Ancoats to Ashton-under-Lyne Canal Walk

6.4 miles (10.3 km)

This walk follows the Ashton Canal from Ancoats to Ashton-under-Lyne. The walk starts from the Canal Basin at Ancoats right next to Manchester Piccadilly Railway Station.... From here you head east past the City of Manchester Stadium, Droylsden and Audenshaw before finishing in Ashton-under-Lyne.
The Ashton Canal is one of Manchester's most important historic waterways, built in the late eighteenth century to transport coal from the surrounding mining areas into the rapidly growing industrial city. Today the canal offers an interesting urban walk, combining the area's industrial heritage with regenerated waterside neighbourhoods, green spaces and a surprisingly rich variety of wildlife.
Starting in Ancoats, one of the world's first industrial suburbs, the route begins among former cotton mills and warehouses that reflect Manchester's role as the centre of the global textile industry. The canal then passes close to the Etihad Stadium before leaving the city behind and entering the quieter sections around Droylsden and Audenshaw, where locks, bridges and traditional canal features highlight the engineering of the waterway.
The canal corridor provides a valuable green route through Greater Manchester, with waterside vegetation attracting birds such as herons, kingfishers, ducks and moorhens. The walk finishes in Ashton-under-Lyne, a historic market town with a long industrial heritage, a traditional market, independent shops and the nearby Portland Basin Museum, where the area's canal and industrial history can be explored further.