Flag days: High summer in Georgian Whitchurch at the southern end of the Sandstone Trail
Sandstone Trail: Willeymoor Lock to Whitchurch
Distance: 5.5 kilometres/3½ miles
Duration: Allow 1½ -2 hours
Difficulty: Easy: Level canal towpath, and surfaced town paths
Parking: There is NO easy parking at Willeymoor Lock, or on the nearby A49. The pub car park is for patrons only and cars should not be left there. .
Refreshments: Willeymoor Lock Tavern, Willeymoor Lock; Horse and Jockey, Grindley Brook; Lockside Cafe, Grindley Brook Locks; pubs and cafes in Whitchurch
Outline: Along the Llangollen Canal: old hall, coaching stop, home of Cheshire Blue cheese, staircase locks, former canal-road-rail junction and wharf, rolling farmland, rare ‘lift-up’ bridge, restored canal arm, Georgian market town.
Quiet Canal Towpath
From Willeymoor Lock and tavern, the Sandstone Trail follows the rural canal towpath as it meanders across pretty, undulating farmland into Whitchurch.
Along the way are the curiously-named Land of Canaan farm and the friendly café, store and staircase locks at Grindley Brook.
Further on, the Trail reaches the fascinating New Mills Lift Bridge before turning off down the restored Whitchurch Canal Arm to enter the pretty Georgian town of Whitchurch, in north Shropshire, and the southern end of the Sandstone Trail.