extension and Manchester Central Library.
This is where the walk ended.
So: on reaching Manchester Town Hall that marks the end of this walk. In just under a fortnight I will be setting off to walk the Derwent Valley Heritage Way. Walking most of the way up Derbyshire. Do tune in. Especially if you are interested in old cotton Mills and the beginnings of industrialisation.
Did I learn anything? Yes. Besides general trite platitudes, I learnt that my ‘Mae West” lips, unfortunately require lip balm to stop them getting reduced to a bloody mess. I will take that on future long distance walks, for sure.