We met up at Victoria station for this walk with 3 less members than planned, who had dropped out at the last minute. We still had 17 walkers however. A short train journey took us to Walkden. From this station we had a short walk to the Roe Green loopline, a 5 mile long traffic-free path which was the former Roe Green railway line but fell victim to closure in 1969. We followed this path along a leafy tree-lined route almost into Worsley. We branched off in the direction of Old Warke Dam which was built in the 19th century to produce a boating lake used by the 1st Earl of Ellesmere. Today it is a habitat to many birds and wildlife and is overlooked by the Old Warke Aviary, an impressive 19th century former home of the 1st Earl of Ellesmere and now home to Fred Done, the billionaire founder of the Betfred bookmaking chain. We paused here to feed the ducks and enjoy the beautiful views.
From here, we skirted around the dam and eventually emerged into Worsley, where we paused to enjoy Worsley Delph. This is the start of a network of tunnels which lead into numerous coalmines once owned by the Duke of Bridgewater. The Duke wanted an easy way to transport his coal to Manchester and so he commissioned the building of the country’s very first commercial canal from Worsley Delph into Manchester at Salford Quays. Today’s extensive network of canals was inspired by the Bridgewater canal. From the Delph, it was a short walk to the end of our walk at the Barton Arms pub for an enjoyable lunch. Thankfully the rain stayed away, so a great day was had by all.