Stage 18 Irlam to Altrincham
Distance 11 miles
We were a little later than usual setting off today but still made it to Manchester and Irlam on the tram and train in decent time. We wiggled our way through streets of terraced housing and allotments to Glazebrook and stopped for lunch on a handy bench on a small green near the outskirts of town. We met a beautiful and friendly cat at the edge of the fields, the first of three friendly cats that we met today - appropriate as it is International Cat Day.
We crossed the fields, with occasional bangs from bird-scarers going off that were putting the pigeons up for seconds, to the road and bridge crossing over the Manchester Ship Canal. This was quite interesting as there are engineering works being done at the moment, there is one lane with traffic lights and no pavement, although there was a narrow gap behind the low traffic barrier that we were able to get along quite easily, with a bit of care needed at either end. Today's walk has some busy road crossings, and even if the bridge was open properly it would still be quite a tricky section.
Away from the road we took the slight detour to see the old church in Warburton, which is a very picturesque village with old cottages and very neat hedges, in very bucolic countryside. We walked around fields of wheat, barley and oats with attractive wildflower borders passing pretty villages and old farms into Dunham Woodhouses (with friendly cat) before crossing a narrow footbridge over a stream and entering Dunham Massey park. The sun came out as we had a sit on a bench in front of the house, next to big trees with parakeets squawking and deer wandering around.
From the park the path goes through the golf course, a pleasant path under the trees, and then through Devisdale and Denzel gardens into Altrincham, where we passed some very posh houses (and met shy, but friendly cat number 3) and many Pilates studios to reach the tram station.
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