Wigan Circular by Bike

Route description and some waypoints.

December 14, 2013 Palfreyman

The Route

Description and waypoints.

This is an approximately 21 mile circuit of Wigan by bike from the golf club gates at Ashton Cross using both traffic free tracks and roads with light traffic. The route includes Garswood and North Ashton, Landgate and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal towpath to Gathurst, returning via Orrell Post and Windy Arbour. Because of adverse ground conditions on certain stretches, this route is more suitable to mountain bikes than road bikes or hybrids, there also two sets of steps requiring the bike to be carried.

• SJ560987 - Starting Point the Golf Club gates at Ashton Cross. Move off along Tithebarn Road to its junction with Garswood Road.
• SJ553989 - Turn right into Garswood Road cross mini roundabout at the Simms Road Inn then take the first right into Leyland Green Road.
• SD549004 - Take the left fork at the end of Leyland Green Road into Booth's Brow Road and take the first left at the top of the hill into Brocstedes Road.
• SD559006 - Follow Brocstedes Road into Drummers Lane over the motorway to its junction with Soughers Lane.
• SD567012 - Turn left into Soughers Lane to its junction with Wigan Road.
• SD569013 - Turn left into Wigan Road and take the first right into Langate Lane.
• SD569014 - Follow Landgate Lane for half a mile or so and take the turning on the left 100 yards before the railway bridge.
• SD579017 - Continue along this footpath to Park House Farm.
• SD579022 - Cross the farm access road and continue to Wigan Flashes and the canal at Ince Moss.
• SD584027 - Join the Leeds and Liverpool Canal (Leigh Branch) towpath and turn left, follow the canal past Scotsmans Flash to the junction at Chapel Lane.
• SD583049 - Cross the footbridge to the other side of the canal. Turn right and continue across Warrington Lane to Manchester Road at Rose Bridge.
• SD597055 - Cross the road and continue up the "Wigan Flight" to "Top Lock".
• SD608068 - The canal turns left here where it becomes the Lancaster Canal, continue along the towpath underneath the road bridge at New Springs and two others to a fourth at Sennicar Lane.
• SD590087 - Leave the towpath here and turn left down the hill into the Douglas Valley to its junction with Wingates Lane.
• SD582083 - Turn left into Wingates Lane and take the marked footpath 30 or 40 yards ahead on the right near the gateway to the new houses.
• SD583082 - Cross the river and carry the bike up the historic steps to emerge onto Wigan Lane via Sicklefield. (Alt. route via Brock Mill Lane to the left).
• SD580080 - In either case turn right along Wigan Lane and turn left into Old Lane approximately 50 yards north of Sicklefield.
• SD580081 - Beware here the first part of the track there are shallow steps every few yards, continue ahead to emerge into Whitley Crescent at the bottom.
• SD579079 - Almost directly opposite and to the left of this junction there is a footpath, take this path and continue through a wooded area between the houses to the footbridge crossing the West Coast Main Line.
• SD577076 - Cross the bridge turn right and follow the track along the fence line turning sharp left at the corner to emerge onto Gidlow Lane a little higher up than the Milliken factory. (Alt. railway crossing via Walter Scott Ave to the right).
• SD573076 - Cross Gidlow Lane and take the bridleway near the childrens play area, follow the track between the houses to Giants Hall Farm.
• SD566077 - Turn left here and continue down the hill, the track eventually turns right to enter Giants Hall Road.
• SD562075 - Follow Giants hall Road to its junction with Wigan Lower Road.
• SD560074 - Turn right and continue to the road junction at Crooke.
• SD554074 - Cycle through the village and join the canal once more using the bridge at the side of the Crooke Hall Inn.
• SD551073 - Continue along the towpath to the right as far as Gathurst.
• SD540074 - Leave the canal here, turn left and proceed up the hill past the college and under the motorway to the traffic lights at Orrell Post (Stag Hotel).
• SD535051 - Turn left here and take a turning a hundred yards or so on the right just past the old Council Offices.
• SD537050 - Follow the footpath across the M58 motorway to Edge Hall Road, continue along this to its junction with Church Street at Orrell Station.
• SD531040 - Turn left then take the left fork Winstanley Road to Windy Arbour.
• SD544019 - From here continue ahead Ashton Road to the mini roundabout at the Simms Lane Inn.
• SD549002 - Continue ahead to the starting point at Ashton Cross via Garswood Road and Tithebarn Road.

Farthingale Publications: ..... Is a hobby web site containing articles of local interest to Lancastrians, some favourite walking and cycling routes, selected words and poetry, and some writings of more general nature as well as the authors own picture gallery. Access is available via the homepage and menu at the head of the page or via one of the direct links below.

Local Interest: A Cricket Calypso; A Lancashire Lullaby; Dust Upon God's Fair Earth; God's Choir; Isaac Watts 1674 - 1748; It's a Funny Life; John Byrom 1692 - 1793; John Lancaster Wigan MP; Jubilee Park Memorial, Ashton in Makerfield; Little Ships at War 1918; Mind Your Language; Not Much of a Warrior; Peveril of the Peak; Private Thomas Whitham VC; Richmond Hill Dairies; Scot Lane School Wigan; The Brocklebank Line; The Holy City Liverpool; The Lindsays of Haigh; The Nurburgring 1960; Thomas Aspinwall Miners Agent; Thomas Aspinwall Obituary; Thomas Linacre School Wigan; Upholland Telephone Exchange; Wigan Advertisements 1960; Wigan Old Bank 1792; Wigan Soldier Missing in Action.

Walking & Cycling: Abbey Lakes to Coppull Moor; A Lancashire Linear Walk; Blackrod or Bust; Chorley Ice Cream Walk; Cycle the Monsal Trail; Cycle the Sankey Valley; Douglas Valley Dawdle; Freshfield to Crosby; Haigh to Borsdane Wood; Irwell Valley Trail (Bury to Rawtenstall); Irwell Valley Trail (Bury to Salford); Moss Eccles Tarn; Three Counties Cycle Ride; Wigan Circular by Bike.

Words & Poetry: A Lancashire Mon; A Legend of Montrose; Aw've Turned me bit O' Garden O'er; Boat Song; Calm is the Sea; Classic Poetry; Dombey and Son; Dover Harbour; Dust upon God's Fair Earth; God Bless these Poor Wimmen that's Childer; Hymn Before Action; Jeff Unsworth's dialect poetry; King Cotton; Martin Chuzzlewit; Martyrs of the Arena; Mind Your Language; Only a Cranky Owd Foo'; On Th' Hills; Poet's Corner; Redgauntlet; Rogue Herries; The Antiquary; The Bride of Lammermoor; Th' Coartin' Neet; The Darkling Thrush; The Fair Rosamond; The Fair Rosamond Comic; The Family Man; The Glory of the Garden; The Heart of Midlothian; The Pickwick Papers; The Rolling English Road; The Wreck of the Hesperus; Toddlin' Whoam; When Winds Breathe Soft; Wisdom.

Wallgate Chronicles: Adolphe Adam; A Tale of Two Cities; A Walk in the Hills; Barnaby Rudge; Bookcase; Cat Bells; Desert Island Discs; Eay Times Uv Changed; Fidelio; Frank Whittle and the Jet Engine; Fun with Trigonometry; Hard Times; Hugo Boss comes to Wigan; In the footsteps of the Manchester Rambler; Ivanhoe; Little Dorrit; Lohengrin; Rob Roy; Romance on a Budget; Semele; Surprise at the Philharmonic; The Battle of Solferino; The Bohemian Girl; The Fair Maid of Perth; The Force of Destiny; The Getaway Car; The Marriage of Figaro; The Old Curiosity Shop; The Ravioli Room; The Spectroscope; The Switchroom Wigan; Travels in Time 1960; Travels in Time 2010.