EAST CHESHIRE RAMBLERS
A GROUP of 15 East Cheshire Ramblers set out on a 12 and a half mile walk from Church Lawton on the edge of the Potteries, but instead of heading for the hills and open country we made towards the built-up areas of Kidsgrove and Tunstall.
This may not sound a promising start for a walk, but our route was mostly along canal towpaths and disused railway lines with occasional reminders that we were in an urban environment.
All Saints’ Church at Church Lawton has had an eventful history.
A previous building dates from the 11th century.
The present church is built of brick and is of a neoclassical style and was built after the church was destroyed by fire in 1798.
146 years earlier, 11 people were killed in the church when it was struck by lightning.
We were soon walking along the Trent and Mersey Canal towards a complicated junction with the Macclesfield
Canal at Red Bull.
We first walked under an aqueduct carrying the Macclesfield Canal and then past a series of locks rising to the junction of the canals.
Later in the day we returned to Church Lawton by walking over the aqueduct and looking down on our earlier path.
Soon after Kidsgrove Station the canal entered HarecastleTunnel, which is 1.5 miles long and does not have a towpath.
This meant a diversion over the top and a walk alongside a railway line passing Bath Pool with its large population of black headed gulls.
The Harecastle Tunnel was the biggest challenge on constructing the Trent and Mersey Canal.
There are two
Harecastle Tunnels and the first tunnel was constructed by engineer James Brindley in the late 18th century but with the developing industrial revolution the tunnel soon became a bottleneck.
A second larger tunnel was designed by Thomas Telford and opened in 1827.
After rejoining the canal, we walked to
Westport Lake where there is a busy café supported on stilts and overlooking the lake.
After a lunch stop we turned north and picked up the route of the disused railway line known as the Potteries Loop.
We followed this which en route passes through the Goldenhill Tunnel until eventually regaining the canal and re-walking a short section of our morning’s route.
On leaving the Macclesfield Canal we walked past the lake in
Mill Lane Plantation back to the starting point.