Mersey Valley: Urmston to Stretford

Sketch map: Mersey Valley from Urmston to Stretford

This stretch of the Mersey Valley — from the edge of Flixton Golf Club to the A56 Chester Road — follows the old county boundary between Lancashire and Cheshire with Urmston and Stretford on the North side and Ashton on Mersey on the South. For the most part it's open pasture and a golf course with young woodlands along Kickety Brook, Cob Kiln Wood and on Urmston Meadows. It's a particularly nice Summer's walk though it can get very busy, particularly on the "beaches" by Urmston Meadows. 

Urmston Meadows

The woodlands have the usual suburban bird life, the grasslands are a bit hit and miss but tend to be most productive in Spring and early Summer. Ducks — usually mallard or goosander — tend to stick around the shoals in the river and sand martins nest in the river banks by Urmston Meadows.

Starting from Urmston Station, turn right onto the main road (Crofts Bank Road) and follow it down to the traffic lights. Alternatively, get the bus to the stop at this corner — the 15 runs between Flixton and Manchester, the 245 between Altrincham and the Trafford Centre and the 255 between Partington and Manchester. Go down Queens Road and turn left onto Eeasbrook by the small grassed area and then right onto Old Eeas Lane. This takes you down past the cemetery and some paddocks onto Urmston Meadows. There are a complex set of paths to explore around the meadows, some of the ground is very undulating. The paths to the right take you round the woodland, mostly willows, birches and alders, and then either back where you started or else onto the local housing estate. A couple of the paths take you to the beach, an area of shingle on the outside of a particularly tight bend of the river. This gets very busy in Summer. 

The paths to the left take you into more open land and onto the path along the riverbank. There's a fork in the path as you reach the next bit of young woodland. If you turn left you go into Cob Kiln Wood, carrying on takes you to the river.

River Mersey by Urmston Meadows

When the path along the river meets Carrington Road you have the choice of either carrying on or crossing the river and exploring the paths on the Cheshire side. A little further on, by the Riverbank Coffee stop, there's another fork. Turn left and you enter the Kickety Brook local nature reserve. The path through the reserve takes you to the bridge over the M60 over to Stretford Meadows. Carry on along the river and you get to the A56 just before the junction with the M60.

River Mersey, Urmston

River Mersey, Urmston