The Trans Pennine Trail - Part 3, Woodcote Road to Carrington Lane

Continued from Part 2, Dairyhouse Lane to Woodcote Road

This part of the route passes through Carrington Moss, an area used by Manchester Corporation for the disposal of human waste. The area had a network of tramways which were removed during the second world war when it became a Starfish site, where decoy fires were lit to divert enemy bombers away from targets in Manchester.



This part of the route starts at Woodcote Farm where the road turns into a concrete track.



This track then passes through the more modern sewerage works




and narrows beyond.




The surface soon degrades,



and a lot of horse shit was in evidence. Unfortunately, unlike dog owners, horse riders do not feel obliged to clear up after their animals. This adds a significant amount of organic matter to the surface of the path.



There are also a number of muddy puddles as the trail turns onto the route of one of the pre-war tramways.



The path then meets the route of the main east-west tramway, and turns right.



The path is wider here and has more open views for a while before the hedges turn to trees.



Here the path turns left and drops down off the raised tramway bed.



This narrower path soon hits the first of a number of barriers.



Soon the path kinks right into woodland. Here the path is very muddy and poorly maintained.



Once you emerge from the wood, there is another barrier.



The path runs alongside fields to the left before turning right again,



and eventually reaching Carrington Lane via yet another set of barriers.



The path crosses Carrington Lane at its junction with the Carrington Spur, a very odd section of road where horses people and cycles are banned. It is only when you realise that this road only goes to junction 8 on the M60, and that it originally was going to be a dual carriageway does it make any sense. See Pathetic Motorways for the rest of the story.



The next section of the Trans Pennine Trail continues along Banky Lane.






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The Trans Pennine Trail - Part 2, Dairyhouse Lane to Woodcote Road

Continued from TPT Part 1, Heatley to Dairyhouse Lane

Travelling west to east, the railpath ends with a set of over-engineered cycling barriers at Dairyhouse Lane.



Here the trail goes left then forks immediately right into a country lane wide enough to have wite lines down the centre.

 
 
After a sharp right the route entres a 30mph limit and a give way with Baltic Road to the right. Turn left here continuing along Dairyhouse Lane.

 

The road immediately loses it's rural feel as it passes alongside an industrial estate.

 

After a sharp left hand bend there are these width restrictions which presumably prevent lorries using the lane. One oddity at this point is the way the pieces of road run in straight lines, then have right angle bends. This is the site of Dairyhouse Farm where my old ordinance Survey one inch map from 1961 shows a set of railway tracks in Dairyhouse Farm. Apparently in World War I Dairyhouse Farm at Sinderland was used as a prisoner-of-war camp and again in WWII as an RAF ordinance depot with a rail network linked to the Timperley/Warrington line.See item 20 on this page for details.
 
 

Soon the route turns left into Sinderland Road, which is probably much busier.
 
 

Along the road are these markings, but no cycle lanes or anything like that.

 

The route then turns right into Woodcote Road, and goes up over a bridge.
 
 

Interestingly this bridge goes over a disused railway which ran from just east of Glazebrook joining the route of the railway in the previous part of the TPT to the east in Timperly, the Glazebrook East Junction to Skelton Junction Line. The track has been lifted and it looks like it already forns a footpath. This is clearly a potential cycle route, but it would be interesting to know what condition it is in and whether the Cadishead Viaduct over the Manchester Ship Canal could be refurbished to make a cycle bridge.
 
 

Half a mile to the east was the site of West Timperley Station.
 
 

The route goes straight through Woodcote Farm where it goes off road onto a concrete track.
 
 

The most interesting part of this route is the disused railway it passes over. I've included it for continuity with the off road sections.

The next section of the Trans Pennine Trail heads north into Carrington Moss.


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The Trans Pennine Trail - Part 1, Heatley to Dairyhouse Lane

This is a three and a quarter mile section of former railway from the edge of Rushgreen just over the border in Cheshire to the edge of Broadheath in Trafford where the railway trackbed is obliterated by the construction of George Richards Way.

This section starts opposite the Co-op supermarket with a relatively wide A frame barrier.



The path is quite narrow here with low overhanging trees. The path has a reasonable grit surface, but with a number of puddles.



The route emerges from the trees a short way later, at the site of the old Heatley and Warburton Station and level crossing.



After crossing Mill Lane there is another A frame and a horse step, with the sign showing that this section is also open to horses.




After a short paved section the path soon degrades to a grit surface with muddy puddles under some of the trees.



The path soon opens out and crosses the River Bollin and into Trafford.



Before narrowing somewhat.



For a while the trackbed rises high enough to see over the Cheshire landscape,



but the hedges are quite high in places.



This bridge takes you under Dunham Road.



A little further along is Station Road, the site of Dunham Massey Station and level crossing.

Here you hit the first of a set of dreadfully over-the-top cycle barriers which mean that everyone using the trail, except horse riders, has to dismount. for a disabled rider on a handcycle or trike these barriers prevent them from using the route. Manc Bike Mummy has written an extensive post about these barriers though I don't think her proposed solution is viable, far better to remove the horse steps.



At this point I saw a number of people who couldn't get their bikes through the kissing gate and resorted to lifting bicycles through the muddy horse step.

The Trans Pennine Trail web site documents many of the barriers and their problems, the attitude of the local authorities who build them and the way in which they prevent people with mobility problems using the trail.



Further along the path passes Heatley Farm,



before going under School Lane.



On the far side of the bridge the path opens up with fleeting views of the adjacent farmland before diving into this atmospheric tunnel through the trees.



However, you soon come across the extensive car park at Seamon's Road,



and the final set of over-engineered barriers at Dairyhouse Lane.



Link to Seventh Series OS map of the route when the railway was still in place.



The next part of The Trans Pennine Trail - Part 2, Dairyhouse Lane to Woodcote Road is on road.


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Motorbike Barriers Don't Work

Motorbike barriers don't work, they just inconvenience everyone. Two people easily lifted this motor scooter through the horse steps on the Trans Pennie Way yesterday.



Yet these barriers make this path almost impossible for tricycles, cycle trailers for children and wheelchairs. It is about time they were removed.


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"Rethink over bike trail steps"

On page 22 of Monday's MEN is a story about the TPT steps.

It says that TfGM has made two new proposals, widening the bridge or putting in a separate tunnel to the side.

Keith Whitmore, chairman of TfGM... said: "These are new ideas and we will need further discussion so we get it right. Having the Metrolink is a positive thing but shouldn't be at the expence of the Trans Pennine Trail."

For some reason the online version of this story is somewhat different and appears under the headline "Tram stop victory for action group".


Cllr Keith Whitmore (libdem) - right
Picture from TfGM web site

One has to wonder if he ever rides a bicycle...