Objective: Take the train from Burscough Junction to Chorley via Preston, returning on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal via Wigan.
Trip Type: solo cycle
Distance: 23 miles
Time to complete: 2.5 hrs, 9.1 mph
Nicholson Guide: Guide 5, pp 105-107, 110-117
Costs: free parking in Burscough. Train from Burscough Junction to Chorley via Preston £15.20, or from Burscough Bridge to Chorley via Bolton £12.30
Difficulty: fair
Adjacent Rides: Burnley to Chorley, Burscough to Liverpool, Wigan to Waters Meeting (Manchester)
Overview
A nice ride on good towpaths, taking in the impressive Wigan Flight of locks, much industrial heritage, and a rural finish through the Lancashire countryside.
1. Burscough to Chorley (1 mile cycling)
Park in Mill Lane, Burscough, L40 5UX, towards the mill end of the street.
Trains to Chorley are one per hour from both Burscough Bridge (via Bolton), and Burscough Junction (via Preston). The stations are equidistant from where you’ve parked.
From Chorley Station take Brown Street up the hill. Turn right on Eaves Lane, then left on Grey Heights View. Turn right on Canal Walk then take the short path down to the towpath. Turn right (south).
2. Chorley to Wigan Top Lock (8.5 miles)
The towpath is good all the way. Some is bumpy tarmac, some compacted earth and gravel, and some just earth, but all very rideable.
You have to pass through a number of cycle gates. Some of them have a bike shaped cut out which you may be able to pass through, or at least stick your wheel into it to help manoeuvre round the swing gate, but some don’t and you may find you need to lift your bike over the fence.
Arriving at Wigan Top Lock 65, turn sharp right once though the cycle gate to begin your descent.
3. Wigan Top Lock to Burscough (13 miles)
It is a spectacular and easy descent down the 21 locks to Wigan Junction, where the Bridgewater Canal heads south to Leigh and Manchester. Continue straight on over the footbridge.
At Wigan Pier go under the bridge then loop round to the right over the top, and the canal turns sharply left.
The canal then heads out past the Brick Community Stadium of Wigan Athletic into a semi-rural environment which becomes countryside by the time you reach Appley Bridge.
The Windmill pub is conveniently placed by Parbold Bridge 37D. Although a foodie type pub it has a decent range of local beers.
Another 4 miles and at the outskirts of Burscough you reach the junction with the Rufford Arm, which is covered in the Burscough to Preston ride.
Continue a further half mile to Burscough Bridge, 32A, where the ride ends. To avoid the awkward bike gate just under the bridge, leave the canal before the bridge by the wharf, having first passed under the railway bridge. Cycle through the wharf car park and turn left to Liverpool Road, A59. Turn left again to cross the bridge, then first left down Mill Lane back to your car.
The Hop Vine (open from 12 noon), on the north side of the bridge, is a good food pub with its own brewery (the best bitter is excellent), and the Thirsty Duck at the wharf is a micro pub with a good choice of real ales and Belgian beers, and is open from 2pm every day.