The Route to Heswall Thornton Hough to Birkenhead WELCOME TO CHESHIRE & Wallasey Eastham Millennium Routes 5 and 56 in Cheshire start at the A41 A540 Key boundary of Cheshire and Wirral near Thornton Hough, Road W IRRAL County of Contrasts Busy Road crossing - M they are in ideal cycling country with very few hills, junction - take care! 53 Millennium Route stretching for a distance of approximately 36km. take care! Motorway/Junction History is high on the agenda along the route. From the 5 9 BOATHOUSE W 6 north the first port of call is Parkgate. LANE OOD LANE ‘A’ Road The route follows part of the Wirral Way, in Wirral Country B5135 A51 Parkgate Other Road Park, which was the first such park to be developed in PC Hooton Britain to provide what was then a pioneering BROOKLANDSROAD B5136 H 7 M53 Railway and Station 3 B5133 E Hooton recreational facility for all. Vantage points allow users to A Childer T Road crossing B51 H ELLESMERE take in the magnificent views over farmland and the Dee Neston 33 L County Boundary - take care! 1 B5134 Thornton Road Willaston A to the Welsh hills beyond. The Country Park was created P N crossing - E Overpool 8 PORT P PC PC A Canal along the track of a railway line linking Chester to West take care! P 4 1 Access E B5463 Kirby, which ceased to operate in 1963. B N Traffic free section USHELL A ROAD Points WAY L IRRAL Hadlow Road O W The Boat Pick marks can still be seen in the rock cutting south of S O Y PARK NESTON E K E UNTR Station E CO BRI Overpool 2 L C N 9 Museum Canal Towpath Neston which was gouged out of sandstone by hand. U A A C L 5 DLEWAY 4 Little Hadlow Road station at Willaston has been 0 Cycle Route The Millennium Cycle Route in Little 3 Sutton sympathetically restored by Cheshire County Council to B546 Neston 2 Ellesmere Advisory Cycle Route how it would have looked during its active life. B5151 03 CHESHIRE Sutton A A5 Port 4 1 On-carriageway From the nineteenth century to the twenty-first in just a Ness Green Parkgate to Chester & North Wales few miles. The huge BNFL plant is at the cutting edge of Road cycle lane new technology but within a few minutes you are back crossing - Wolverham 0 take care! Place of Interest in the Cheshire countryside and dropping onto the 5 L 5 E Ness Botanic D M53 A Great Shropshire Union Canal at Backford. Leaving the canal S Gardens H Marshland A Sutton towpath at Pretty Bridge, the route follows a bridleway M A540 L Health & Medical Centre through the heart of Chester Zoo. A 17 N BNFL A51 The route has now reached the edge of the historic city Ledsham E Plant Whitbyheath 0 1/2 1 Mile of Chester. It has been designed to provide links in Burton 10 0 1 2 Kilometres residential areas and the route passes two secondary Capenhurst schools before returning to another disused railway line A41 7 511 at Fairfield Road. The route now becomes Millennium D Backford A U Little Opening Route 5. N Cross K Stanney Spring 2002 to Warrington Capenhurst IR Road The Mickle Trafford to Dee Marsh railway line once carried K L crossing - steel to and from the steelworks on the banks of the Dee Puddington Eureka A take care! N Stoak Café E at Hawarden Bridge and runs just to the north of the city. 550 11 M56 A M56 A few miles further along the track the County and Dunkirk national boundary is reached and the mountains of A 5 4 15 North Wales stretch ahead in the distance. 0 BRI This leaflet is designed to illustrate the line of the l DLEWAY a n Millennium Route in Cheshire and to highlight local R E a iv N Backford C e A A attractions and places of interest. It may be used in r n D Shotwick L DE 4 A5117 M 1 io e IT A e L G n conjunction with OS Landranger 117 & OS Explorer 266. to Flint LP AN E OA E U C e r This route is signed in both directions but occasionally i h signs go missing. The Cycling Officer at Cheshire County Pretty s E p N ro Council would appreciate notification of any missing or A Bridge h L Narrow Lane S G damaged signs. N -take care! M53 A548 O L Mollington B R I D Kelsterton L E W Chester Zoo 550 D A Moston Tourist Attractions A A O R Y Tourist Information L IL Upton The Eureka Café H See inset overleaf A Saughall Mickle •Chester Visitor Services 01244 402111 E Hawarden S Heath Disu Woodbank, Chester Golftyn sed Road Crossing - Trafford •Easy Book Accommodation 01244 402506 Bridge Ra ilwa take care 0151-339 5629 y Access •Birkenhead (for Wirral Area) 0151-647 6780 Point A41 Open 09.00, Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday and Bank Connah‘s Garden •Llandudno (for North Wales) 01492 876413 B5441 A56 Holidays. Please telephone to check opening times as Quay City A548 Upton Shotton ay these may vary from those published.Famous café for ilw Useful Numbers 94 Ra A4 ed cycling clubs. A548 A us 5 is •Emergency Police, Fire and Ambulance DIAL 999 4 Newton D B5126 Shotton Sealand 0 •Police HQ Chester 01244 350000 Ness Botanic Gardens to Mold Queensferry Access Bache •British Waterways 01244 390372 Ness, Neston, South Wirral. CH64 4AY. Point Piper’s •Environmental Transport Association 01932 828882 0151-353 0123 Blacon 6 Ash FLINTSHIRE A5 •Cycling Project for the North West 0161-745 9088 Open 09.30 - dusk, March to October; 09.30 - 16.00 Ri 7 Hoole •C.T.C. Ann Taylor 0151-327 4667 A ve 5 r November to February. Extensive collections of specimen A494 D A •C.T.C. Arthur Miller 01244 831361 5 e 4 trees and shrubs, especially rhododendron and azalea. 0 Sandycroft e 1 •Wirral Borough Council Cycling officer - Renowned heather, rock, rose and water gardens; B5125 CHESTER Steven Atkins 0151-643 7145 A548 A51 stunning herbaceous border. Facilities include: licensed Chester •Flintshire County Council Cycling Officer - tea rooms, gift shop, plant nursery, visitor centre, picnic to Wrexham Richard Flood 01352 704633 ground and children’s adventure playground. The following services are provided by Cheshire County Council:- Chester Zoo Parkgate has a variety of shops providing for all your local •CCC General Enquiries 01244 602424 or Parkgate needs. There are several hostelries, cafés and restaurants. Wildlife along the Wirral Way Wheels for All! www.cheshire.gov.uk Upton-by-Chester, CH2 1LH Parkgate’s name derives from Neston Park, which was enclosed Overnight accommodation can be found at The Ship Hotel, Cycling is an excellent way to spot wildlife, so keep your eyes An initiative created by •CCC Countryside Management Service 01244 380280 (Wirral Country Park) 0151-327 5145 in about 1250 and served as a deer park for 350 years. where a secure cycle store is available. open as you journey along the Wirral Way. There’s plenty to the Cycling Project for e-mail; [email protected] •Cheshire Bus Hot Line 01244 602666 The river shore beside Neston Park was recorded as one of see whatever the time of year. Hazel catkins appear early, the North West. Open 10.00 every day, except Christmas Day. For further information on cycling and cycle routes in several anchorages where ships would unload their goods if followed closely by the first hawthorn leaves. Soon blackthorn Largest Garden Zoo in the country - 110 Acres to explore. The Cycling Project Cheshire contact the County Council’s Cycling Officer, they were too large to reach Chester. From the 1680s bursts into blossom and the first chiffchaff can be heard, Anna Geroni, on 01244 603617 or Facilities include: shops, restaurants and cafeterias to suit believes that the passenger ships began to call at Parkgate, and a village began Willaston heralding the arrival of spring. [email protected] all tastes and picnic facilities. pleasure of cycling to grow. Until 1815, Parkgate was renowned as a terminal for The delightful village of Willaston, winner of a recent best kept In summer, much of the Wirral Way is should be available to packet ships taking passengers to and from Dublin. village award, is worthy of a slight detour off your route. You The Boat Museum transformed into a leafy, green tunnel. all. ’Wheels for All!’ From 1760 to 1830, Parkgate was also well known as a resort will find a variety of useful shops including general stores, Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, L65 4FW Look out for blue tits, busy gathering offers people, of all where people came to take the seabathing cure, for their chemist and Post Office. There is also a market in the Memorial ages, with disabilities 0151-355 5017 Hall run by the W.I. where a fine selection of home made caterpillars to feed their hungry young. health rather than for fun. and differing needs, Open April to October 10.00 to 17.00 every day. produce is to be found on Friday mornings. Foxgloves and knapweed line the way, Parkgate died as a port with the canalisation of the River Dee the opportunity to enjoy cycling for themselves. Specially November to March 11.00 to 16.00 (Closed Thursdays attracting bees and brightly coloured for five miles below Chester, which changed the course of the A number of establishments are available for your refreshment designed handcycles, tricycles, quadcycles and recumbents and Fridays) butterflies.