Man About Town – October 2026

By Greg Hall

I have mentioned before that I am a reluctant runner, because I despise everything about running (it is exhausting, undignified, and has caused irreparable damage to my knees – not to mention my reputation as a local heartthrob), but I persevere because I need to lose weight and have grown accustomed to the number of Jaffa Cakes I can cram into my face when I get home.

However, while my hatred for running has never wavered (I keep waiting for this epiphanic moment people rave about where you suddenly fall in love with running, but it continues to elude me more than a decade on), there came a point a few years ago where I wasn’t awful at it. I could run 10k in a decent time, achieved my parkrun PB and, best of all, my stomach was the flattest it had been since about 2004 (coincidentally, the year I got married).

Then, via a combination of the pandemic, stress at work and my crumbly knees, I stopped running and I’ve never really been able to get back into it. Unfortunately, this has resulted in an expanding belly which must be rectified if I am to fit into a suit for my friend’s wedding next June. So, to cut a long story short, I have taken up walking instead. It’s still exercise, with all the health benefits and fresh air, without being… well, running.

At first, I was mostly tracing my old running route around town, which was pleasant enough, but more recently I have been venturing down the Rail Trail between Ettiley Heath and Malkins Bank, and what a delightful little stroll that is.

As the name suggests, the trail runs along what was once the North Staffordshire Railway line, first opened in 1852 as a goods-only route, before being extended to Sandbach in 1866. For the next few decades, it mostly served the local salt, potteries and coal industries, before a limited passenger service was introduced in 1893, necessitating a new station at Wheelock. This service continued until 1930, after which the line returned to purely freight and goods traffic until it was finally abandoned altogether in the 1970s.

Thankfully, after a monumental effort from the council and a team of volunteers, the disused line was cleared and re-opened in 2002 as the trail we know today. You can still visit the old Wheelock platform when walking the path, and what was once the ticket office is now a tyre fitter on Crewe Road.

If you’ve not explored the trail before, I can thoroughly recommend it and, who knows, the next time you venture that way, you might see me power striding my way to that flat belly and wedding suit!