Clifton Country Park
23rd May 2013
Journey Length 9.2ml
We set off on this evenings ride towards Clifton Country Park via the Salford arm of the canal system. We followed the canal to its end in Ringley and eventually coming out onto Ringley Road, we crossed the road turning right the left down Kearsley Hall Road and passed La Roma restaurant formerly the Lord Nelson pub and across Ringley bridge towards the Horse Shoe pub, here we turned right along Folds Road towards the water treatment plant.
We followed the road and the the path passing Giants Seat garden centre, along the path which eventually lead us to the bridge over the M60 motorway. Here we turned right before the bridge and along the path which runs alongside the motorway through some very muddy patches until we passed underneath the motorway and ended up near Philips Park where we crossed over the river Irwell via the old Clifton aqueduct, noticing some old brickwork of the bridges structure.
We headed back towards Bolton alongside the river, passing Pilkington Tiles and continued until we once again passed under the M60 motorway and into Clifton Country park. Shortly after my new bike got its first puncture, but due to us being seasoned riders we were prepared with a spare inner tube and with a bit of grunting we soon had the puncture repaired and on our way.
Our progress was soon hampered by United Utilities who were doing some work along the path and had closed it, but undeterred we went up the side of the fence following the route of the canal which was very overgrown . The going was slow and arduous but we soon came to the end of the works and rejoined the path. We followed the path along the edge of the river until crossing the iron bridge over the river and back up to Red Rocks Lane passed the water treatment works up to Ringley Road where we turned left and after about ¾ mile we turned right on to Bridge St and the left along Seddon Lane which brought us out at the pack horse bridge over the river Irwell and climbed back up the hill at the side of the locks as the newly opened Meccano bridge came into view and from here it was a short ride back to base.
