River Irwell Between Prestwich And Kearsley

Introduction

I continue to take care of my dislocated toe (I have a podiatry assessment tomorrow), so found another lowland walk in a semi-urban area today.

I’m not really familiar with this part of north Manchester, so was looking forward to finding out more.The walk includes sections in the 3 Council areas – Metropolitan Boroughs of Bury and, Bolton and the City Of Salford.

Pnillips Park, Prestwich is a 30 minute drive from Cheadle Hulme.

The walk is 6.5 miles with 575 feet of ascent .

It took 3 hours to complete, with no stops.

The walk is good for dog walking, the first half being in woods on good country park paths. The second half has a short road section, and then mainly a riverside path.

I walked in an anti-clockwise direction.

The walk is on OS Explorer Map 277.

I parked at Philips Park car park, postcode M45 7HJ, What 3 Words //brats.author.eating

Philips Park To Stoneclough

Philips Park is a lovely old wooded town park on the banks of the River Irwell.

It has a few attractive ponds.

I could have spent more time exploring the park, but chose to head off over the M60.

Beyond the motorway, much of the route follows the line of the disused, and filled in, Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal, remnants of which can be seen in amongst the trees.

Further along, with the old sludge beds to my left, I caught an unexpected site ahead.

A little further on a second deer appeared, much closer.

Stoneclough, Kearsley

At Stoneclough, there is a beautiful stone footbridge over the river.

There is also a nice church with a separate clock tower.

There is a grand view from the bridge.

The town has erected a nice frame for “Kearsley In Bloom”, but I had no-one to pose!

Stoneclough To Philips Park

The power station had many sculptural electricity pylons.

The riverside here was covered in Himalayan balsam.

The only thing that could outcompete the balsam is the Japanese knotweed.

There are some great river views along here.

Halfway back, I arrived at the delightful Clifton Country Park with its large lake.

The return road passes under the M60.

And back at Philips Park, I re-crossed the river, and passed the disused railway viaduct before leaving the valley to return to the car park.

This is a great walk, combining nature with wonders of 19th and 20th century transport engineering. I really enjoyed it.

And Finally….

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