JJ's Stuff: 19th December, Chorlton to Manchester

Saturday, 20 December 2014

19th December, Chorlton to Manchester

Following the Floop

I put this walk together at short notice – the weather forecasters had promised a dry day. They lied. I was particularly miffed about this ‘cos I’d washed my bedding and hung it out to dry before leaving home. :-(

Anyroadup, The Plan was to walk into the centre of Manchester using the Fallowfield Loop, or the Floop, and the Ashton Canal towpath. We’d then reward ourselves with a curry. Because we’re worth it.

Over the last couple of years we’ve been plotting ‘green’ routes into the centre of Manchester, always finishing at This & That, our favouritist eatery. This was our latest idea.

The Metrolink whisked Rick and I from Timperley to Chorlton in norralot of time. We waited until 10.30am to see if anyone was daft enough to join us but they all had their sensible hats on today.

St Werburghs Road, the start of the Floop.

We got onto the Fallowfield Loop just by St Werbergh’s Tram stop. We were both quite surprised to find that the track was very well surfaced which made for fast and easy progress. Cold, sunshiny, rainy, and an excellent walking surface

The weather ended up being changeable (at best!) – we had everything from bright sunshine to heavy rain. At one point we had to shelter under a bridge – it provided an ideal opportunity to crack open the flasks to wash down enormous slices of Stollen. It’s nearly Christmas so why not eh?

Platt Brook

The Fallowfield Loop follows part of a former railway line that linked Sheffield Victoria and Manchester Central stations.

We were more than pleasantly surprised to find we had covered around 8 miles of apparently suburban walking actually feels very rural…..to almost quote Gayle’s description of our curry walk last week.

It was an unpleasant, albeit brief, jolt back to ‘reality’ as we left the Floop and crossed the busy A635 Ashton Old Road. Peace and quiet returned as we entered the Fairfield Moravian Settlement – a real oasis of tranquility. If you’ve not been there then you should.

Leaving the Moravian Settlement by the back door we jumped onto the Ashton Canal towpath to head west towards Manchester – and our lunch.

Rain showers continued throughout the day, we both had over-trousers but resisted the temptation put them on –they’re such a faff.

Pretty!

We arrived at ‘This and That’ on Soap Street at 2.25pm, allowing for our cake & coffee stop we’d been walking 3hrs 40mins = a midgy’s wotsit under 3.3mph, quite a respectable speed. Had we had company on the walk we’d have walked at more sedate pace but as it was we were hungry and a brisk pace was appropriate.