Hollinwood Branch Canal 3 - Stannybrook Road to Crime Lake

This post picks up where Hollinwood Branch Canal 2 - Droylsden Junction to Stannybrook Road left off, trying to cross a rather nasty road. The character of the path now changes from quiet Site of Special Scientific Interest into the popular Daisy Nook Country Park. There used to be a hump-backed bridge here to carry the road over the canal, but it is long gone.



Once you successfully cross the road and avoid being hit by the 4x4's in the car park you reach a little building which contains a small tea shop - somewhat of a rarity on most traffic free cycle routes in the Greater Manchester area.



The next thing you see at the end of the car park is this narrow boat shaped play area, sadly the nearest you get to a boat on this whole canal.



A little way beyond there is a small patch of water and then the entrance to what used to be called Dark Tunnel, but it was opened up into a cutting following mining subsidence.



The tunnel section is tarmacked over and infilled.



Past the tunnel, there is another short stretch of water before reaching Woodhouses Aqueduct over the River Medlock.



It has quite a spectacular curved shape.



Next you meet the remains of a lock, and then the canal turns sharply to the left.



Here there were a set of staircase locks.



The canal climbed steeply here past a basin to the canal junction.



This is Waterhouses Junction, the start of the Fairbottom Branch Canal. Here you can join the Fairbottom Branch Canal and Tramway - Waterhouses Junction to Park Bridge.



From here the Hollinwood Branch is in water. The path now goes over this outflow. The route through the water is perfectly ridable on an ordinary bike.



The path then goes under this footbridge



and over a small aqueduct



before the canal widens into Crime Lake.



This was apparently created by accident.



At the end of the lake is the site of Crime Bridge. This has now been filled in and marks the end of the usable section of canal, the next section is rather difficult to follow.



You can exit here onto Cutler Hill Road, though the gap is narrow. If you follow the path round the lake to the car park it is probably easier for larger pedal cycles to exit.

Hollinwood Branch Canal 2 - Droylsden Junction to Stannybrook Road

This post is the continuation from Hollinwood Branch Canal 1 - Sunnyside Road to Droylsden Junction north and east towards Daisy Nook Country Park.

At Droylsden Junction the original aqueduct has been replaced by a narrow bridge with a wooden base. It is quite safe, but a bit unnerving to cross.



The path opens up after the bridge, somewhat overshadowed by buildings on the left.



Soon you reach the former location of a swing bridge that gave access across the canal to Lumb Farm. However, you first have to negotiate a pretty dreadful (anti)cycling kissing gate where tricycles and tandems will have to be up-ended or lifted over.



Lumb Farm is now the location of a large industrial operation called Hadfield Wood Recyclers. Watch out for the HGVs entering the site.



Across the wide entrance road you can get to the next section of canal through the gap on the right of the fence, the gate is locked, and then through a wooden (anti)cycling kissing gate. Again trikes, trailers and tandems will struggle.



Just beyond the gate this sign marks the beginning of the Hollinwood Branch Canal Nature Reserve which includes all of the rest of this section of the canal.


The sign reads...

Owned by Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council and managed by Cheshire Wildlife Trust. The Hollinwood Branch of the Ashton Canal is an excellent example of its type of a standing water system in the Greater Manchester area. This coupled with the number of regionally and nationally rare species found within it, lead to it being notified as a site of special scientific interest. The main habitats are swamp and fen. The open water areas are particularly diverse, containing species such as Water Soldier, Arrowhead and Frogbit, as well as a varied aquatic fauna - Dragonflies, Common Frog and Common Newts. Pike, Rudd and Common Bream are found in open water with Mallard, Moorhen and Reed Bunting. The towpath along the length of the canal makes up part of the Medlock Valley Network and walkers can view this interesting habitat from a convenient position.

This is the point where the path begins to look like a proper canal towpath alongside something resembling a canal. The first part is overshadowed by the barrier of trees on the left, but this is soon left behind. The boundary on the left of the towpath is the dividing line between Oldham and Tameside.



The trees on the left become a hedgerow and the far bank has farmland beyond.



The path itself is however is quite narrow and quite rough, but rideable on a hybrid bike.



Here you enter a hidden gem, an almost secret area, it's one of my favorite paths in the whole of my exploration of Greater Manchester.



As the canal curves gently to the right the canal passes under Cinderland Bridge which carries the path to Cinderland Hall Farm.



It is a tight squeeze to get under the bridge, because as the land subsided the banks of the canal were built up to keep the water in. North of the bridge was a dam and the canal returns to its sunken level.



Now there is some open water in this section of canal. Brookdale Golf Course is on the left of this section. The surface is smoother here, though muddy in places.



However, this soon ends and it becomes clogged with plants again.



The canal swings to the right again, heading almost due east and reaches the site of an old swing bridge, now replaced by a fixed wooden structure. By now the roar of traffic is beginning to assault the ears.



From here the path swings away from the canal and upwards as the traffic gets ever louder.



Soon you hit the bridge over the M60.



This eight lane scar through the landscape is completely out of keeping with the surrounding landscape and severs the canal at this point.



The path drops away on the other side returning to the canal route.



However from here there is no water in the canal.



In places it has been infilled above the level of the towpath, which changes the character of the route considerably.



The path then widens and moves over the canal bed as gates come into view.



This (anti)cycling kissing gate leads out to Stannybrook Road, and the road beyond leads into the car park of Daisy Nook Country Park.



This is a really dangerous crossing, it drops steeply to the left,



and to the right there is another junction, hidden from view to anyone crossing into the park, and there is nothing to protect people crossing the road from the speeding traffic.

Hollinwood Branch Canal 1 - Sunnyside Road to Droylsden Junction

The Hollinwood Branch of the Ashton Canal ran from Droylsden to Hollinwood. It was opened in 1797 to transport coal to Manchester from the collieries that lie between Ashton under Lyne and Oldham. For more details see the Pennine Waterways web site. This route is clearly shown on the Tameside cycle map.

The canal branches away at Droylsden Marina. The towpath of the main canal is on the opposite bank. From this point the path along the Ashton Canal going west are Ashton Canal 3 - Clayton to Fairfield and east Ashton Canal 4 - Fairfield to Ashton.

You can just see the towpath on the left of this picture looking from the branch back to the main canal.



Looking towards the new marina, this is a short section of restored canal.



However, the canal ends here. The path of the canal goes under the bridge carrying Manchester Road, next to Droylsden Library. But the route is blocked.



The usable towpath of the canal begins at Sunnyside Road, the site of Clifford swing bridge, opposite St Stephen's View, which has been built on the bed of the canal. Refreshingly there are no anti-cycling barriers to bar your way.



From here the path runs along the infilled canal. The surface is only grit, but good quality if rather narrow.



There is some lighting of the path, and the space is pleasant and wide.



However, after about a quarter of a mile the path reaches playing fields.



Here the barrier is pretty impossible. it is a struggle to get a small bike through here, anything larger is almost impossible without removing the gate... The path is tarmac from this point.



The route of the canal turns to the left here and there is a second barrier as the route runs round Lumb Clough.



Here the land slopes away to the west into Lumb Clough.



This area is quite wooded, and the path is narrowed by the bushes. There is housing on the right behind tall fences.



As the trees clear, the fence along the railway line come into view.



From here the canal towpath continues over the railway line on a narrow footbridge. This can be followed in the next post Hollinwood Branch Canal 2 - Droylsden Junction to Stannybrook Road.



To the west from here one path heads towards Clayton Vale, and another heads east along a disused railway line to Audenshaw.



This was the site of Droylsden Junction and just to the east was the former location of Droylsden Station.


Image from Railmap Online