Mersey Watershed

[DazTheSlug]

As I drive home down the M56 from work in Runcorn, and come off the slightly raised area around Warrington/Lymm, I can see the whole of what I call the "Manchester Skyline" - extending from The Cloud to the east nr Congleton and sweeping right round to Winter Hill

being a "map geek" I have been working out all the big summits/ridges/moors etc that make it up

it has suddenly occurred to me that a clearer way of thinking about this is as the Mersey Watershed

just to stop me re-inventing the wheel...

is this a well-known "old chestnut" of a route?

(the only thing I get when I google it relates to a river system in Nova Scotia!)

[Fellhound]

Part of me thinks this is the kind of thing I sometimes plan, but the other part thinks 'surely there are better catchment areas to do a circuit of'!

The Ribble or the Lune or the Wharfe for examples(s)

[DazTheSlug]

Part of me thinks this is the kind of thing I sometimes plan, but the other part thinks 'surely there are better catchment areas to do a circuit of'!

The Ribble or the Lune or the Wharfe for examples(s)

all the actual hills involved are good stuff (obviously), but you're right, the view out over Greater Manchester/Cheshire is not so intrinsically scenic as some other areas, but it's still very dramatic/impressive
and it's where I was born/have lived most of my life, so I feel a connection to it

[Fellhound]

A good enough reason...

I am slightly interested in it (though I'm a Preston bloke meself). I bet the whole watershed (surely an end to end route) is a long way though...

[DazTheSlug]

A good enough reason...

I am slightly interested in it (though I'm a Preston bloke meself). I bet the whole watershed (surely an end to end route) is a long way though...

er... yes, quite a long way

rough estimate of Rivi-Pike round to Hen Cloud is at least 70 Miles
with "wiggles" we're probably looking at 80-85
if you also fag out into Cheshire from the Roaches to Gun, The Cloud and Mow Cop it adds another 10-15
so a nice round 100 Miles then

[wheezing donkey]

There you are Trundler - a 100 miler for your 50th year!!

[Witton Park]

It should really be the Irwell watershed, as the source of the Irwell is the furthest point up stream.

[DazTheSlug]

It should really be the Irwell watershed, as the source of the Irwell is the furthest point up stream.

WP - I'm a "Goyt Valley" advocate myself!

bit of background for those who can't be @rsed looking it up on wikipedia:
The Mersey comes into existence where the rivers Goyt and Tame join up near Stockport
the Goyt itself barely survives a name change slightly further upstream at Marple where the River Etherow (running out of the Woodhead pass) joins it
The Irwell is the major river for the whole of the North of Manchester, and runs into the Mersey a few miles South-West of Manchester city centre

any "Skyline" or "Watershed" route, especially a BIG one, is prone to suffering from what I call "drop-backs":

gaps in the skyline where what you can see is a LONG way back to a hill that is a long way away from the nicely ordered, nearer hills on either side

it's even worse for a watershed, because the water can come meandering through a valley from a long way back BEHIND a perfectly lovely-looking skyline hill

The Irwell is a prominent example of this latter type of drop-back:
Hail Storm Hill is the mind-bogglingly obvious skyline hill to the North of Manchester
Thievely Pike is hidden behind it
but the sneaky Irwell springs into life on the Southern slopes of Thievely Pike, saunters around at it's leisure to the West, then pops out to the South from between Hail Storm Hill and Bull Hill - the rotter!!

there's a similar problem down at the Goyt end, where Shining Tor obscures the actual watershed up from the Roaches, via Axe Edge and up to Rushup Edge.

in order to keep the route distance down to some sort of manageable distance, I think I'm going to have to cheat and just gloss over some of the drop-backs