GM Ringway Trail Stage 16. Wigan to Leigh.

 Wednesday 19th November 2025

Official Distance 16.3km.             Unofficial Distance around 17km due to Meandering off trail.

Who was on the hike? Martin, Sue, Paul, Jeanette, Sheila, Myself and Rufus the Bedlington Terrier.

Weather:- Cold, Dry and Bright with no wind.

Sheila and I started the day with a bus ride to the railway station where we caught the train to Manchester Victoria and then another train to Wigan Wallgate. Surprisingly all transport was on time and was an enjoyable journey. We arrived in Wigan at 10.40am where we were to meet the others at 11.07am.

Across the road from the station is the Station Cafe (aptly named) and that was where we decided to wait, partaking in a very nice coffee. The cafe is a lovely place and there were numerous people enjoying the Mega Breakfast which was very tempting. On the walls can be found many phrases about life. For example, " Live each day as if it was your last, because one day it will be"

Through the windows we watched numerous feral kids behaving without respect for others or the Police. Very sad to see as Wigan is a decent enough place but the Town Centre really does need to eradicate this sort of person. (Not that it is alone with problems on the street).

11.10am came and out of the station the rest of the party arrived, also having a coffee before setting off down the high street towards the Leeds to Liverpool Canal and Wigan Pier, famous for Northern Soul and George Orwell of course. There is a museum at the pier but we didn't have the time to pay it a visit.

The towpath area is a pleasant walk and in very good condition with many new builds and nicely restored old warehouses converted into apartments along the banks. A number of older cottages have been kept and looked splendid. We noticed the old stone drain which I presumed was far cheaper than getting wrought iron grids and also a benchmark on the bridge.

A stone drainage grid.

Ordnance Survey Benchmark.

At a three way junction in the canal a modern footbridge bridge has been erected, it wasn't built when the canal was built, but it begs the question "why not?" 

A pleasant aspect to the towpath.

Following the canal, the path leads between two of the Wigan Flashes, Scotsman's and Pearsons. Thomas Pearson was a Millwright and engineer and his Colliery, operated by Pearson and Knowles was close by. The name Scotsman is all rather vague, some say because the land was owned by a Scotsman but I find this a little too simple. The name Flash's came about because the area had massive subsidence caused by the mines. These then filled with water in a "Flash". The name stuck.

Today the large bodies of water are nature reserves and water based sports. We spotted a bird eating a large fish in Scotsman's Flash and at first we thought it was real. The sun was low down and in our eyes but it soon became obvious that it was a sculpture of sorts. I cannot find anything about it. The canal itself is a masterpiece of engineering at this location considering it was built prior to the formation of the Flash's.

The towpath between Scotsman's Flash and the canal, Pearsons flash is behind the canal to the left.

Bird with fish sculpture.

A slight narrowing of the canal used to be the location of a swing bridge which was part of the Mineral Railway from Park Colliery (Now gone). The line is now gone and it is being used as a footpath but due to yesterdays heavy rain it was a little boggy.

Along the path there is an information board telling about butterflies. There is also an engraving by Phillip Garrett but I completely missed it. I wonder if any of the others spotted it.

Photo courtesy of Clara Paillard.

The footpath curved left leaving the original route of the railway and brought us to the entrance of Park House which must have been a fine residence once but now just a shell remains. I guess that the house would have had some relevance to Park Lane Colliery. The colliery had at least 3 deep shafts and was operational from 1859 until 1962. Mercer, Evans and Thompson were the first owners then Garswood Coal and Iron company owned the pits from 1877 to 1929 then later Landgate colliery company and finally The National Coalboard.

The sad remains of Park House is being overtaken by nature, it must have been empty for quite sometime. I had a quick look around and took a couple of photographs for historical purposes and also found a named brick which was a bonus.

The brick was marked AW and I immediately thought of Alfred Wainwright who was affectionately known as AW. However this AW was from a brick works Ackers and Whitley formed in 1840 in Abram,  just down the road from Park House. John Whitely was the owner of the Bickershaw Estates and Abraham Ackers was the owner of the Abram Coal Company.

Acker's Whitley brick. 

Park House in need of a bit of DIY.

The path which I guess was the driveway to Park House had good views across to Winter Hill with the mast just visible today. It led us to Land Gate Lane which on the OS map looks as though it is just a footpath or "Green Lane". In reality it is a wide, busy rat run for construction vehicles which took us a bit by surprise. We crossed the railway bridge but couldn't see the line below because of the new high walls. 

Winter Hill in the distance.

Land Gate Lane. (No idea why Sheila is walking in the opposite direction.)

A narrow path on the right just prior to reaching Bryn Hall Farm Units led us across fields and a boardwalk through a bullrush moss. Here we came across a large swan who wasn't a bit bothered about us being on his or her path, this led us to an aptly positioned Picnic Bench where we had our lunch. 

The sound of racing cars from The Three Sisters racing circuit was quite loud. The track was built on what was The Garswood Hall Colliery which closed in 1958. The three sisters name came from three very large spoil heaps in the area, also known as the Wigan Alps.

We had about 30 minutes for lunch and then made our way through fields then crossing the busy A58 road before another railway and a small brook via its well made footbridge to the small canal side former hamlet of Dover. We came out at the Dover Lock Public House which was sadly burnt down in 2021 and nothing has been done with it since. This pub has a long history being originally named the White Lion until 1858 when it changed to The Red Lion. The pub was then "Moved" around 1830 to a more profitable position beside the main road and the canal lock and renamed the Dover Lock. Another interesting bit of history was the locks themselves which had to be removed from the canal due to coal mining subsidence.

The Dover Lock Inn

Walking further down the canal towpath we passed what used to be two bridges associated with the railway. The first being the Wigan Junction branch line, this ran from Wigan to Glazebrook where it joined the Cheshire Line. It opened in 1884 and closed in the 1960's.  The second being the West Leigh Line which went north to join the Eccles, Tyldsley and Wigan line and south to join the Bedford-Leigh Line. It opened in 1828 and closed in 1968. The line was repurposed as the A579 road and we come to that later. The area used to be surrounded by railway lines, tramways and mineral lines and you could do a post just on this subject alone.

One of the two bridge parapets of the redundant railways.

Crossing Plank Lane Draw Bridge we stopped to admire what has been achieved with the grounds that used to be Bickershaw colliery. Now it is a narrow boat marina with very nice waterside apartments. It is named Ackers and Whitley, the same as the brick we found earlier. 

Some of us  were not paying attention to the designated route here and we must have gone 3-400 metres along the towpath before turning back and heading off south at Plank Lane bridge. It is what I call just a meander.

Plank Bridge was so different just a few years ago with numerous terraced houses aligning the main road and the Britania hotel which stood on the north side of the bridge now all gone. Quite a few local pubs have also disappeared but its easy to imagine that such a large colliery complex would have had lots of pubs, fish and chip shops, grocery stores etc.

A time of reflection.

As it was we now walked through what was once  the living rooms of the Terrance houses and into Pennington Flash country park. This is a huge body of water at 170 acres. The park itself totals 858 acres. It opened in 1981and was formed once again due to coal mining subsidence. It is a Mecca for twitchers, dog walkers, hikers and those that just want a day out. The visitor centre and cafe is modern and clean. 

We found a picnic bench at the waterside and used the last of our coffee and snack before continuing on the short walk which crossed the Glaze Brook and through a busy Leigh town to catch the V1 bus into Manchester City Centre. The V1 uses the A579 road and in parts it is a self guided bus lane with limited stops. The first time I have been on it and it is a fantastic way to commute into Manchester and back.

Pennington Flash Brew stop.

The visitor centre just before sunset.

Glaze Brook.

That brought us to the end of another stage of the GM Ringway trail and it will probably be our last stage until 2026 as we have lots of commitments during December. Martin and Sue plus others will probably finish the route during December and you can keep up with Martin's blog by clicking HERE.

Today's route. 

Todmorden to Littleborough towpath walk.

Monday 3rd November 2025.

Todays Route. 10.6km.

We checked the weather forecast and it was awful. 80% rain and windy. Ideal hiking weather I told myself, after all that's why we spend so much money on decent wet weather gear isn't it.

We drove to Littleborough, parked the car and missed the train to Todmorden by roughly 10 seconds as it left the platform a minute early. The next one was in 30 minutes.

After alighting in Todmorden, coffee and fruit tea cakes were had in the Boardroom/Boardgame cafe. very nice it was too. (They do have a facebook page but I don't have Facebook so I can't drop you a link.)

The Boardroom/boardgame cafe, Todmorden.

The start of our canal walk was a little later than planned and we didn't get going until 11'ish. The first point of interest being the "Deep Lock" or the Library lock to give it it's proper title. The guillotine lock gates are quite a unique feature. The lock is 20ft deep here.

Just round the corner is the Great Wall of Toddy. It was built in 1881 to support the ground needed for the railway and goods yard above and to prevent subsidence into the canal. It's made from blue engineering bricks and is said to have 4 million bricks. No, I didn't count them.

The Great Wall of Todmorden.

The canal was extremely full and many spots had overflowed the bank leaving some quite deep puddles along the towpath. The locks and bywash gutters were struggling to cope with the amount of water being introduced from the surrounding hillsides. It did give us some nice photos though.

Rochdale canal with Gauxholme No.2 viaduct in the background. Built in 1840 with a span of 102ft.

Strangely, the designer is debatable, a similar bridge of this type and skew was done by either Robert or George Stephenson but is shorter than this one which was by Thomas Longridge Gooch. 

Along this stretch of towpath, a local school must have been having a day nature walking as column after column of youngsters and teachers passed us going the opposite direction. Most said hello as we met. 

The building on the right has been nicely modernised 

but I guess it used to be a narrow boat repair yard.

 As we approached Walsden there was an aroma in the air which reminded us of pies being cooked and then we saw the sign for Gordon Riggs garden centre which has a cafeteria. We have been once but found it far too expensive for what we got and so have never been back. 

Across the canal lies Birks Mill which is now derelict and signs say it is dangerous. The mill dates back to 1799 when it was owned by Edmund Kershaw who worked the mill as a cotton carding and spinning mill. It was powered by water which was plentiful coming off the surrounding hills.

A date stone which used to be above a doorway was dated 1800 with initials JSC, John and Sarah Crossley who owned the land and lived at Scaitcliffe Hall Todmorden, which is also now shamefully derelict.

Derelict Birks Mill

Scaitcliffe Hall, home of the Crossley's, as it was in 2007. Now derelict. (image courtesy of roots web.)

The scenery was becoming more and more wonderful as we made our way to the highest point of the Rochdale Canal. It is easy to forget with time just what a magnificent section of canal this route is and how old the surrounding villages and farm houses are on the adjacent hillsides.

Taking a short break.

Image below, an unfortunate captain, I wonder if he went down with his ship. I thought about putting a For Sale sign on it with a post script "has a slight leak in the galley". But thought better of it.

Two images showing wide turning and mooring points when the canals used to service the many mills and quarries in the area.

Due to the predicted weather forecast we were dressed in our wet suits but the 80% rain has not showed up yet. Yes, the clouds have been black at times and on a number of occasions we have thought it was going to chuck it down but it hasn't and so we are now feeling like a boil in the bag meal. Its actually quite a warm day.

There is plenty of water coming down the hillside from Ramsden Clough reservoir and the waterfalls would have looked far better if I had brought my Olympus camera and not just my iPhone. 

The autumn colours are looking splendid throughout this walk.

From the towpath we didn't notice the impressive gates on the drive leading up to Stone House farm. It was only when we looked back and saw the stag. It called for further investigation and so we went back and crossed the bridge to the drive.

Stone House Farm Drive.

This place is ranked as the most expensive property in the area at £2.3 million. However, trying to find anything about it is like pulling teeth.

Approaching Warland with its castellated folly wall adorned currently with its Kindness banner we stood at the lock and was visited by a very friendly moggy. It was very playful and followed us a short distance before disappearing as quickly as it came. 

Then under a strange type of bridge. There doesn't seem to be any purpose to it being there. Upon further investigation I found out that it is carrying a pipe which feeds the canal with water sluiced from the large Warland reservoir high up on the moorland behind the village.

I am still a little perplexed about it because I cannot understand why a bridge is needed at all. Surely the pipe doesn't need to cross the canal to feed it and it doesn't need to be high up because the gravity pressure from the reservoir will be great. There won't be any back pressure if there is a sluice. I'm at a loss, so if anyone has any knowledge of this piece of engineering and the design I would be pleased to have a comment.

Warland Pipe Bridge.

The next poi was Warland swing bridge an unusual addition to the many bridges dating from 1804. Then the highest point of the day, "The Summit Lock" . The highest broad canal in England at 600ft.

Summit Lock

From here as they say, it's all down hill to Littleborough. The sun actually came out and the rain held off. On our left we passed a beautiful manicured remembrance garden worthy of noting before we started to enter the outskirts of Littleborough. I was getting rather hungry at this point and wished we had brought some snacks with us. A quick look around on old demolished mill ground and then into town for some lunch, even though it was 3.00pm.

A very demolished old mill at Lock 42.

We called in the Coffee on the Corner as we did on the GM Ringway trail a few weeks ago and enjoyed a well deserved feast.

And just as we sat down to eat the rain started. We could not have timed it better.