I’d been stuck in the house for a few days so yesterday I was keen go out. The weather wasn’t so great so I decided to go into Manchester. There was something I needed that at one time I could have bought in the town centre, a 15 minute walk away. However, with many main retailers either going bust or moving to out of town centres I would now have to either drive to an out of town shopping centre or go into one of the bigger city centres to make a purchase* . I hate the former so taking the train into Manchester was my preferred option. There was only one shop I needed to go to so I decided to extend the day by exploring Sale Water Park, which is a popular place for easy walks not far from the city centre.
My train arrived at Victoria train where I was able to hop onto a tram on the airport line. It trundled slowly through the city centre, speeding up after Deansgate, so took about half an hour or so to reach the stop for the Water Park.
The water park, with a lake, woodland and meadows, lies between Stretford and Sale, south of the River Mersey, which, before 1974, formed the boundary between Lancashire and Cheshire. The land used to belong to Sale Hall, which was demolished in 1920. The lake was formed in the 1970s by the flooding of a gravel pit excavated to provide material for the construction of an embankment for the M63, which is now part of the M60. The Motorway forms the southern boundary of the park. The lake is popular with water sports enthusiasts – but there were none to be seen on a cold grey winter’s day.
I didn’t have a definite route I wanted to follow but wandered around, in some cases retracing my steps. The map below gives a rough indication of my route around the lake and along the river bank but my meandering increased the distance by another mile or so. Rather than return to the Water Park tram stop I decided to cross the motorway and head over to the Bridgewater canal and walk down the towpath to Sale. I used to go here very frequently in the 1980’s (for reasons I won’t go into), but haven’t been there for quite some time, so I had a brief mooch around the centre before catching the tram back to the City Centre. Sale tram station is on the line between Altrincham and Manchester. Before converted for trams it used to be a normal commuting rail line along which I frequently travelled to Altrincham for a number of years (you’ll have to guess why 😉).
As well as being a leisure resource, the lake is used as part of the flood defence system for this part of the Mersey basin. The land is a flood plain – that’s why the height of the motorway had to be raised 30 feet above ground level here. The river level is monitored by the Environment Agency and if it rises to a dangerous level, a sluice gate can be opened allowing water to flow from the river into the water park. Access for walkers is then restricted.
There were plenty of other people walking around the lake and along the river, including what was clearly a walking group. It’s popular as a green space in the midst of the conurbation. The downside is the M60 – 10 lanes wide along this stretch. It’s very busy and so close that the roar of the traffic is inescapable. Being a saddo occupational hygienist (albeit now retired) I used an app on my phone to measure the noise level**. I found the noise distracting and intruding and it spoiled the walk to some extent. I doubt I’d choose to return soon.
*I could rant on about this, but decided against it !
** On the side of of the lake closest to the motorway I measured an Leq of almost 70 dB(A) and it was 75 dB(A) on the path alongside road in the park on the south side. Obviously I wasn’t using a proper, calibrated meter, but the results should provide a reasonable estimate.
Down by the Dougie 