Hello and welcome back to my Blog 😊.

Today myself and Angela did a stage of the Greater Manchester Ringway – walking stage 2 from Sale water Park to Didsbury Village 9 miles.

The Greater Manchester Ringway is a 200-mile circular walk around the outskirts of Manchester. We parked the car at Sale Water Park and set off following the embankment of the river Mersey.

It was a grey day but thankfully the mist we had experienced over the previous four days had dissipated. Angela was giving her new rucksack a run out 😊.

After a stretch following the river Mersey we left it and entered Chorlton Water Park where we walked around the large lake, re-joining the Mersey footpath after exiting. There were plenty of birds enjoying the water and a fair few people enjoying walking around the lake.

Our route was across a bridge over the river but it was was closed (for maintenance) so we were sent on a 1.5 mile detour .

There was a muddy riverbank to walk along and then we lost the diversion signs so ended up crossing a major road. Eventually we got back on track and by the river again. We thought that there was quite a strong Chlorine smell coming from the river, especially in those section that had weirs.

We saw quite a few nice wooden sculptures on our route today.

For the first half of the walk we were bemoaning the lack of signs for the GM Ringway but we started to spot then half way through, generally small stickers put on lamp-posts etc. We could then follow them and we played spot the sign!

Our route took us through Withington Golf Club along a muddy path by the fairway.

We emerged through a stunning path lined with tall poplar trees which led back to the river Mersey.

Taking a butty stop by the river there a cheeky young spaniel who nearly snaffled Angela’s’ sandwich! We headed through Fletcher Moss Park across a nice boardwalk and into Didsbury village.

We passed a grand gateway and couldn’t help but walk through into a lovely ornamental garden.

After exploring the garden we set off for the finish of our walk which was at Didsbury village tram stop. The GM Ringway is designed to use public transport to get around. We had two trams to catch to get back to Sale Water Park, where we had parked the car.

Arriving at Sale Water Park we enjoyed a nice coffee.

It was a good walk exploring new territory. Maybe we should do more of the GM Ringway?

Happy Walking! 😊🚶‍♂️