For one weekend this month Greater Manchester’s newest walking trail will open up for a test run. Local residents will get the chance to join any of five free guided walks through the Trafford section of the GM Ringway.
Held on Saturday July 15 and Sunday July 16, the walks are part of a pilot scheme for people to give feedback about the experience of the trail, as well as the app and website, before all 20 stages of the ringway are rolled out in the coming months. In total the GM Ringway will cover a stretch of 188 miles through all ten boroughs of Greater Manchester.
The guided walks held later this month include a ramble from Manchester city centre that passes Old Trafford along the beautiful Bridgewater canal, a step-free walk around Sale Water Park, a gentle ‘walk for all’ around Longford Park with the MileShyClub, and a circular walk from Altrincham to Dunham Massey. The Leader of Trafford Council, Councillor Tom Ross – one of the first people to walk the whole of the trail – will be joining the first of the guided walks on Saturday 15 July.
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The GM Ringway has been made possible thanks to National Lottery players through a £250,000 grant awarded by the Heritage Fund to the countryside charity CPRE, together with The Ramblers, Britain’s walking charity. Designed around existing footpaths, parks and open-access land, the five stages (1, 18, 19 and 20) in the Trafford area form the start and the end of the trail. As well as the Bridgewater Canal, highlights include Longford Park, green spaces of the Mersey Valley, quiet pathways around Altrincham, and the National Trust’s Dunham Massey estate.
The walks available later this month include:
Saturday July 15:
- 10:30 – Hosted GM Ringway walk from Manchester city centre to Sale Water Park
- 14:00 – Accessible step-free circular walk at Sale Water Park
Saturday July 16:
- 10:30 – Altrincham to Timperley History and Heritage walk
- 13:30 – Gentle 1-mile walk around Leafy Longford Park
- 13:30 – Altrincham to Dunham Massey Circular walk
Andrew Read, GM Ringway Project Lead, said: “The trail features a number of natural sites that only locals know about. Many of these offer easy access for all, with step-free routes that allow visitors to take in the surroundings whatever their access needs may be.
“We’re very excited about testing the app and new website, and keen to get feedback from participants so we can further improve the stages and enable more people to enjoy the GM Ringway. The Trafford weekend will also help us in our plans to introduce signage, which will help less experienced walkers feel more confident about trying the trail.
"Once the trail is fully established, it’s estimated that at least 30,000 people will walk part of the route every year. Trafford is particularly significant as the borough features in the very first and the final three stages of the GM Ringway. Those stages of the trail follow a series of pretty, largely traffic-free footpaths along the canal and through parks, nature reserves and countryside.”
Spaces on the walks are limited and must be booked here on a first-come, first-served basis.
