Sandstone Trail | |
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A kissing gate and inscribed waymarker on the southern section of the Sandstone Trail near Bickley
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Length | 55 km (34 mi) |
Trailheads | Frodsham, Cheshire to Whitchurch, Shropshire |
Use | Hiking |
Elevation | |
Elevation change | 1,268 metres (4,160 ft) |
Highest point | Raw Head, 227 m (745 ft) |
The Sandstone Trail is a 55-kilometre (34 mi) long-distance walkers' path, following sandstone ridges running north–south from Frodsham in central Cheshire to Whitchurch just over the Shropshire border. The path was created in 1974 and extended in the 1990s. Much of the route follows the Mid Cheshire Ridge but in places the trail also passes through the Cheshire Plain, including farmland, woodland and canal towpaths.
The trail is divided into three sections of about 18 km (11.3 mi) in length: the northern portion runs from Frodsham to Willington, the central section covers Willington to Bickerton, and the southern part is from Bickerton to Whitchurch.
The trail is marked with signposts and yellow discs inscribed with an 'S' in a footprint. Stone distance markers and blue information boards are also located at intervals, usually before or entering a new area of the trail. The information boards generally give details of local history while the stones give the distance in kilometres to the ends of the trail at Frodsham and Whitchurch. In some parts of the trail, it intermingles with the Baker Way in Delamere Forest for several hundred metres, which may cause walkers to accidentally follow the wrong trail by mistake without careful observation of the waymarks.
These stones are at:
The ends of the trail are also marked with a sandstone obelisk outside the Bears Paw Public House at Frodsham, and a 2m high sandstone archway at the entrance of the car park at Jubilee Park, Whitchurch.
Points of interest travelling from Frodsham to Whitchurch (north–south) include: