As we pass Bryn station, we turn down a road, where we access a footpath via a small rough car park. At a new housing estate, a gravel path takes us to the road, where new pavements follow the original route of the footpath as still marked on the route and OS maps. Past the last house, a couple of steps down onto a narrow footpath running between farm and fence. At a junction with the barrier, we follow a footpath towards the ruins of Park House Farm, where we take a farmtrack around thd buildings....

Hiking Historian

From Billinge, we're almost straight away heading into the countryside; at the end of our first junction, a short residential road becomes a farm track once we're past a barrier by the gate. The track becomes a tarmac path just before it meets the road, and we cross and follow the paved residential road ahead. Following the road past the station, and then under the railway itself, we come to a junction, where we turn right....

Hiking Historian

The path still does not pass through Park House Farm, despite still being marked as such on OS maps; it's understandably fenced off as the derelict farm is falling apart....

Hiking Historian

Photos show the signpost & path between Castle Hill (road) and the M6; the walkway under the M6; Castle Hill (historic site); signpost at the junction between the path and Rob Lane...

AlisonM

If you cross the bridge on the other side, there are no roads to cross but you are then stuck on the wrong side of the road and there are no crossings to get back on to the right side to continue the route, and it’s a fast road. You then cross Garswood Road and the footpath leads on to open farmland up to Weathercock Hill. This is a really lovely part of the route; the original coach road surface can still be seen in parts. The route was lovely and seemed to me to qualify as a slow way, the only part I didn’t like was the M6 bridge crossing section...

Dinah Kelly

From the centre of Haydock, we take well-paved roads to the East Lancs Road, a busy dual carriageway which we cross using a footbridge. Once over the bridge, it's along the wall of the school to the main road, which we follow into the centre of Ashton-in-Makerfield, and, past the crossroads, to the end of the route....

Hiking Historian

Although it uses footpaths, it is mostly a road walk, although some of the footpaths may be too muddy or uneven for wheeled users. At the end, we join another muddy footpath, before taking a junction onto a tarmac track that runs across the starting straight of the racecourse and onto an unpaved track beyond, which is a quiet rural walk, closed to almost all traffic. From the track, we join a residential road, and from here, it's pavements all the way....

Hiking Historian

At the end, we join another muddy footpath, before taking a junction onto a tarmac track that runs across the starting straight of the racecourse and onto an unpaved track beyond, which is a quiet rural walk, closed to almost all traffic. From the track, we join a residential road, and from here, it's pavements all the way....

Hiking Historian

This route consists of a mixture of canal towpaths, gravel, unmade footpaths and private lanes, with major roads at either end of the route. The first is at Park House Farm (SD578022) where the Right of Way has been unofficially diverted around the farmhouse buildings....

Dannywith

A short route with heavy use of pavements next to busy roads, but with a more rural northern-section....

Dannywith

It's not an easy path: overgrown, with debris and even old bottles on the path, it is only for the foolhardy (like myself!)...

Hiking Historian

There are many problems with this route: first, the route crosses the East Lancs Road where there is no crossing (there is a stepped footbridge nearby); also, there is no access from the main road to the residential road of The Hedgerows....

Hiking Historian

Ashton Heath too can be wet and muddy, with many paths across it, but one can just as easily walk along the road around the heath....

Hiking Historian

The surface is predominantly made up of tarmac and compressed stone, with an unmade, but well trodden path through farmland - this section can get muddy after heavy rain....

Dannywith