Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester came into existence in 1974 as one of the new metropolitan counties that where created at that time, taking the south eastern corner of Lancashire and some of Cheshire, Greater Manchester nestles to the east side of the Pennine chain and the start of the Peak District.
Geography
The county is on the south eastern corner of the Lancashire plain and includes some of the foothills of the Pennines along its easter border and part of the Rossendale Hills. The River Mersey one on England's best known rivers enters the county from the west, it divides into two smaller rivers, the mersey continuing through the south of the county, whilst the River Irwell make its way through the northern part of the county.
Cities and Towns
As the counties name suggests the main city is that of Manchester, however the other city that can sometimes be forgotten is Salford, in its own right quite a large city, but being so near to Manchester it is often regarded as a suburb. There are also a host of towns that make up the county some quite large, they include:- Bolton, Stockport, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Wigan, Hyde, Westhoughton, Swinton, Middleton and Walkden
A6 and M6 in Greater Manchester
The A6 comes into the county from the north just north of Westhoughton, it continues through Westhoughton, Walkden and Swinton in a south easterly direction before entering Salford. At Salford it joins the A580 to become the main road from the north west into Salford and Manchester, the road continues south eastward to enter Manchester quite close to the City Centre, it turns southward through Reddish to Stockport, then turning South easterly through Hazel Grove before crossing the border to Cheshire.
The M6 spends very little time in the county. It enters right at the north westerly corner just north of Wigan, bypassing Wigan heading first of all southwards, then eastwards before turning more to the south again it soon crosses the border into Merseyside.
