Sthbur two

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A pleasant, but foot-only, route, using mostly footpaths and tracks.

It starts in St Helens, and for a while we're on pavements alongside busy roads as we move through the suburbs of the town. Not for long though, as we soon access the Sutton Brook Greenway: an earth footpath running alongside the brook in a wooded area. It's easy to forget that we're actually following a route which isn't that far away from houses.

After a road crossing, we continue ahead on a similar path, but there are a few sections of steps involved. Eventually we reach Moss Nook, where, after a brief paved road walk, we join an unpaved road passing a garage, which gradually becomes a track. This empties out onto an unpaved residential road; as it's a dead-end we come from, traffic isn't an issue. At a junction, we join a footpath once past some garages and caravans. The footpath passes a series of scrap and junk yards; there's a locked gate, but easily bypassed by walkers.

At the end, the track branches off near some woods, but we're taking the earthern track on an embankment that runs adjacent to the railway. It can be muddy at times, but it's drier than the boggy ground it lies above. At the next junction, we take a footbridge over the railway, and follow the earth and stone footpath through what once a colliery (we pass a winding wheel memorial). There's kissing gates at the old gates at both ends of the paved drive (closed to traffic).

A short stretch of paved road brings us to the next footpath that leads through Wheatacre Woods. An earthern path, it can be muddy and even large puddles, in places, but it's a nice and well-used wander through scrubland with patches of woods. A little footbridge leads us onto a playing field, and, once over a zebra crossing and a couple of residential roads, we're in the centre of Burtonwood.

A nice wander along the Sutton/Sankey Brook, and with good transport links and shops at both ends.

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