Bilhay two

Slow Way not verified yet. Verify Bilhay here.

A shorter version of the original, but jt avoids the lengthy road walk once in Haydock, and uses some nice rural footpaths.

The start is the same: from the centre of Bilinge, the route goes down Carr Mill Lane, a mixture of paved and unpaved, until we reach the quiet hamlet of Chadwick Green. Here we take a tarmac footpath that zigzags around a house, between fences, and at its end we enter a field. An earthern footpath goes straight across a field of wild radish fodder crop, which can be muddy in wet weather. At a junction we turn left, heading downhill to a small wood.

Over a little bridge into the wood, take the footpath on the left up the bank (there is a wider path running right, which is more enticing, but that just leads deeper into the woods). At the top, another field. We walk along the hedge on the left, which eventually becomes an enclosed footpath between trees and hedges. At its end, a small barrier, where we meet an unpaved road.

Passing the farms and crossing the bridge over the railway, you'll not experience many vehicles on this unpaved road: only scant farm traffic and, near the end, parking cars for dogwalkers will disturb this quiet road. At its end, we turn left, and then onto another footpath across the road. At the end of that, a busier road, but we're soon onto a tarmac footpath which starts at a small car park. This path runs past a massive Amazon warehouse, and we join a paved road past it at the end.

Crossing the East Lancs Road at the main junction, we follow the road east for a short time, before joining a footpath on the right. Wet and muddy in places, it clibsa wooded hill, which soon levels off, before becoming a tarmac path running past a housing estate and joining the main road ahead, when we turn right.

Turning left onto Sherlock Road, passing shops on the left, we soon tsje a right turn and arrives at Haydock library, essentially the end of the route.

Shops and transport links at both ends, it is a good and varied route. Although not totally inaccessible, I'd still recommend this as foot only due to some of the terrain and pinch gaps.

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