Greater Manchester’s newest walking trail opens up for the first time this month

For one weekend this month Greater Manchester’s newest walking trail will open up for a test run. Local residents will get the chance to join any of five free guided walks through the Trafford section of the GM Ringway.

Held on Saturday July 15 and Sunday July 16, the walks are part of a pilot scheme for people to give feedback about the experience of the trail, as well as the app and website, before all 20 stages of the ringway are rolled out in the coming months. In total the GM Ringway will cover a stretch of 188 miles through all ten boroughs of Greater Manchester.

The guided walks held later this month include a ramble from Manchester city centre that passes Old Trafford along the beautiful Bridgewater canal, a step-free walk around Sale Water Park, a gentle ‘walk for all’ around Longford Park with the MileShyClub, and a circular walk from Altrincham to Dunham Massey. The Leader of Trafford Council, Councillor Tom Ross – one of the first people to walk the whole of the trail – will be joining the first of the guided walks on Saturday 15 July.

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The GM Ringway has been made possible thanks to National Lottery players through a £250,000 grant awarded by the Heritage Fund to the countryside charity CPRE, together with The Ramblers, Britain’s walking charity. Designed around existing footpaths, parks and open-access land, the five stages (1, 18, 19 and 20) in the Trafford area form the start and the end of the trail. As well as the Bridgewater Canal, highlights include Longford Park, green spaces of the Mersey Valley, quiet pathways around Altrincham, and the National Trust’s Dunham Massey estate.

Saturday July 15:

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