Irwell Sculpture Trail Day 3

 Prestwich to Salford Quays

Distance 13.4 miles

We got the tram to Prestwich and went through Gardner Park passing the allotments down into Prestwich Clough to meet up with the Sculpture Trail. In the woods we heard nuthatches and chiffchaffs, and also a buzzard and an owl. There were grey wagtails and mallards on the river, which is wide and slow moving here.

At a roundabout we crossed over the river to walk on the side which had a nice looking path beside a cemetery rather than going through a new housing estate, but after a while it looked nicer on the other side and there was regret.

A very arch-y bridge took us into Kersal Wetlands, which is a nature reserve on the site of the old Manchester racecourse. Here there were goosander, tufty ducks, little grebe, very talkative black headed gulls, grey heron and parakeets. Walking over the embankment, we went back to the riverbank and woodland passing the Cliffs and headed into Salford. Coming out on to a busy road we crossed over and followed the pavement between the river and housing, and were pleasantly surprised to see a kingfisher.

As we entered Peel Park, which is next to the university and very busy, there was a treecreeper. There are a few sculptures here in the park, including the Tower and Fabric of Nature, but we most admired the map on the paving next to the memorial obelisk to the flood of 1866, which shows the route of the River Irwell and the Sculpture trail. I tried to take a photo but it did not come out well.

After the park we followed the river though the city centre the ongoing regeneration made navigation a bit tricky through some of the new buildings and roadworks.

The trail includes sculptures at Ordsall Hall and Salford Quays, we saw Four Corners, Where The Wild Things Are, Factory Girls (now located on the opposite bank), Erie's Rest is not there and Nine Dock has been replaced by Through No.4.

We also saw the Blue Peter Garden and a great crested grebe, before catching the tram home.

Irwell Sculpture Trail Day 2

Ramsbottom to Prestwich

Distance 16miles, about 19.5 total

Little egret, grey heron, deer, house martens, toads, teal, midges

We used the trams to get to Bury and then the bus to Ramsbottom, starting the walk in Nuttall Hall Park. A cobbled path leads down into Summerseat where we crossed the river passing impressive mills, now converted to apartments. The village link path goes through the woods and over the East Lancs railway line into farmland, where a sign said there was shooting in progress but none of the sheep appeared to have guns.

We followed the riverbank into Burrs Country Park, enjoying the 'Picnic Spot' sculpture and Troll trail. We walked through Bury (which seems to have a lot of schools) through some industrial units, over an old disused viaduct and onto the canal towpath, where it was quite suddenly very pleasant. There were a lot of toads swimming and croaking in the reeds.

We emerged onto a busy road, where another school is being built, next to the Radcliffe metro station, which has a sculpture 'From the Tower Falls the Shadow' on the side, and walked through town. The NHS Primary Care Centre has the sculpture 'Eternal Waves' in its forecourt. We had a sit down next to the bridge which has 'Over The Horizon' on it, although it is difficult to make out all the words, the walked through the bus station, McDonalds and Asda carpark into Outwood Country Park where there are collections of monoliths by Ulrich Rueckreim. 

A disused railway through woodland (with 'Trinity') took us back to the river and into Clifton Country Park, where we missed the gruffalo but did see a very interesting mine shaft and engine shed. The sculptures 'Lookout', 'Pit Pony', 'Miners' and 'Dig' are here. We saw cool fungi and a deer and some badly behaved dogs.

The path goes through woodland under the M60 motorway, where teal and geese swam on the river, next to the disused Fletcher canal. We turned off the trail into Philips Park, had a sit down and a snack, before the woodland path comes abruptly to an end at the back of a petrol station and Premier Inn car park, and we walked through Prestwich town centre to the tram stop.

Irwell Valley Sculpture Trail Day 1

 

Bacup to Ramsbottom

Sunny and warm

On route 17 miles, total about 20

Lost water bottles: 1

Injuries 3

Shoes: filthy

Today's walk was considerably more strenuous than I expected for a sculpture trail.

We caught a bus from Shaw to Rochdale, then to Bacup and then up on the moors to Weir. The source of the River Irwell is in the middle of a field not too far from the road, so we went across to start close to it. There were some fluffy Galloway cows and the grass looked nice and short and it all looked fine but soon turned into an adventure of grazed shin, wobbly grass tussocks, bog filled boots and slow going. 

We eventually made it over to a reasonably solid grass path and on to the Rossendale Way, which led along lanes by farms and a wet rocky path to the first sculpture The Sentinel. 

Through Bacup town centre to "Birds" which is a series of three metal birds rising alongside a quite busy road. There looks to be a nice path along the side of the hill, but we didn't walk along it because we weren't sure if you could get down at the end. You can.

The next sculptures are in Lee Quarries, up a short steep track/MTB trail into the quarries. The Frond and Ferroterrosaurus are very impressive in their settings. The path down the hillside had a warning sign strongly recommending finding an alternate path down so we turned back and crossed the stream higher up, heading up and on to moors - with more bog, wind turbines,  highland cows and lapwings.

Coming out of the quarry we could clearly see the path on the other side, complete with fallen rocks and land slips, it had been quite a long detour but was definitely safer. We walked down by a narrow wall lined path, which turned into a cobbled path blocked by a fallen tree so we detoured through some housing to the main road. The tunnels into Rawtenstall contained lunatics on horseback, plus one very embarrassed rider bringing up the rear.

The trail goes through industrial units alongside river, with the Spaces 9.XXXV'94 around the back - looking less mystical more destitute.

In Haslingden we called in at the Lidl for a replacement bottle of water ( there had been an incident as we were getting off the bus) and had a sit down.

Passing the Gateway 1 sculpture near to East Lancs railways line, we walked out of town and on to a pleasant path beside river, hearing chiffchaff and a woodpecker, thrushes and songbirds. The path alongside river quite muddy and washed away in places, we stopped for some foot faffing and then followed the path under railway line onto grassy path at edge of moorland. Here we went up a grassy slope to the Remnant Kings sculpture and had a sit on a very rickety bench.

A bit further on the footpath has been fenced off by a couple of big fancy new houses with a big new pond and it was muddy and brambly and all the trees on the riverbank had been chopped down. Thankfully it wasn't long before we were into woodland and then a small park. On the OS map there are trails marked on both sides of the river here, but the path disappeared into someone's garden on our side and the nearest crossing to the other side was miles back, so walked up the road into Ramsbottom. The Tilted Vase sculpture is enormous in the village square and we sat beside it before catching the bus to Bury.