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Cheshire Ring

Grappenhall to Lymm – Bridgewater Canal

Having completed walking the Leeds Liverpool Canal, this was our first walk on the Cheshire Ring. This is made up of sections of six canals – the Bridgewater Canal, the Rochdale Canal, the Ashton Canal, the Peak Forest Canal, the Macclesfield Canal and the Trent and Mersey Canal.

To avoid the problems of getting back to the starting point from the finishing point, these walks will be circular with a “canal” section and an “off canal” section.

For this walk, twenty walkers met at the Springbrook pub in Grappenhall. David Scott gave us his customary talk on the history of the canal and area before we set off. A short stretch through the village took us to the Trans Pennine Trail which formed the bulk of the first half of the walk. Here, we met a group of schoolchildren on a bear hunt, who warned us to look out for bears! We had bright sunny weather and the avenue of trees along the trail formed a lovely shading canopy most of the way. The trail had a slight detour along the A56 to pass under the M6 motorway before continuing to the Rangers Station at Lymm, where we stopped for a drinks break. This was built on the site of Lymm Railway Station on the Warrington and Stockport line which closed to passengers in 1962. The track was lifted in 1988 with the track bed later becoming the trail.

We then walked a short way through the village of Lymm before reaching the canal towpath. On our right were houses behind high hedges with the occasional glimpse of older pretty cottages. The left side had more substantial houses with lawns flowing down to the canal bank – some with their own boats moored. The canal meandered somewhat and at one point, the towpath became a wide, well mown lawn. Although we weren’t speed walking, we had an unusual experience in overtaking a narrowboat! It was powered by an electric motor and so not as fast as diesel engined boats. We rounded a ninety degree bend and reached Grappenhall Bridge where we left the canal and made our way through the village back to the Springbrook. Here, the staff had managed to lay a table to accommodate all twenty of us. After a hearty meal and a few drinks, we made our way home. All agreed we had a great, picturesque walk with good company. Looking forward to the next one!