GM Ringway
Length186 mi (299 km)
LocationGreater Manchester, England
UseHiking
SeasonAll year
HazardsSevere weather
Websitegmwalking.co.uk/gm-ringway

The GM Ringway is a long-distance walking trail in Greater Manchester, England. It traces a circular path around the city-region through each of the 10 boroughs and covers approximately 186 miles (299 km) in total.[1] It is designed around existing footpaths, parks and open-access land.[2][3]

The project is supported by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority as well as The Ramblers and CPRE, the walking and countryside charities, respectively.[4][5][6]

History

In June 2022, The Ramblers and CPRE charities were awarded a £250,000 grant by the National Lottery Heritage Fund to establish the GM Ringway. The grant enabled signposting and an improved app and website to be established. It will also support the organisation of community events across all 10 boroughs of Greater Manchester.[7][8]

In February 2023, it was reported that Tom Ross, the leader of Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council, was one of the first people to complete the walking trail in its entirety, over the course of around one year.[9]

In July 2023, a pilot scheme was announced, with guided walks through the Trafford section of the GM Ringway, in order to obtain feedback from walkers' experience of the route, as well as on the app and website.[10]

In December 2023, the Oldham and Bury sections of the route became the first stages to be signposted by volunteers.[11]

Route

The anti-clockwise route is split into four broad sections:[12]

The four sections are each divided into five stages (20 in total), with the beginning and end of each accessible by public transport, usually a train or Metrolink station:[1]

Section Stage From To Length[13] Metropolitan Borough(s)
Southern Start-up 1 Manchester Sale Water Park 6.6 mi (10.6 km) Manchester, Trafford
2 Sale Water Park East Didsbury 6.6 mi (10.6 km) Trafford, Manchester
3 East Didsbury Bramhall 7.3 mi (11.7 km) Manchester, Stockport
4 Bramhall Middlewood 7.9 mi (12.7 km) Stockport, Cheshire
5 Middlewood Strines 8.2 mi (13.2 km) Cheshire, Stockport
Exhilarating East 6 Strines Marple 8.3 mi (13.4 km) Stockport
7 Marple Broadbottom 8.2 mi (13.2 km) Stockport, Tameside
8 Broadbottom Greenfield 12.1 mi (19.5 km) Tameside, Oldham
9 Greenfield Newhey 12.8 mi (20.6 km) Oldham, Rochdale
10 Newhey Littleborough 11.3 mi (18.2 km) Rochdale
Noble North 11 Littleborough Norden 12.3 mi (19.8 km) Rochdale
12 Norden Bury 12.7 mi (20.4 km) Rochdale, Bury
13 Bury Bromley Cross 12.6 mi (20.3 km) Bury, Bolton
14 Bromley Cross Blackrod 12.2 mi (19.6 km) Bolton
15 Blackrod Wigan 10.1 mi (16.3 km) Bolton, Wigan
Western Wind-Down 16 Wigan Leigh 10.1 mi (16.3 km) Wigan
17 Leigh Irlam 10.8 mi (17.4 km) Wigan, Salford
18 Irlam Altrincham 10.7 mi (17.2 km) Salford, Trafford
19 Altrincham Stretford 9.1 mi (14.6 km) Trafford
20 Stretford Manchester 8.6 mi (13.8 km) Trafford, Manchester

The GM Ringway passes more than 40 Grade I and II*-listed buildings across Greater Manchester, including Bramall Hall in Stockport and Haigh Hall in Wigan. There are 14 scheduled ancient monuments including Blackstone Edge Roman Road in Rochdale along the route.[2]

There are also future plans to add link routes from the city centre to the west, north and east to connect with the GM Ringway.[14]

See also

  • Capital Ring, a strategic walking route promoted by London's 33 boroughs
  • Coventry Way, a 40-mile (64 km) long-distance footpath in central England
  • Leeds Country Way, a circular 62-mile (100 km) long-distance footpath around Leeds, West Yorkshire
  • London Outer Orbital Path, a 150-mile (240 km) route around the edge of Outer London

References

  1. 1 2 "GM Ringway Maps and Overview". Greater Manchester Walking. 20 November 2022.
  2. 1 2 "GM Ringway: new long-distance footpath covering 186 miles of Greater Manchester scenery gets green light". Manchester World. 22 October 2022.
  3. "GM Ringway – Greater Manchester's walking trail". Visit Manchester. Retrieved 4 August 2023.
  4. "Greater Manchester's new walking trail gets the go-ahead". CPRE Lancashire. 20 November 2022.
  5. "Projects". WalkingProjects.com. 20 November 2022.
  6. "190 mile Greater Manchester long-distance trail announced". Confidentials Manchester. 4 November 2022.
  7. "GM Ringway – Greater Manchester's walking trail". HeritageFund.org.uk. 16 June 2022.
  8. "A New Long-Distance Walking Trail Across Greater Manchester Has Been Given The Go-Ahead". Secret Manchester. 1 November 2022.
  9. Tooth, Jack (28 February 2023). "Trafford Council leader one of the first to take on GM Ringway". The Messenger. Retrieved 4 August 2023.
  10. Clarke, Liz (4 July 2023). "Greater Manchester's newest walking trail opens up for the first time this month". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
  11. Black, Kaya; Stead, Richard (14 December 2023). "Work begins on city's new 200-mile walking trail". BBC News. Manchester. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  12. "The GM Ringway – a whopping 300km walking trail around Greater Manchester linking beautiful countryside with local attractions". The Manc. 20 November 2022. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
  13. Read, Andrew. "GM Ringway". plotaroute.com. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
  14. "GM Ringway". ldwa.org.uk. The Long Distance Walkers Association. Retrieved 9 August 2023.
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