Sandbach and the Salt Line

Wednesday is magazine day and the weather forecast was for rain all day.  I was cajoled by our son to leave the warmth of the boat cabin and venture out into the adverse conditions for a walk to Sandbach.  It wasn’t a long walk but the conditions made it seem that way.  The first part of the walk took us along the very muddy and slippery towpath back to the officers swimming club (sewage works) at Wheelock where we turned away from the canal and headed NNE.

 Route out in red and back in blue 

I was rather surprised at the size of Sandbach having expected to see a very small village.  Instead it was a similar size to Ellesmere.  The first stop was Aldi but they didn’t have this week’s magazines.  We started heading towards Waitrose when I noticed the following poster on a wall.

I know what a ERF truck lorry is having seen a number of them. However I didn’t know they were assembled in Sandbach.  Foden built its first traction engine in Sandbach back in 1881.  ERF built their first truck in Sandbach back in 1933 and the plant continued to operate until 2002. 

The Victorian Gothic Town Hall is an interesting building.  The condition and style of the brickwork suggested it may not be very old, however it dates back to 1889.

The old part of the town contains the war memorial cenotaph with St Mary’s Church in the background.

To the left in the Tudor style building is Ye Olde Black Bear Inn which is a 400 year old Grade II listed building that has recently been renovated.

It even has the bear on the roof.

Shopping completed, we made our way back to Waiouru deviating at Wheelock.  On the walk to Sandback we had crossed over what appeared to be a former railway that has been converted into a public footpath. 

The OSM labels this section of the path as “Wheelock Rail Trail”.  Further back towards Red Bull it’s marked as “The Salt Line”.  The railway closed in 1996 and the area became overgrown.  In 2000 the local county council renovated the line.  More information is available on the Discover Cheshire website.