Walks you can reach from Alsager by train

Pavements and Trent & Mersey Canal towpath, with steep steps over the canal bridges, finishing beside Westport Lake.

Time: 4h30 (3h walking, 1h30 lunch)

Warnings: Steep steps over the canal bridges.

Walk details: North Staffordshire Community Rail Partnership (tips and turn-by-turn directions).

Boggy muddy ground at wetter times of year. Stafford Common is an unusually large surviving common land near a major Midlands centre with origins in medieval townland for grazing, protected by parliament 1839 and 1939.

Time: 5h (3h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)

Warnings: Comparatively busy road at Whitgreave; boggy ground when wet.

Walk details: Walk Midlands (tips, photos and local insights).

Similar walk: Slow Ways (inc. GPX).

Spectacular views across Cheshire plain. Countryside ridge walk with gritstone outcrops, woodland paths and fields. Mow Cop is where Primitive Methodism began in 1800 with mass prayer meetings by Hugh Bourne and William Clowes.

Hilly: two fifths on high ground, rising above the surrounding land.

Time: 4h30 (3h walking, 1h30 lunch)

Warnings: Stiles and steps; steep downhill sections.

Walk details: Walk Midlands (tips, photos and local insights).

Recommended: A direct, almost entirely flat waterside route along the Trent and Mersey Canal towpath. Surface varies from good bonded gravel to loose stone and with cobbled ramps at the roving bridges and a stepped bridge near Stone station. Generally dry with only the odd puddle after rain.

Waterway: almost all along the Trent & Mersey Canal.

Time: 5h (3h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)

Lunch: A pub and supermarket at Barlaston and a filling-station shop at Trentham roughly halfway.

Warnings: The towpath is a traffic-free cycle route shared with cyclists who can approach fast with little warning. A stepped footbridge over the railway at the Stone end and steps at road crossings.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

Mostly Trent and Mersey Canal towpath, with a woodland-and-road section over the hill around Harecastle Tunnel through Bathpool Park. The canal offers great variety, passing industrial relics and modern development and with steps at the Kidsgrove end and some shallow mud but a lot of good surfaces.

Waterway: four fifths along the Trent & Mersey Canal.

Time: 4h30 (3h walking, 1h30 lunch)

Warnings: Crossing the road in Kidsgrove needs care — no proper crossings, just raised road sections. Steps from Kidsgrove station car park to the towpath. The towpath is shared with the 555 cycleway and is narrow in places.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

Time: 7h30 (5h30 walking, 1h30 lunch, 30m break)

Walk details: Slow Ways.

A flat, fully surfaced (tarmac) and largely traffic-free route on the signposted Greenway linking the two town centres, a mix of pavement and multi-use paths and with no steps and pedestrian crossings at all busy roads. Passes through the attractive Queen's Park. Uses the designated Greenway and the King Shilling Way, which run parallel to busy roads but are separated by a hedge and verge. Queen's Park can be bypassed if closed.

Time: 4h (2h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)

Warnings: Follows a busy road for a third of the walk.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

Time: 5h (3h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)

Warnings: Part of the route south of Blurton is not close to the rights of way.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

A route through mostly lovely rural farmland. There are a number of tricky access points where stiles have disappeared or vegetation needs beating back.

Time: 8h30 (6h30 walking, 1h30 lunch, 30m break)

Lunch: Stone has many pubs, cafes and supermarkets at the start, but there are almost no facilities on the route, with the first public water at around 18km.

Warnings: Several tricky access issues where stiles have disappeared or vegetation must be pushed through. Almost no facilities on the route, with the first public water at around 18km.

Walk details: Slow Ways.