Central Manchester? Route advice please...

[MotwCoop]

I'm in central Manchester all week, staying very near Piccadilly station. Can anyone advise on a safe 5km route. I'd thought canal towpath but am being put off by various people suggesting the less salubrious burghers of Manc tend to hang out there...

[MarkyD Graduate]

Hello, I don't know anything about Manchester, or where it is safe (or not) to run. However, I tend to use this site - walkjogrun.co.uk - when I'm travelling. If you search for Manchester Piccadilly and filter on 3miles, you'll find several 5km runs that seem to start at the gym near Piccadilly.

[MotwCoop Graduate in reply to MarkyD]

Do I have to pay to use it? I'm just getting directed to a paid app?

[MarkyD Graduate in reply to MotwCoop]

I always use it from my PC... just tried from my iPhone and it is a minefield. Lots of *.org, *.com websites and yes, walkjogrun.co.uk seems to direct to a site where you're encouraged to buy an app.

Sorry, I did not realise that it was going to be so difficult....

[folkieboater Graduate]

Nooooo.....NOT the towpath near Piccadilly. It is bandit country. If we go through by boat it's a 5am start before they get up - and there's 2 of us, and we carry a large, heavy steel windlass rather than our usual ones.

There's a Sweatshop in the Arndale (well there was last time I was there!) and they probably have some groups or recommendations. Also an Up and Running on Deansgate. Maybe your hotel could recommend somewhere.

Alternatively, get a tram to somewhere nice, Trafford Quays is OK I believe.

ETA: Just looked at your profile and see you're female. Definitely don't go on the towpath on your own, especially towards "town" and Canal Street area. Also, the towpath isn't continuous here and you have to go up to the roads.

[MotwCoop Graduate in reply to folkieboater]

Aye, I've been through on my boat but it's the underpasses that can be a problem and I wasn't thinking of running through them...

[folkieboater Graduate in reply to MotwCoop]

You have a boat? Up that way? We're just heading off for a trip to the Thames 👍

[MotwCoop Graduate in reply to folkieboater]

Been down at Droitwich Spa for a couple of years. Heading back up to Cheshire in May, to Aqueduct marina.

[folkieboater Graduate in reply to MotwCoop]

We've done the north for many years. Not enough time to do the bits we want to, so a month down to the Thames and back. Normally Market Harborough. Enjoy your running, wherever you end up.

[folkieboater Graduate]

There's also a website/community called runtogether.co.uk just about to check it out - never used it before.

[poppypug Graduate]

Hi, I'm in South Manchester !

Salford Quays and Media City are okay., well populated with runners , you would be safe around there .

I have run on the canal towpath at Sale and around Sale Waterpark , that's a lovely place to run xxx

[folkieboater Graduate in reply to poppypug]

Yep. Sale is lovely. We tend not to stop there, Lymm has a better pub 🙈 It's just the bit up from Castlefield through Canal Street to what I'd call Ducie Street that's a bit iffy.

Having said that, I started life in one of the worst Leicester estates, then grew up in an incredibly dodgy part of North London and lived to tell the tale 😂 Lots of it is knowing the risks and acting accordingly. Out running, the place I've felt most threatened is Newark - stumbled on an unexpected traveller estate in what I thought was a nice town...totally unprepared.

[GoogleMe Graduate in reply to folkieboater]

Last week a female runner was sexually assaulted on 'my' idyllic canal, on a lovely sunny day round lunchtime. Very glad of Google who must provide some level of deterrent (and has been known to mark the cards of individuals behaving suspiciously)

[folkieboater Graduate in reply to GoogleMe]

Where was that please GoogleMe? PM me if you don't want to put it here...

I always think towpaths are safe-ish as there's either not many people around in the sticks or crowded in towns.

[GoogleMe Graduate in reply to folkieboater]

The Cromford, so not one for boaters. At the quieter end but there can still be quite a few people about at that time on a nice day, as it was.

There's a nice follow up though:

bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-d...

[MotwCoop Graduate in reply to poppypug]

Thanks but I'm without transport or time to go further out. It's city centre only, but there will be two or three of us so I might just do it...

[poppypug Graduate]

Yes Lymm is lovely, Frances.

The Bridgewater Canal route runs from Runcorn ( I think ) to Lymm. There are some really lovely parts to it and most of it has been refurbished to allow walkers, cyclists and runners but there is a part of it, mainly the town centre to Stretford that is best avoided xxx

[Bazza1234 Graduate]

Have a look here at the Strava Global heat map for Manchester area labs.strava.com/heatmap/#13... Don't forget to "toggle labels" and you can zoom in and zoom out to get a close picture of the area of your interest