Shoche two

Slow Way not verified yet. Verify Shoche here.

Walked from Shotton to Chester. A good easy route entirely on hard surfaces. Missed the last half km from the canal at Chester because it was the third route of a long day and I needed to get to the station.

The route is easy to follow. We head under the railway bridge from Shotton and continue down Chester Road West. An NCN sign makes it easy to see the turn left onto Rowleys Drive, which crosses the railway on a narrow bridge with no pavement (there may be cars but not many). Walkers can bypass the dogleg right on an unofficial path right of the first building. We turn left onto the surfaced track (the lower path may be flooded at high tide) and take the ramped path up onto Hawarden Bridge, then follow the obvious cyclepath past the station.

Our path bends round to the right and then takes a very straight path all the way into the suburbs of Chester. We eventually leave it to descend to the Shropshire Union canal, which we follow south. Where the canal divides we cross an old horse bridge over to the middle bank opposite the Telford Warehouse, then follow the canal past another basin and under the city walls to Morgans Mount (where there is a choice of steps or a ramped path).

After a long three-route day, I chose to omit the simple pavement walk up to the Chester meeting point. [Anyone who needs to catch a train and is short of time will find it easiest to stay by the canal to the Frodsham Street bridge, passing some rather impressive sections of city wall.].

From Shotton the route follows a quiet road with speed humps for step free access to Hawarden Bridge. From here the route is nearly all shared use cycle track, although it does include several cycle barriers which slope in to a gap of 40cm at the top at a height of about 1.5 metres. Crossing the bridge over the River Dee, alongside (but safely away from) the railway is great fun, with excellent view towards Chester.
The track continues straight on past Hawarden Bridge Station and is incredibly easy to follow. After a long gentle curve, the route is dead straight for four and a half miles. There is a bit of industry and house-building along the route to start with, but it is not close by.
I walked this on a Saturday afternoon and there were quite a lot of cyclists and loose dog walkers, but generally it all felt very safe and pleasant. I saw or heard cormorant, woodpecker, skylark and rabbit.
From the bridge over the busy A494 I got a good view of the Clwyd hills including Moel Famau. I also got a view of the former Sealand Army camp, which I think is still in use by the MoD. (I’m not very knowledgeable about this but Hiking Historian may know.)
From here until Blacon was much more rural, and not busy, although I could still hear some traffic noise, and also the nearby shooting school. It felt as if this long straight stretch would go on forever, but it was broken up by occasional bridges and stone benches, and then by the sign marking the Wales/England border.
The path and verges were all well maintained. St Bartholomews Church in Sealand has a café that’s open 10am-2pm Monday to Wednesday, near the middle of the route, and there’s a pub, shop and buses in Saughall.
Not long after passing Blacon, I reached the slope down to the canal towpath. The route into Chester was very interesting, using a footbridge with a curved ramp, passing a dry dock, and the remarkable Northgate Staircase locks, and then going up a cobbled slope and under Chester Walls. Along a cobbled street, and I was soon into the lovely city centre.
The route is entirely step-free, nearly all tarmac, and the only potential restrictions for wheel users are described above.

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