550 - Waterhouses - Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, UK. - Cycling Routes on Waymarking.com

The cycle route is a part of the UK National Cycle Network. It is a network of safe, traffic-free paths and quiet on-road cycling and walking routes that criss-cross the country, linking up villages, towns and cities.

This 550 sign is located at the track entrance from Leek Road to Waterhouses car park and picnic area, where this route begins.

Route 550 starts at the car park on Earlsway and runs from Waterhouses to Etruria Junction in Stoke-on-Trent. The route follows country roads from Waterhouses to Basford Bridge where it joins the Cauldon Canal.

The Caldon Canal was built between Etruria and Froghall in 1776 at a cost of £23,560 and was intended to carry limestone from the quarries at Cauldon Low near Waterhouses to Stoke on Trent. A tramway, included in the cost, was built from the quarries to the canal.
In 2014 the historic towpath of the Caldon Canal was improved to provide a link connecting the Potteries through the Staffordshire Moorlands to the Peak District. The project costing £2m was spent on improving the towpath for both walkers and cyclists. (visit link)

"Recent Schemes (North Staffs)
To improve cycle access to the Peak District from the Potteries funding has been obtained (2013) to upgrade the Caldon canal towpath from Stockton Brook to Cheddleton to complete route 550 which connects route 555 at Etruria (and route 5 at Shelton) with NCR 549 (the Manifold Trail). The towpath of the Leek branch of the Caldon canal will also be improved to link NCR 550 to Leek and the Roaches and will become NCR 559." Source: (visit link)

The organisation called SUSTRANS was set up in Bristol in 1977. They had a vision to improve conditions for people walking and cycling.
By the 1990s cycling and walking routes had been built all over the country, mainly using disused railway paths and canal towpaths. In 1995, they campaigned and won the first ever grant from the Millennium Commission for £42.5 million to create a UK-wide network that linked the routes to provide high-quality, convenient routes for walking and cycling. The Network that exists today involves hundreds of partners. Source: (visit link)

Route 550 can be found at the following link, by typing Old Station Car Park Waterhouses into the grey left hand search box above the map.
(visit link)

Node Number: 550 Reachable Nodes: 549 to Hartington at Waterhouses Car park 555 at Etruria Junction

Visit Instructions:

• Provide at least two photographs, one a close-up of the sign, clearly showing the number and another of the sign showing it in its surroundings. Tell us something about the area, or your journey.
• Toon tenminste twee foto's een close-up van het knooppuntbord waarop het knooppuntnummer duidelijk te lezen is. En toon een foto waarin zowel het knooppunt als de omgeving te zien is. Vertel iets over de omgeving of over je reis.

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Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log User Rating   06/13/2019 Gushoneybun visited it 07/03/2017 Mike_bjm visited it

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