Monday 8th December 2025

Monday 8th December 2025

Following the River Irwell on Greenways from Radcliffe to Manchester, back via Metro Link.

Fifteen walkers met at Close Park Radcliffe on a very mild and sunny day for December. We began by walking past St Mary’s Church and the Ruins of Radcliffe Tower. Records show that there has been a church on this site since Saxon times, with part of the present building dating back to the 13^th century. The tower was part of a manor house built by James de Radcliffe in 1403.

After the history lesson, we walked into the centre of Radcliffe, which was a building site, and it proved difficult to find a footpath to the start of the Outwood Trial. Once on the trail, which is also part of Route 6 cycle trial, we headed across the bridge, over the river Irwell and started our walk through the woods. The route also follows the Irwell Sculpture Trail, which originally included twenty-eight works of art, stretching from Salford to the Pennies above Bacup. Many of these sculptures have since disappeared but one that does remain is a large block of granite that was sculptured by Ulrick Ruckriem. The river was now our guide as it flows into the centre of Manchester, passing first through Prestwich Forest Park and on into Drinkwater Park, where we stopped for our morning coffee.

Once out of the park we crossed Agecroft Road and followed the path along the bank of the river, passing Agecroft Cemetery, on our right. We were now on the outskirts of Salford where the river passes through a more built-up district but still manages to retain a wide variety of bird life on the water. After crossing Littleton Road, we turned right just before the black and white building that used to be The Racecourse Hotel, whilst it was called Manchester Racecourse in fact it was in Salford.

The area is now part of Salford Wetlands, opened in 2018 as part of a £10 million flood defence scheme. We spent some time admiring the views whist eating our lunch. Once back on the route we re-joined the Irwell, where we had the first views of Manchester, in the distance.

After passing several very tall new buildings we eventually left the river and once through a brightly decorated underpass we immerged into the city centre, from where it was just a short walk to the Manchester Cathedral, and the end of our journey having covered ten green miles.