Walks from Stoke-on-Trent

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

Time: 3h

Warnings: Steep steps over the canal bridges.

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

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: 3h30–6h30

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: 3h–6h

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.