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by Chris Pearce Distance: 6¼ Difficulty: Medium Plus
Frodsham & Helsby
Occasionally when I collate a Jack’s Tracks walk, I get a suspicion that there’s room for improvement. The Sandstone Trail in spring 2020 was a case in point; the first half of the walk was a cracker, the back half just ok, so I popped over the Mersey again recently to scratch that itch. This wellsignposted 6¼ mile walk centres around two prehistoric hilltops enclosures; Helsby Hill and Woodhouse Hill. There are lots of climbs and some sheer cliffs on this walk, so I would recommend that you leave the kids at home and make sure you wear suitable footwear. Start the walk at the car park for Frodsham’s war memorial (WA6 6BG) and take the steep road downhill. Turn left at the Belle Monte Hotel and look for a footpath on your right which plunges you into
the woods. After a few short steps, the path forks so take the left fork uphill. After a few minutes walking – follow the yellow ‘S’ sign and go up the sandstone steps and you’ll arrive at the war memorial, the first of many impressive viewpoints on the walk. Carry on in the same direction past the war memorial and ease downhill for 200 yards – then take the lower path. The track continues, hugging the side of the hill in the shadow of sandstone cliffs until you ascend once more, briefly arriving at an open area at the top and then again sinking into the woods. You’ll soon arrive at a crossroad of paths by some wooden steps, turn right here following the NCW sign and you’ll arrive at multiple flights of steep steel steps, Take the steps carefully to the bottom of the sandstone valley and you arrive at a fingerpost – turn right to Carriage Drive.
