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

Eventually we reach a rough track through small woods which runs towards a farm, where we take a small footpath between hedge and fence, before ducking through a gap in the hedge and heading along a farm track towards the houses and the road ahead. The path is along a farm track running through fields of oats and wheat, and rejoins the road at a gateless junction. We can exit using the car park entrance, or continue ahead along another stretch of path, before emerging onto the road via a kissing gate. Onto the road, which is paved, we pass Orrell station, then head up a residential road....

Hiking Historian

Across the road, a tarmac footpath into some trees, and a subway under the motorway bring us into Pimbo. At the end, we turn onto an unpaved road which becomes a farm track. Almost straight away, we join another farm track, which becomes a footpath running through a field of corn. A short stretch of unpaved road and we're onto another footpath across a field....

Hiking Historian

Onto an unpaved, though dead-end, road, at the end we take a path around the last farm, before heading across a field to the trees in the centre; it can be hard to spot at first, especially before harvest, but it seems to be well-used once on it. The route map, and OS, suggest the footpath goes through the farm, but on the ground it was been rerouted around, between fences and hedges, and ahead of the tree-lined farm track to the road. Through fields of various crops (oats, wheat, carrots, parsnips), through a gate by a farm, and a long rough farm track to the road....

Hiking Historian

The route map suggests a crossing over the railway and ahead towards Crawford. Problem is, there is no railway crossing, and the route ahead is not a route: it's the boundary between Merseyside and Lancashire....

Hiking Historian

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

One could go down Beacon Road, then turn left down the footpath and follow the perimeter of the housing estate but that's unnecessary deviation....

Andrew Dowd

You would need to walk back along the Poolstock Bypass to cross safely at a crossing otherwise you'd be walking across a dual carriageway. Eckersley/Trencherfield Mill complex is still closed at the back due to an unsafe wall and building meaning the footpath requires a longer walk round to get through....

Andrew Dowd

The exit onto Wynstanley Road/Ashton Road is through a gap in the hedge, which seems to be the route used by locals, rather than the Right of Way path, and is safer if you are walking north. Parsons Meadow was pleasant and the final walk into Wigan was interesting, passing Wigan Pier, and the railway themed Wigan Central pub....

Mary Oz

Crossing Winstanley Road/Ashton Road just south of the M6 could have been a bit dangerous as the footpath emerges onto the inside of a bend on a road where the traffic is quite fast....

Mary Oz

The second part (after the road crossing) was a bit more isolated and it was necessary, as defined, to leave the canal where the route was blocked for footpath improvements which seem a long time coming. Hinkley Road (residential) was nice enough, but it’s a pity the footpath through The Burgies appears to be unavailable....

Mary Oz

But in rural Merseyside, the ramps vanish and, in places, the pavement is narrow or overgrown. A pleasant enough and straightforward route, albeit for foot only, but hardly exciting....

Hiking Historian

Only Carr Mill makes it awkward for wheeled users, but otherwise a goid route....

Hiking Historian

First, from St Helens, the route is very road-heavy, when there's a perfectly good footpath running alongside the old canal; second, the footpath through The Burgies doesn't exist; third, an inexplicable spike to Carr Mill pub, rather than just crossing the road; and fourth, another road walk, when Carr Mill Woods are right next to it with nice shady footpaths. I've amended the route to take in these changes....

Hiking Historian