29th November – 1st December – North West Weekender

 29th November – 1st December – North West Weekender

Another short notice booking for a couple nights stay in Crewe, finding the place I’ve used a couple of times already in November was £60 for two nights was hard to turn down, considering I didn’t have any other ideas for the weekend other than maybe a day of 720 hunting on Greater Anglia.  Making the most of my last couple weekends off before my days off will vary week by week.

29th November – London to Crewe via Blackpool?

I had a couple of options to reach Crewe, either going via the West Midlands if my last couple of 730/0s were floating around (or my last couple of leased 2 coach 196s), but nothing appeared to be out, leaving me with a crazy idea of doing the evening 807 service all the way to Blackpool North, solely to say I’ve done an 807 to Blackpool (for the lack of a better idea with the darker evenings).  After completing my latest assessment, I got home, changed and back to the station for a busy 159020 & 158885 to take me towards Waterloo.

With time to kill I decided on a gentle stroll towards Euston arriving with plenty of spare time to allow for some people watching before heading down towards platform 16 where winner 807003 was waiting on the 17:05 service for Blackpool North.  I got a nice table seat in coach H (the composite coach with part for Standard Premium) to allow me to watch some videos on the long journey north.  All was going well until we had to make a special stop at Nuneaton to rescue passengers from a failed Manchester Pendo, meaning this train got quite busy.

807003 at London Euston

Thankfully it emptied out again at Crewe and the train continued heading north towards Preston, although the damage had been done and arrival at Blackpool North was 16 minutes late, cutting down the time I had to make a connection for something back towards Preston, jumping onto a York bound 195117 for the seemingly slow run back to Preston, a station which was its usual state of chaos with cancellations (both Northern & TPE) & delays (Avanti).  I popped out of the station to visit the Tesco Express just to give me something to do before returning to board a Wolverhampton service (vice Euston) formed of a busy 390008 for the run to Crewe.  At Crewe I exited the station (after allowing a crowd to clear the stairs first), heading towards the shared house on Nelson Street to get myself checked in (also known as opening the key box outside the front door to pick up the keys).

After sorting out my rucksack, I relaxed for the remainder of the evening, checking a couple of things for the Saturday (weather forecast, cancellations etc).

30th November – Rochdale Canal over the summit

Walking the gap in my Rochdale Canal coverage had been on my radar for a while, although the times I had it pencilled in was either wet & horrible, roasting hot or I had the day off due to blisters.  I wanted to get it finished this year considering I walked from Littleborough into Manchester way back in October 2022 (and the section towards Hebden Bridge in February of this year).   The weather forecast was looking promising as I headed out of the accommodation, a bit later than I had hoped so I skipped my usual detour to Tesco Express and headed direct to the station to catch 3900049 on a service which starts at Crewe (nice to have a private coach!)

At Manchester Piccadilly I headed towards Victoria on foot, swinging via a couple of shops to grab both breakfast & items for lunch, doing my usual following the tram lines from the city centre (not the quickest way but the safest way to avoid missing a turning in the back streets).  At Victoria after a late running Headbolt Lane departed (nonstop to Wigan where it would terminate), 195001 & 195010 rolled in from Chester to take me into West Yorkshire & Hebden Bridge where my walk began.

156404 at Manchester Victoria

I picked up the canal towpath at the same point I left it earlier in the year and headed towards the town centre of Hebden Bridge, crossing over the canal at a lock near an aqueduct over the river Calder.  The towpath quality in this part was quite decent, other than a couple of flood channels requiring use of a narrow wooden plank walkway.  I soon left Hebden Bridge behind, going underneath the railway and onto a section where the canal runs alongside the river, separated by only the towpath.  A very beautiful area as well with the naked trees.

The walk continued towards Eastwood and towards Todmorden, a place where quite a few dog owners haven't got the memo to clear up poo, based on how much dog poo was on the sides of the towpath.  I soon reached the town centre where the towpath swapped sides via a lock alongside the A6033.  This is where the quality of the towpath changed to being rougher (still a hard surface but bumpier) and wet with puddles as the canal started to climb, going underneath the railway twice as it headed towards Walsden and away from the urban area.

Gauxholme Railway Viaduct over Rochdale Canal

The canal follows the route of the railway (or should that be the other way round considering the canal was here first?) before it climbed away from the railway (which goes via a tunnel).  I was glad when I reached the lock which said "welcome to the summit", with some beautiful views of the countryside as I headed to the place called Summit and the start of the downhill section heading towards Littleborough station.  The walk was over when I reached a small car park near the station, the canal being completed.  Some parts were better than others for both views & surface quality but a walk worth doing.

At Littleborough station I had around 10 minutes to wait before the next train towards Manchester (a Wigan service) so I had lunch as a busy 158759 rolled in from Leeds.  It had managed to get ahead of a delayed semi-fast service at Milner Royd so had picked up the passengers of that service.  Anyhow I took it to Manchester Victoria where I got lucky with a seriously late running Liverpool bound TPE service (one I had predicted would probably get spun at Victoria or even run nonstop due to being something like 50 minutes late at this point)

66770 passing Littleborough Station

Thankfully 802206 was running onward to Liverpool and I even got a seat in the leading coach for the slow run towards Liverpool.  Thankfully a stopper from Manchester Airport was held for the 802 to pass in the Salford area (as that wouldn’t have been much fun following a stopper to the Huyton area), the train getting very busy at Newton-le-Willows & Lee Green to a point I was glad to escape at Lime Street, heading towards platform 10 to board winner 197030 on a Chester service (my original idea when I came up with it at Littleborough was to take a Chester service from Victoria and take this 197 into Liverpool) so I was ahead of my rough plan.

I was in two minds to take this to either Runcorn or all the way to Chester, deciding to bail at Chester as the next TfW service was running a couple of minutes late, allowing a quick cross platform dash to board a very busy 197007 (didn’t help that this was the first train in nearly an hour from Runcorn towards Liverpool due to LNR having a bad day).  I bailed at Liverpool South Parkway (where it used the little used platform 4 on the ‘slow’ line side) and headed towards Merseyrail, taking 777005 to Liverpool Central to start a little Merseyrail hunt (seeing a required 777 on a Southport service).

197030 at Runcorn

To the Wirral line and I wasn’t around for long before winner 777021 rolled in on an Ellesmere Port service which I took all the way to Ellesmere Port (because even to Hooton wouldn’t have been enough to clear it for ten miles).  Remaining on board I took this 777 back to Hooton, keeping my eyes peeled on the other services on Ellesmere Port & Chester, enjoying the late afternoon sun before calling it a day with 777018 from Chester, which passed a winner 777 at Eastham Rake (I had forgotten that Merseyrail had 7 units on Chester services at the moment).  I bailed from 018 at Eastham Rake, waited for the next Chester service (777038) to take me to Bache where I had a nice 5-minute connection for winner 777029 to return from Chester to take me to Hamilton Square.

With delays on city bound services I headed towards the New Brighton bound platform to take 777011 out into the open at Birkenhead Park, with some light rain and 777039 taken to Birkenhead North where I managed to ID a couple more services before deciding to call it a day with dud 777030 back into the city centre and to a Lime Street which was a bit busy with multiple cancellations of services towards Crewe, with a large queue building for the next LNR service.  So, I came up with an alternative idea and headed towards 158788 & 158812 on an EMR service to take me to Warrington Central where I had 20 minutes to stroll towards Bank Quay for a southbound Pendo.

158812 at Warrington Central

5 minutes of that 20 minutes was spent trying to get out of Warrington Central due to a revenue block (catching out those whom think paying the proper fare is optional and think a ticket to Warrington West is good enough to bypass the barriers).  Eventually I escaped and made my way towards Bank Quay arriving with a couple of minutes to spare, only to see the London Pendo had been delayed at Wigan so I could have taken it a bit slower.  A busy 390132 rolled in to take me to Crewe where I exited the station, heading to my accommodation via the nice burger place I used a couple weeks ago.

My day wasn’t quite over as after my burger and a short relaxation, I headed back towards Crewe station to board the 21:00 Holyhead service, grabbing a seat in the “standard plus” area of 197114 as it was a slow run due to following a late running voyager, getting completely rammed at Chester and continued into North Wales where I alighted at Prestatyn for a what was meant to be a 25-minute wait but was reduced to 15 minutes due to the delay.  Thankfully it was worth the late-night trip as winner 197003 rolled in on the last train towards Crewe after spending the day on the Conwy Valley line.  It attached to 197102 at Chester for the final section to Crewe.

197003 at Crewe

On arrival into Crewe, I headed back towards my accommodation to relax for the remainder of the evening, checking options for my walk as the weather was changing once more.

1st December - Biddulph Valley Way

The Biddulph Valley Way is the name given to the mixed-use path which runs along the route of the former railway line between Milton Junction on the (mothballed) Stoke – Leek line & Congleton which ran via the town of Biddulph.  It had been on my list to walk a few times as a Sunday option but was ditched due to poor weather or engineering works at Stoke.  The weather forecast today was rain until half nine then dry so I decided to gamble as I wanted to start December with a long walk.

After departing from the accommodation, I headed towards the railway station via Tesco, pausing at the bus stop outside the Crewe Arms hotel (now closed to the public to all reports).  D&G Bus 102 (an Optare Solo) rolled in on the first route 38 service for Macclesfield, taking me towards Congleton via Sandbach & a couple other places, emptying out along the way.  I alighted at the bus stop near Booth Street where my walk began.  The first section was a path alongside the River Dane, taking me towards Congleton Park and to the start of the old railway line path near a council depot.

Dane River Walkway in Congleton

The light rain which was with me at the start ended and it wasn't long before I took off my coat as I was getting warm, as I headed along the old railway route as it headed towards the Dane-in-Shaw Pastures, quite a wooded path.  I headed underneath the WCML and the Macclesfield canal (a canal on my list to walk next year) with the path leaving Congleton behind, crossing into Staffordshire.

It was a nice rural path, busy at times with a reasonable hard surface.  Some puddles but that was to be expected as it made its way towards Biddulph, skirting round the town centre and passing the remains of the station (the only station on this route still with platforms).  The next settlement was Kynpersley & then Brindley Ford passing some flood protection works.  The path was now within Stoke-on-Trent and headed towards the former Chatterley Whitfield Colliery.

Biddulph Valley Way between Congleton & Biddulph

The path in this section was quite nice with the landscape as it headed towards the Whitfield Valley Nature Reserve where I paused for some lunch before continuing towards Ford Green, running alongside the Ford Green Brook for a short while, going underneath the A53 and passing Holden Lane Pools.  The old railway line path itself ended at the former Milton Junction where it joined up with the mothballed line between Stoke & Leek.  Mothballed but heavily overgrown with trees (reminded me a bit like the track which ran alongside the old railway walk from Frome towards Radstock).

After Milton Junction the path run alongside the old railway route to Birches Head Road where it ended at an old crossing, it looked like a path continued along the mothballed railway, which wasn't shown anywhere (looking at Google Maps Street view it might continue towards Leek Road).  Anyhow I turned down the chance to explore this unmarked path to walk towards the Caldon Canal where I joined the towpath.

Remains of level crossing on the mothballed Stoke to Leek line at Birches Head Road

The Caldon Canal is a branch of the Trent & Mersey canal running from Etruria towards Froghall (where it met up with the Uttoxeter Canal) with a branch towards Leek.  I had previously researched the section within Stoke on Trent in having a decent towpath surface (it turns more rural once outside the city limits but a canal which will need some research with the limited bus options at Froghall (twice a day on a bus route from Upper Tean/Cheadle to Leek run by a company called Aimee's whoever they are).  Anyhow back to today as I joined the towpath with the sun out as the canal weaved its way towards Hanley Park (with a short detour via the roads due to a section being closed).  Quite nice in places with woodland & older buildings.  After Hanley Park the canal headed north dropping down some locks towards the Etruria Industrial Museum which sits at the junction where the Caldon canal meets up with the Trent & Mersey.

The last section of the walk was along the Trent & Mersey canal towards Stoke station, passing the yard where the former 460 coaches from the 458/5s are being stored (prior to getting scrapped I would imagine).  I reached Stoke on Trent station with some time to spare before a London train was due so after visiting the toilets I watched as a late running 170 arrived to take a good crowd on the firs train towards Derby.  390016 rolled in and I got lucky to grab a pair of airline seats (all be ones with a view of plastic) in coach C for the run towards Euston, someone only joining me at Milton Keynes.  The delay at Stoke meant by Milton Keynes it was behind a stopper for a short section where it ran along the slow lines delaying it further.

Caldon Canal, Stoke on Trent (31)

Arrival into Euston was near enough 15 minutes late as I headed towards the underground to jump on the first service (51503 & 51502) to take me to Waterloo to board the 17:20 service for Salisbury.  Due to engineering works between Salisbury & Yeovil, the services at Waterloo had been retimed with the semi-fast trains departing at XX:45.  This was formed of a busy 159016 & 159010 which took me to Hampshire, relaxing & getting ready for a busy week ahead.  Two enjoyable walks this weekend, certainly my new phone got a good testing with the camera, even though having the fingerprint reader underneath the screen will take time to getting used to compared to having it on the rear.  Photos can be found on my Flickr, for Saturday the link is here with Sunday’s photos here.  Thanks for reading, I have no idea when my next blog post will be as this coming weekend is a couple of day trips with mum for some Christmas shopping and I’ve got a meeting next week.

I will leave you with a photo from earlier in the week with a 66 at Frome, a Shed within a Shed:

66512 passing Frome Station