The GM Ringway is an extraordinary circular route that takes in industrial heritage, countryside, towpaths and hills. Here’s how one 10-mile section shapes up …

Two swans and six dusty-grey cygnets mew and whistle as they glide in single file along the canal. Silver birches wiggle their leaves in the gentlest of autumn breezes. Auburn, ochre, russet and shades in between glow in the afternoon sun. It’s time for a sit down and a cuppa.

I’m not in a national park or an arboretum. I’m walking between Wigan and Leigh on the GM Ringway – the 200-mile (320km) loop around Manchester that’s just been given the final signoff now waymarking is in place. And, once we got out of Wigan town centre, the little green badges stamped with an arrow and a QR code were very much in evidence.