Walk! the South Pennines

A walking guide by Manchester author Clarke Rogerson includes a route in and around Middleton, making it an ideal excuse to get out and about this spring.

Each of the 35 walks in the book are close enough to home for Middletonians to try them all.

Details for each route include information on the walk itself, such as difficulty and time needed, as well as practical information such as the nearest pub and railway station. --Middleton & North Manchester Guardian Book Description The concept for this series of walks was conceived, as these things often are, over a few pints with a group of like minded friends.

Fuelled with bonhomie and wanting to get out into the hills on a regular basis, unencumbered by the car, and not restricted to a quick half before driving home, the idea "let's see how many walks we can do using that cheap rail ticket" was born.

I don't remember volunteering, but the task of planning was left to me.

As with all walking groups, this bunch was a bit choosy; high quality routes were definitely expected.

We cover four counties, taking in ancient tracks, packhorse routes, six rivers and four canals. There's plenty of interest along the way; something for everyone including art, archaeology, bird watching, botany, industrial and landscape history.

I've included the record breakers - deepest, highest, longest and shortest.

Add the promise of real ale served in more than a few pubs and local food cooked on the premises, and you have walking utopia. 35 fully detailed walking routes all accessible by the cheap rail ticket.

Every route includes; walking route summary, ratings for Effort, Time, Distance, Ascents/Descents, Refreshments and Vertigo risk, fully detailed walk description including frequent timings to aid navigation, GPS waypoints for pin-point navigational accuracy, full colour Ordnance Survey licenced mapping. A unique book of 35 walking adventures, all accessible on the Greater Manchester rail network, just waiting for you to discover them.