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Bike touring routes & trails

United Kingdom

England

West Midlands Region

Workhouse Bridge – Hem Heath Woods Nature Reserve loop from Longton

Routes

Bike touring routes & trails

United Kingdom

England

West Midlands Region

Workhouse Bridge – Hem Heath Woods Nature Reserve loop from Longton

Moderate

5.0

(4)

riders

Workhouse Bridge – Hem Heath Woods Nature Reserve loop from Longton

02:48

46.1km

330m

Cycling

Moderate bike ride. Good fitness required. Mostly paved surfaces. Suitable for all skill levels. The starting point of the route is accessible with public transport.

Last updated: April 22, 2026

Tips

Includes segments that go up or down a series of steps

You may need to carry your bike.

After 66 m for 19 m

After 6.88 km for 5 m

After 46.1 km for 19 m

Waypoints

Start point

Train Station

Get Directions

626 m

Gladstone Pottery Museum

Highlight • Historical Site

A great look into the history of potteries in the area: interesting because you understand how mass production began, but also because the exhibition provides an unvarnished look at working conditions in the 19th century. Child labor, disease, poverty. But everything is balanced and never with a finger raised. Highly Recommended.

Children also have the opportunity to make pottery themselves under good guidance!

Translated by Google •

Tip by

4.22 km

Blurton Road Landfill

Forest

6.00 km

Benches With View of Barlaston Hall and Wedgwood Lake

Highlight • Viewpoint

It is a very pretty walk all around this lake.

Tip by

31.3 km

Canal Stretch with Narrowboats

Highlight • Structure

31.8 km

Horse Tunnel and Bridge

Highlight • Bridge

Notice the cobbled tunnel for tow horses of a bygone age.

Tip by

31.9 km

Joule's Stone Ales Brewery

Highlight • Structure

Joules Ales used these canals to transport their goods to Liverpool and Hull. On a public hanging day (they used to hang the poor convicts outside nearby Stafford gaol), they used to brew more for the increase in custom that usually resulted because of the morbid spectators that would flock there.

Tip by

32.3 km

Workhouse Bridge

Highlight • Bridge

The road above this bridge used to lead directly to the old workhouse.

Another interesting fact is that it has a little plaque on with the name 'Christine'

Christina Collins was travelling by narrowboat from Liverpool to London. It is important to remember that some passengers were carried by canal boats as it was cheaper than travelling by coach. She passed through Stone on the journey and raised concerns about her safety to the lock keeper at Aston. Her body was found on 17th June 1839 at Rugeley.

Three of the four bargemen were charged with her murder. All three were sentenced to be hanged so as a souvenir for those attending the execution a broadsheet was printed beforehand showing the three dangling from the portable scaffolding outside Stafford Gaol. However one of the men was reprieved at the last minute and was sentenced to be transported to Australia instead.

Tip by

37.8 km