Cycling the Upper River Mersey - Stockport to the Ship Canal
Вставка
- Опубліковано 7 вер 2024
- Taking a cheap GoPro on a rainy, winter bike ride along the River Mersey sounds like a good idea until the path runs out. My challenge is to stick as closely as I can to the river side, from it's birth in Stockport to its merger with the Manchester Ship Canal in Irlam.
A brief history tour of the upper River Mersey near Manchester. A strange mix of industrial history and fringe countryside, this section of the Mersey makes for an interesting cycling adventure that anyone can do - as long as they have some boots they don't mind getting muddy and a face they don't mind freezing.
If you like the video you can show your support by buying me a brew. Thanks!
www.buymeacoff...
#cycling #cyclinghistory #rivermersey #industrialhistory
Follow me on Facebook: @BeeHereNowUK
Excellent video. I admire your dogged determination to reach the point that I've only seen from a boat trip along the Manchester Ship Canal.
Thanks! I was surprised to actually make it to the end. I'd love to go on a boat trip along the Ship Canal though.
Years ago I used to run a shop in Stockport town centre and in the basement the Mersey used to seep through the wall 😳
Before I start, your video's are brill! ... As I am from/living in Liverpool over my 56 years I have witnessed good banter and some very bad exganges between people from and around the Manchester area towards me as a "scouser". I have no negativity towards you and here are my reasons ... we are similar people from North Western England who were here due to the 1800s Industrial Reverloution. Our links are The River Mersey, The Manchester Ship Canal, The Liverpool - Manchester Rail Way, The East Lanks Road and The M62 .... Our links are good social-economic links and I am Proud of Them!.
The Mersey used to start further up at the confluence of Goyt and Etherow. You can see this on Victorian os. A school of thought says it started higher and is in fact from the beginning of the etherow. This would explain the three shires in Stockport and makes sense as a border between mercia and northumbria. Also it keeps its name when in meets the longer Irwell
Why would someone not like these videos? Ollie is great, enjoyable to watch and listen! Keep them up! River Mersey is very familiar having lived in Northenden and now Chorlton, so right up my river so to speak.
Another great watch, very enjoyable. What I like is you narrate as you go, is seems nothing is rehearsed. Thanks for your time and work........
Keep going. The Mersey does its own thing again just a few miles downstream from where you ended. I feel lucky to live near this now clean river with it's abundant wildlife. Much better than when I was a kid and it was just an open sewer! Thanks for sharing.
Really enjoyed this thanks. Also watched a few of your others & liking them too. Cheers
Surprised you didn't show the Mersey down that triangular hole in the middle of Stockport shopping precinct at Warren Street - rather creepy.
Another great video - just getting into your channel, after starting with the Forbidden Manchester Ship Canal - 5*.
Having spent many hours walking all those bits of the Mersey I wanted to get to its confluence with the Ship Canal and I got as far as the top of that path alongside the railway embankment but I couldn't find any way under the bridge. Mind you that was a few years ago and it was in summer so perhaps too overgrown. I had to make do with looking at it from the other side of the canal from the A57. Well done for getting there. Thanks for the view.
Yeah it was a nice surprise to be able to get to it. Maybe try again. There was a gate under the viaduct and then a bit of a scrabble through undergrowth but not too hard.
Brilliant vid. Keep up the excellent work. I've cycled that route many times,and like you say,it becomes impossible for a bike.On the other point of limited access,we need to do things like people used to do,like mass trespass.
I totally agree. It'd be great if more places were easily accessible. Cheers
Great video. Watching from New Zealand. Born in Stockport and hope to do the trail you did one day!
Wonderful video! Randall here from Kentucky USA, my Mum was from Stretford, Old Trafford, so I heard a lot about gritty industrial Manchester, Trafford Park and the blitz. Happy to have found your UA-cam channel, am looking forward to more videos.
Thanks Randall! I'm glad you can get something useful from my little videos.
11 million bricks in the original 2-track Stockpot viaduct. But then it was widened. Stopfordians claim it is the biggest brick structure in Europe which is obviously bollox as one only has to go 5 miles up the line to see massive brick viaducts carrying the railway into Piccadilly, on to Oxford Road, Deansgate, Throstles Nest, and Salford.
When you were looking at the Bridgewater Canal aqueduct there were two former railway bridges next to it. The eastern one carries the Altrincham Metrolink these days and is the original 1800s railway bridge, but the western one, nearer the canal aqueduct, was only built in 1931 when the railway was electrified and made 4-track between sale and Old Trafford. That newer bridge is disused these days but as you pointed out it of much more modern construction than the canal aqueduct.
Why not get some mudguards on your bike, save all that mud splattering?
Great video - thanks for posting it and well done for getting to the confluence of the Mersey and the Ship Canal which I have seen many times but from the railway viaduct you stood under. The mistyness added to the atmosphere, I think. Cheers!
That second metro link bridge is called thunder bridge at the back of sale water park
When I was a kid that’s what we called the railway bridge over the ship canal where Olly ended up.
Back then the Mersey was so polluted that it kicked up clouds of pink foam as it crossed the weir into the canal and on a windy day they’d blow into your face if you stood where Olly was.
I prefer the river Bollin. We stealth hiked and camped along the bollin 60 year ago, it swings around the back of ringway airport, very picturesque compared to the Mersey cess pit.
We were stealth hiking the Bollin near Pickmere and a farmer shot at us twice.
Interesting sound the buckshot makes as it goes overhead, like a swarm of bees.
I used to cycle to Castle Mill open air swimming pool in the 60s as a child. What used to be an emergency runway was laid out with railway sleepers to make a temporary roadway for the public, the sleepers were all linked together so they could be pulled out of the way quickly if the need arose. When the current runway was built I imagine Castle Mill pool went.
Wahey! I live in Runcorn!
I was wondering if it was the same Bridgewater canal as the one I used to live right next to as a kid.
The very end of that canal is quite interesting to be fair, it's been dried out and turned into a footpath down to a housing estate. Next to a manor house called Bridgewater house. Also right next to the docks, and the start of the Manchester Ship canal. 😁
Yes Ben, it's the same canal.
Those caves also known as Maggie’s Caves were expanded and lived in by the Navvies when building the viaduct. They would wash and fish in the Mersey beneath 🤭 Another great edit... still working my way through them so keep em coming 🤗👍
Thanks! Glad you like them!
Wash?!? God, it must have been pretty dirty even then !
Another great video. Thank you! My list of 'things to do' is growing fast after watching your vids. New Zealand.
I have cycled from Northenden to Urmston used to live in Sale kayaked down the river from northenden to sale too
Fabulouse thank you
If you do the bridgewater canal cyclepath.As you head towards altrincham then lymm you run along the old disused lymm railway .Youll end up close to latchford locks .
Top vid ! I grew up in Stretford and as kids we used to walk and bike around that part of the Mersey and up to Urmston Meds 👍
I remember going to the mersey in Stockport at the Green bridge and saw it flooding
Nice vid mate, just one thing. Maggies/Brinksway caves are completely separate and over the road from the air raid shelters, which were dug out during WW2
Thanks mate. Wasn't very familiar with the area when I was there. Think I must have got confused...
Excellent video , well presented easy to watch informative
Welcome to Flixton where I grew up. Used to ride bikes down "the old line" that you had to ride down before going under the railway to find the end of the river. You also visited the beach on Urmston Meadows, volunteers are always litter picking around there
I’ve lived in Didsbury, Chorlton, Urmston and Flixton so I enjoyed that. I’ve walked/run most of it but never done the Didsbury to Stockport bit. As somebody else has mentioned the path in Flixton you had to use running parallel with the railway as far as the MSC is the original railway line (before MSC was built). If you cross Irlam lock it continues on the other side as far as Irlam station. You’ll note the curve in the line at Flixton station which was the diversion they built when the line was moved. Also Irlam station is now on the wrong side of the track as the line was originally on it’s north side. The original bridge buttress is still there in Irlam and there is a section North of the MSC where the old embankment is missing as the Irwell old course would have run there and I presume there was a stone bridge.
What a great video. Walking/ cycling the entire river is something I have always wanted to do. I grew up in Chorlton not far from Jackson's boat so have spent many many hours in Chorlton Ees and beside the river. I also went to secondary school in Flixton and was able to witness the moment when the old Carrington power station was explosively demolished. We literally heard a loud bang and looked over to see the chimney collapsing.
Amazing! Yeah it was a nice ride, despite the wiggly route. But the area around Flixton was beautiful along the river
Another fabulous video - we love watching your videos - have you ever thought of coming to Marple in Stockport? - it's a fabulous place steeped in history
The birds hang around the sewage plant because it's a great place to find insects, making it a great food source during winter.
Great vid again - have cycled and jogged a lot of the sections over the years and agree it would be so good if more of it was improved and landscaped to encourage greater use of a lovely part of our locality. Thanks Ollie, top man.
Thanks very much! It's a shame a lot of it Urmston way is in accessible
Great Video in fact all your video's are very good they make me think about my original home town which i left 48 years ago to move all the way over here in Perth Western Australia. Keep up the good work and Best Regards
Thanks that's great to hear! Glad you like them. I'll try to keep it up :)
Great video. I've done parts of this ride myself, and always been frustrated that there is no Riverside bike path around Urmston, Carrington. I bet you were ready for your tea after that.
Great video thank you.
Was wondering if I could stick to the Mersey rather than following the route of the Transpenine Trail. Think I'd better stick to the TPT. Great video.
Cheers! Yeah it's a shame. You could do it on foot until you get to Urmston but after that it's all private.
Another great vid Ollie
Good one
Good video, think I may start stalking you haha. Note for canal bores: The Sankey /St. Helens Canal preceded the Bridgewater Canal. Yep, totally agree we need more public footpaths / cycle ways along our waterways but especially our flat canals. Eg Manchester Ship Canal is a potentially fantastic cycle route, but a lot of it is off limits :(
Yeah such a shame. Not a big change to ask for is it??
The foundations in Flixton is not from the PowerStation it from old clay pits/brickie's at the end of the mile road and after that they were used for landfill....the pipes layed in rectangles are to collect methane.
Fab thanks
I understood that if you travel inland, the Mersey means Navigable river, so I believe Stockport was as far inland sea farers travelled, that's probably why the mersey doesn't continue along the Goyt valley
Oh fantastic! Thanks for letting me know.
Surely it was never navigable past Warrington ?
@@johnsaunders2109 if you're referring to the weir at Thelwall, that was more than likely added during the industrial revolution. I understand the vikings did get as far as Stockport, and became Man City fans lol.
Interesting! I suppose the water was higher in Viking times, much less extracted.
Very probable, the longboats were flat bottomed and could travel in relatively shallow waters. What gets me though is why that direction though, the Irwell was a more dominant river at the confluence in Irlam.
I think you're allowed more than one biscuit after all that!
Great Channel. You and Limmy look a lot alike.
Limmy?? Jesus I'll take that as compliment haha ha
Love what you do. What's the day job? You need a TV doc series.
Thanks much appreciated.
My mate Jerry lived across that river , you might know him Jerry across the Mersey
3 rivers you forgot the sett that joins the goyt in New mills
How good would be it be if all the Mersey were a cycle path? And the Man ship canal? If they want to encourage cycling - this would be the way! I would much prefer it any high-speed trains, although the trains are ok.
Enjoyed that. I didn't know anything about the upper Mersey.
I've been exploring the Irwell valley (on foot) before lockdown a year ago, but I have 4 walks planned from N Salford (where I have reached so far) to the Mersey confluence that you reached. I would be on the north far bank of the Ship Canal (Irwell) and was planning to finish opposite the weir. But looking at Google Maps it looks like the path by the railway that you used turns back towards Manchester and you can cross Irlam Locks. Do you know if this is possible?
If so, it would improve the finish of my Irwell exploration.
I've since had a search and found that you can cross on Irlam Locks. There's a UA-cam video of a guy cycling over.
Need more bike parth
Very interesting but the music is really annoying
I used to have a Tame Goyt but it bit me
Are you allowed to go kayaking ?
Yeah in parts of the River