Frosty fields and frozen paths sparkled in the winter sunshine beside the Leeds Liverpool Canal, tempting Wigan's ramblers, dog walkers and runners. But narrowboats on the waterway were trapped in ice. They weren't going anywhere. Returning recently we enjoyed the stroll along the canal until we came to a forbidding notice. "Path closed" it said. Nothing else, no suggestion of any alternative. We ventured to accost several local people. "What has happened to the cycle track along the old railway?" we enquired. All looked back at us rather puzzled. "What railway?" they asked. Nobody it seemed had ever heard of any railway in these parts. Then a helpful man appeared. "It's just been closed for the next couple of years to do some building work", he said. We studied the map and there lay hope. So back to Aberdeen Bridge and behold waymarks pointed helpfully round a house and across the fields to where the railway should be. And so it was. No more problems and a stroll through autumn colours completed a delightful autumn walk.
LOCATION: North of Wigan
START: Red Rock Lane (B5239) off A5106, signed Haigh Country Park. Car park on left in a quarter mile
Grid ref: SD583099 Postcode: WN1 2UJ
DISTANCE: 3 miles
GRADE: Easy
TIME: 2 hours
MAP: Explorer OL - Bolton Landranger 108
REFRESHMENTS: Pack a flask
EN ROUTE: River Douglas, Rennie Aqueduct, Arley, Adlington
This walk was originally published by
The Manchester Evening News