23rd July 2026
Click Here To See Our Route & Photos
The dry weather continued but luckily the temperature had decreased slightly, hopefully making tonight‘s adventure a very pleasant one in the evening sunshine. I had decided that we would go and have a look around the area near the old Canal at Clifton. Meccano Bridge was our rendezvous point for tonight’s adventure. Graham was already there when I arrived so we took the opportunity to have a quick look around the area of the bridge where they had started work on the bull nose part of the canal by putting some concrete down on the base. I’ve put a link below to a short video explaining what the plans are for the canal by the construction company. Graham asked had I seen the Swans on my way there ,I replied unfortunately I hadn’t, there was no sign of them. Graham suggested that sadly they must have now moved on due to the on going works.
We set off down the hill to the basin at Nob End where we took the canal towards Ringley, I had noted on the route I had planned that there was an entrance back onto the canal from Ringley for our return journey but after having a look , it became apparently we wouldn’t be coming back that way as there were far too many steps to push our bikes up. A little further along the canal we were met by a motorbike speeding in the opposite direction shortly followed by two more off-road motorbikes which aren’t allowed on the Canal towpaths but obviously they had no consideration for other people and luckily with our Extreme Biker skills we managed to avoid a serious accident.
Soon we were at Ringley Road and then up behind the Horseshoe pub and followed the path of the old canal until we came out onto Red Rock Lane near the Giant Seats garden centre, here we noticed the barrier that crosses the road to prevent traffic was now painted bright fluorescent yellow. Graham explained that sadly there had been a fatal accident involving a motorcyclist with the barrier and that’s why the council had painted it.
As we rode along Red Rock Lane, we reminisced about seeing a lorry stuck between the trees here a number of years ago just as we were reminiscing we were stopped in our tracks by a huge fallen tree blocking the path. Graham commented it looked like something out of Jurassic Park. At this point, Graham decided he wanted to be Tarzan and climbed onto the huge tree. He got onto part of the trunk but he explained he couldn’t go any higher because he said ” the branch I’m holding onto is all wobbly pal just like my knees “ Nevertheless I thought he was tremendous .We did eventually find a way past the Jurassic tree and saw that the inside of it was all rotten which had most likely caused it to come crashing down.
We now ascended up onto the Outwood trail and over the motorway bridge to the 13 arches viaduct. Once down at the other side of the bridge we followed the path and passed a tunnel that went under the now disused railway , I asked Graham what it he thought would have been like when steam trains used to thundered over , “ I’ve no idea pal but you’ll probably remember , your older than me ” Graham replied with a childish giggle. The path took us over the Clifton Aqueduct which carried the canal over the river Irwell where it joine Fletchers Canal, which transported coal from the Wet Earth Colliery . Due to the extreme weather over the past several weeks the vegetation had taken over some parts of the path making it tricky for us to negotiate, this was indeed a recurring problem.
A short way along the path, we came to a fork, we took the path to our left following the the river. As we continued our way down I spotted something unusual in the wooded area on our right, you guessed it , “ let’s have a look at that “ I remarked to Graham. It was a small area , as Graham pointed, which was devoid of trees. It was surrounded by a metal fence with just one sign on it DANGER DEEP EXCAVATION . Looking through the fence it was quite obvious that there was no hole. Graham suggested it had most likely been filled in and the fence just left there for safety reasons. As we looked around the woods Graham suggested it would make a great place to camp out but in the next breath “ you wouldn’t catch me camping out here on my own though , I’d be too scared, I’d have to have a fire to scare the monsters away!” Graham explained, think he’s a bit of a softy really.
We were following the gravel path through the wooded area when we saw a jogger approaching, as the path was quite narrow we stopped to let him pass, but unbeknown to us we’d stopped right alongside a small dip in the path. As the jogger passed he inadvertently stepped into it and nearly came a cropper. ” wow! ” I said to Graham ” we stopped to do a kindness and nearly ended up causing him to break his ankle”. Sometimes fate has a way of letting you know its there. As we rode along to the turning to take us back up towards Fletchers canal we spotted some Giant Hogweed that now was dying off, they looked like Triffids that had been nuked in the film ” The Day of the Triffids“.
We picked up the route of the now derelict Manchester Bolton & Bury canal. The path was gravel for the most part and pleasant to ride along. We spotted a mile marker on the towpath which simply read M4 but we weren’t sure if it was 4 mile to Bolton or Manchester, perhaps we’ll never know. Shortly after the path became narrow and the undergrowth became a lot denser and had almost obliterated it but as Extreme Bikers we battled on causing us some slight injuries, sting cuts and grazes etc. It wasn’t long before we were back at Clifton Aqueduct . When we reached the far side there were boulders positioned at the end, presumably to prevent motorcycles using the path. Our predicament here was there were 2 possible ways to push our bikes forward , one by the fence the other through the gap. Graham gave it some thought and attempted the route via the fence, bad move , not only was it difficult for the bike but the fence could have gouged his eye out, but his Extreme Biker training kicked in and any potential injury was averted.
We again took the route home along the path of the river , a way we have travelled many times before but once again due to the recent extreme weather conditions the shrubbery had almost completely hidden the path, here again we sucombed to some minor injuries .Our path took us under the 13 arches viaduct where I took a photo, Graham commented that it was one of my better one’s capturing the beauty of the structure and nature combined, ” thats as good as David Bailey that one pal ”
A little further we passed some open gates so we just had to explore. What we found was amazing. Tucked away from view was a lovely reservoir , beautiful and peaceful and teaming with wildlife .We had passed this area , it must be over some 50 times over the years and have never thought of taking a look , what a missed opportunity that was. It just goes to show no matter how long you explore , for us now it’s over 14 years there’s always something new to find and more often than not, it’s on your own doorstep. We took the opportunity here to take our selfie before we continued on our homeward journey . This took us up behind the Europa Trading Estate in Stoneclough.
.
The journey back to Nob End was uneventful apart from us looking like a right couple of numpties as we got stuck trying to get through an old kissing gate when there was a large gap in the fence only a few feet away that we’d failed to spot. Once back at Nob End basin we realised we’d gotten so excited and engrossed in our adventure we hadn’t stopped for our usual catch up, so we sat on a bench and did just that. Whilst we sat there an elderly group of walkers passed us politely greeting us as they did. They proceeded up the steep hill to the Meccano bridge, on seeing this Graham said ” well that’s me not going up there for a while” referring obviously on the speed they were walking, then remarkably as we set off home in our different direction for our teas , for which we both were having curries lovingly prepared by our lovely wives Val and Peggy Lou , he said ” gonna take me a while pushing mi bike up pal, you’ll probably be home before me, I remember when I could ride up there but not now with my dodgy knee, oh and Ive got a heart condition you know“, ” dont know if I’ve mentioned it before” . In fact Graham only had a couple of hundred yards to go before he was home, I on the other hand had some 2 miles to go before I would be home .Luckily for me this time I made it safely home without issues, no puncture this week .I messaged Graham when I was home albeit a while after I had received his “ home now my bestie “
