The cyclepath link between Deeside Industrial Park, Burton and Neston is one of the jewels in the crown of Chester’s cycling infrastructure. Sustrans, Cheshire West and Chester Council and Flintshire County Council constructed a 3m wide cyclepath running adjacent to the Railway line and the MOD Sealand Range. The path then crosses the marsh on a raised wooden boardwalk before connecting Burton, Little Neston, and Neston with additional sections of tarmacked pathway.
There is no direct access to the RSPB reserve or Ness Gardens from the route. So if you plan to visit either of these, you need to leave the route and enter using the access used by motorised traffic.
There are refreshments available at the Harp pub which has a great beer garden overlooking the estuary and in Parkgate, including the famous ice cream shop.
There is also a cyclist friendly cafe at Denhall Lane, Net’s Cafe. The cafe is open every day, 7 days a week from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm.
Click on the link below for a map of the access point from the Deeside Industrial Park.
Burton Marsh NCN 568 Map of Access from Deeside Industrial Park
The Chester Cycling Campaign highly recommends this vital, safe, and traffic free link between the Wirral and the NCN Route 5 to Connah’s Quay, Flint, Prestatyn, Conway and beyond.
I find if you use your bell and pass other users of the walkways in a nice and respectful way and thank them for moving over i never have a problem
live and let live
Hi there are 9 of use doing our annual charity bike ride from Llandudno to Preston and we are struggling with a safe easy route from connahs quay to new Brighton can anyone tell me if there is one thank you
I love this cycle route and have ridden it many times from Deeside to Neston and back. I am 52 with very bad knees so never go fast and always slow down when approaching walkers and always use my bell. However on Saturday, I was going along the boardwalk section past a couple with a large dog on a lead. They pulled the dog towards them to let me go past, I shouted thank you but at the last second they let the lead retract and the dog ran across the boardwalk. I braked quickly which resulted in my bike sliding from underneath me and hurting my shoulder badly. They then gave me a right mouthful using very bad language. There was simply no need for this sort of behaviour and it left me very shaken up.
Does anyone know when this article was written? I’m trying to find out when the cycle path was first opened to the public. I note that it was officially opened on 18 July 2013 but I believe that members of the public had been allowed to use the cycle path for several months before that, after construction was completed in about March 2013. If anyone could let me know when this article was written or alternatively let me know when the cycle path was first opened to members of the public I would be very grateful.
Perhaps these paths should not be called cycle routes but public footpaths then perhaps, well maybe, these idiots on bikes will not get the idea they are there for them and nobody else.
Also I do not fancy doing the boardwalk that’s covered in sheep s–t, bad enough on a bike but in a wheelchair I think not!!
idiot in wheelchair, wind your neck in…its a cycle route you pratt
The Burton Marsh Greenway (BMG) is becoming pretty much unusable now, unless you don’t mind having your shoes, tyres, feet, hands covered in sheep crap. If on bike, you need plenty of mud(crap) clearance.
A real shame, this route has deteriorated so badly in less than 2 years.
Everybody has been talking about cyclist’s, walkers and dogs and bikes using these routes as a speed run. I have just wheeled from Station Road to The Harp in my wheelchair and I found the cyclist’s very considerate perhaps because thay couldn’t get past in places and it would appear that not many bikes had bells, I have one on my chair so why can’t they fit one? I am hoping when the better weather comes to do more of this trail, I did investigate turning left at the bottom of Station Road but found the path covered in sheep sh-t, not very nice on your hands!! I to am disappointed to see the path at the bottom of Marshlands gated as I was hoping to do that as well, why if its to keep sheep in can they not fit an accessible gate? I have done a lot of trails all over the country and put them on my website http://www.disabledholidayinfo.org.uk and it would be great to do as much of this as possible,
rode from birkenhead to chester and went from the kop all the way back to neston, amazing ride.
I must say the speed sum of the lycra crew are doing is to fast and i was on a bike my self sum are polite others look at u as to say ur in my way
Just done ride from neston into flint must say very enjoyable ride not as nice riding thru shooton tho ha very nice cafe for snack wen got bak will be doing it many times wen weather ok
can anyone please tell me why there has been a lock fitted to the gate as you come off the Marshes, it is frustrating to get all the way there and then find the way blocked and the only way is to lift your bike over the gate and then climb over yourself, i find this a bit of an unsafe practice especially if im on my own, the gate was open early yesterday but then locked at teatime, it was also locked on Monday Evening,I thought this was a right of access am i wrong in thinking this
Interested in the comment about cyclists and cyclists ignoring signage giving priority to walkers. Last week I walked the Wirral Way from Hooton to West Kirby were there is the same signage, and cyclists rode as if they owned the pathways – one more than middle aged guy (I reckon in his late sixties) hit me from behind and then said “Didn’t you hear my bell”? My response is unprintable.
Who do these cyclists think they are? Motorists? I will repeat something I have posted a number of times on various forums – The walker/pedestrian is King, cyclist are princes, and motorists are paupers. That is the hierarchy; and by the way ALL DOGS SHOULD BE ON LEADS AND IN FULL CONTROL OF THEIR STUPID OWNERS.
The dirty great gate is there to keep the sheep on the marsh and is necessary.
Just used this route again today, found a dirty great gate blocking it at the Neston end. Some others have obviously had problems with it as there is a poster asking people to contact Cheshire West and Chester rights of way office and local councillors louise gittens and kay Loch about it to get it removed. Why they decided to put a gate there is stupid. I am going to fill a form out to report the gate to the rights of way office.
There are far too many cycle routes being made inaccessible with daft gates.
Gate necessary to keep sheep off road and on marsh.
The sheep have been there for hundreds of years. The gate is new . Explain ?
A man who lives near the gate thought it was to slow cyclists down but was rather upset as he could here the damn thing banging everytime it was used.
Surely another speedbump or some bars like at the Deeside end would be better and quieter at traffic calming.
Whats the matter putting a cattle grid there?
I walked along this route recently with my dog. I asked cyclists to slow down to pass my dog, two did, the rest hurled insults at me and refused to slow down. There are plenty of signs explaining that cyclists must give way to the other users but I have been told by two people that the cyclists time themselves and then publish their times on the internet. From the other comments on this site it appears that speed is of the essence! These cyclists were not unruly teenagers but middle aged men who should know better. In my opinion it is only a matter of time before there is a serious accident. Our council, who are responsible for making what was once a haven of peace and tranquility into a two wheeled M1 should be taking action now!
I think that you should keep you dog on a lead just to be on the safe side.
Who took the gate down at the entrance to pathway? Who tried to destroy go slow gate sign? Many families use this path to enjoy scenery, etc. Too many cyclists use it as a speed track with no warnings. They are cycling up behind you. Twice now my Dog has almost been knocked over.
If cyclists are riding like this it is a great shame, and they should know better than to behave on the cycleway like some motorists do on the roads. It is completely unaceptable to use it as a racing route to put on Strava. It is a shared amenity which has transformed my own commute to work, and for the sake of losing a minute or two at most I always slow down for walkers and their dogs and sometimes stop and have a quick chat with the regulars who I see most weeks.
If you are a cyclist reading this then at least try and do a bit for our collective reputation by showing some consideration and courtesy.
Well said
Rode this route for the first time today. Loved it. Great surface, lovely views and plenty of opportunities to pick the pace up. had a lovely lunch alongside the River Dee before heading back to Neston and on to Prenton. Great to see a lovely pub and cyclist friendly cafe along the route too.
Highly recommended!
a v ery good bike ride mostly flat with not many hills, so you can really get your speed up, the cafes excellent, as is the fruit cake , an enjoyable day and a fantastic view of the estuary also .
Love this addition to the wirral way – now possible to park in Connah’s Quay – cycle to Mickle Trafford on to elsewhere port , capenhurst , pick up the wirral way , on to new Brighton before returning back along the new marshes section back to connahs quay.
Already called at the cafe mentioned above – highly recommended .
new to cycling, been doing the wirral way but want to go further, been casually looking out for sign posts for the new Connah’s Quay route but never spot anything and not much good with computers. Is there a particularly good book of cycling routes out there or advice on how to get off the Wirral way and onto the above mentioned route, cheers k
We have just discovered the excellent Nets cafe , in an old farmhouse between Denhall Lane, Burton, and Neston. Amazingly, yesterday on November 10th, it was warm enough to sit outside there and enjoy a toastie and good quality coffee in the sun. Right beside the cycle-walkway it is understandably attractive to both walkers, strollers and cyclists
At the sharp right hand turn up marshlands rd going away from the harp up into Neston, there is another pathway that carries straight on along the Dee, up past the sewerage works and into Parkgate… There is now Local authority “no cycling” sign at the gate and the start of the path. Any Ideas why and when this was decided??
Christine,i wish somebody would put up signs on the adjoining road routes for motorised vehicle drivers as well, quite a few roads locally are becoming no go routes for us cyclists, while the Burton Mrshes route was funded partially by a cycling charity,some cyclists believe wrongly it to be their route, and as its safe and trafic free, speed can easily be built up.
But then again the adjoining A road, is suposed to be a 60 mph max road, but vehicles grossly exceed this maximum limit, with little intervention from the Police, even after cyclists have been injured or killed.
My husband and I walked the route from Neston to Deeside today. A very enjoyable walk but perhaps a few more benches could be located along the route.
Whilst the majority of cyclists are very considerate to walkers, there were many who obviously use this route as a ‘race track’, it is not a cycle race track it is a route to be used by walkers as well as cyclists. Some cyclists sped past us at such a speed that if we had not been quick in getting out of their way we would have been mown down, they cycle so fast with their heads down that I think they are totally unaware of walkers and also the bikes are so quiet walkers cannot here them coming. It was as though they resented walkers on their route. These speed merchants did not even have a bell to warn us they were coming and one even shouted to us ‘this is a cycle route you know’.
Perhaps notices could be put up asking cyclists to be respectful and give consideration to walkers using this route so that everyone can enjoy this facility and that when they see walkers that they be asked to reduce their speed accordingly.
If something is not done this route is just going to become a cycle route as walkers and especially families are going to be reluctant to use it for safety reasons.
Thank You.
Unfortunately the surface is so smooth that it does allow racing bikes to travel at speed along the path. the speed bumps help to moderate this but you are right the cyclists should give way… its a recreational path for use by everyone. Hopefully the speed novelty will wear off in time. Every user should show courtesy whether on a cycle or not.
I totally agree with Christine Hodson my husband and I walked this new route with our well behaved dog today and one cyclist rode around the speed humps and although my husband was standing still with our dog by him he nearly hit my husband,he was with a number of cyclists who went over the hump with no problem.
Also a number of cyclists went at a very fast speed which is totally unsafe given that lots of families and groups of people where walking.
Some have no bell on there bikes, so they just come up behind you with no warning and if they are speeding it can be quite frightening.
Why cycle routes and walking routes are not made separate I will never know, it would be safer for everyone.
Hi Christine, as both cyclist and walker I totally agree, there’s times the bikes could speed up and it’s NOT when there’s people walking along the path especially when as you say they’re going at speed and don’t even let you know they’re zooming up to you with so much as a flick of their bell (I totally wasn’t impressed when a cyclist unnoticed at ridiculous speed behind my daughter and myself without using his bell, my daughter went to cross over the path unaware he was coming and narrowly missed being hit by the cyclist only to have the cyclist abuse her by shouting “YOU F*****G IDIOT at her…My Daughter was 7yrs old, if he’d have gone into my daughter he’d have caused serious harm to her little body so YES I totally agree there should be more signs asking the cyclists to respect it’s also a walk way and to slow down and use your bell…a polite notice to the walker of dog’s who run at you barking when you’re cycling, sending you flying into the grass verge would be good too (most of the dogs are well behaved or will be held against the owner when you’re trying to pass, others seem to let them roam free.
that was a very good ride and i am intrested to do abit more of it
Hi all,
I’m from Leeds and have recently cycled the new NCN568 to Chester via the Wirral promenade and Wirral Country Way cycle paths. Just wanted to say it is superb and with the additional Greenway paths on the Chester/Wales side you can travel largely or solely traffic free from many different areas bordering these places. The scenery is great and it is flat with good surfaces. I travel on cycle routes around the country and few can compare with what you have here.
Feel free if anyone wants to forward this on to those responsible for the great work with putting this all together. Viva a La Cycling!
hi glad you enjoyed the ride. heres many good routes in and around Wirral and Merseyside!
I would like to try some off road outside the area do if you have any suggestions it would be appreciated.
Tom Hinde, From Chester get onto the millenium route, the one that runs from Mickle trafford to Shotton, follow this route till you reach a blue bridge over a multi lane road, continue for about half a mile, and take the next right by the big sign after the factory units,(not down the ramp) follow this path keeping right, youll pass the Toyota manufacturing facility on your left, follow signs from there on,
also http://www.sustrans.org.uk have free maps to download of the route.