#RunningInSquares 25th Jan – 38km 1⛰️ 3📍 1◣

A big run. An urban run. The first corner ticked off. I certainly wouldn’t normally go running through the depths of Ashton, Droylsden etc., but that’s what this little local adventure is all about!

Distance: 38km. New squares: 32. New peaks: 1. New Trigs: 3. Corners: 1.

The White Heart is a great gastropub in Lydgate SD9704. Can’t recommend the food enough!

A thoroughly windswept tree in SD9604.

These are the remains of kilns from the brickworks that were here in Grotton SD9603 in the 19th Century.

A very patriotic trig point. The trig is called Brown Edge and it sits at the top of the summit of Holly Bank SD9602. Looking towards the next trig….

Broad Carr Monument is a trig point, and more normally known as Hartshead Pike. SD9602.

Heading down off the Pike into SD9502, I was treated to snow and a view of Manchester in the distance.

SD9501 has several stables, looking back up to the Pike you wouldn’t believe I was being snowed on 1km earlier.

First route planning fail. Lost in some woods behind a housing estate in SD9401. Had to retrace my steps and change route a little.

Manchester is blessed with several former railways that have since been converted into traffic free routes. This one in SD9300 avoids bits of Ashton that are less than picturesque!

A local volunteer group out litter picking in Ashton, SJ9399.

A view over to Curzon Ashton football club, SK9299.

Squares in square SJ9298, looking down on the M60.

Ashton is home to some impressive churches that I drive past so often and yet have never been up close with, SJ9398.

As well as old railway lines, the city is riddled with canals. This wasn’t the most picturesque of them, SJ9397.

Another urban trig point, the tower of Guide Bridge Mill Centre, SJ9297.

I was close to the SW corner here, and nipping in and out of squares with little to actually photograph! SJ9296.

I took in about 15 years of SJ9196, here’s a SLOW marking. I have been slowing down and taking in my surroundings though, so it seemed appropriate.

Love this little terrace end shop, looks like it’s been here for ever, SJ9197.

This is far from my usual running scenery. A housing estate in Fairfield, SJ9097.

Corner #1! I’ve never been so pleased to see a golf course! Fairfield Golf Course, SJ9096.

Tram tracks in the middle of the road, Audenshaw SJ9098.

A bonus zigzag into a Park in Audenshaw to tick off SJ9198.

Time to head for home and escape the city again, via the Medlock Valley, the start of a former canal converted into a nature reserve in SJ9199.

Over the railway in SJ9099.

Back over the M60 in SD9100.

Along the canal in Daisy Nook Country Park – always a super busy spot for family weekend walks, SD9200.

Further up the Medock Valley. The River Medlock is one of the least enticing in the area, sadly polluted along most of its length. SD9301.

Park Bridge iron works date all the way back to 1786. The history of the industrial evolution shaped so much of this area, SD9302.

These terraces were built for the workers of Park Bridge, SD9402.

This was nearly time for a diversion. This footbridge over the Medlock has seen better days, I suspect it was all but washed away in the NYE flooding we had. SD9403. This little valley backs on to the pretty grim Holts estate, as such the last thing I expected to see was the deer skipping through the woods here.

Pretty sure the danger is being overstated here, SD9503.

Another old shop, this one no longer in business. Lees Village, SD9503.

This was the biggest run I’ve done for a while, and nice to explore somewhere different. I think I’ll be back on the moors next week, but there’s plenty more urban exploring required to tick off all the squares.