The Old Coach Road starts out of the borough at its northern end near Bickerstaffe and travels 3.5 miles to end at the A580 East Lancashire Road (SD448024 to SJ971458). It is tarmaced for all of its length but has private vehicular access. It passes through farmland and open fields dotted with tree plantations of differing sorts.

Access

Access to the coach road is best by bicycle or on foot, as most of the surrounding roads and the coach road itself are only open to private vehicles. It can be reached from Rainford village by public footpath and there is a carpark at Sidings Lane LNR. There is a countryside walks leaflet available from the St Helens Ranger Service and from local libraries, that shows how to get from this car park to the coach road. This walk is called the Rainford Loop and lasts for 6.5 miles. The area is heavily keepered, so please keep to public footpaths.

Birds

The coach road is an extremely pleasant walk and is particularly favoured by birds of prey. Species such as Honey Buzzard, Peregrine, Hobby, Merlin, Marsh Harrier, Montagu's Harrier and Hen Harrier have been seen, as well as Sparrowhawk and Kestrel. Five species of owl have been recorded in the area, with Barn, Tawny, Little and Long-eared breeding, and Short-eared Owl has been recorded in June, so may possibly breed. Good views of the areas Pink-footed Goose flock can be had in winter and large flocks of finches regularly feed in adjacent fields. These fields have also attracted Dotterel on a few occasions, whilst the nationally rare Arctic Redpoll has been recorded in birch trees next to the coach road. Woodcock rode over the Coach rode at dusk.

Mammals

A number of interesting mammals have been recorded in the fields or woods adjacent to the Coach Road. Brown Hares are quite common, as are Weasels, Stoats and Foxes, though they are not easily seen. In September 2001, the first St. Helens record of Red Squirrel was seen near the junction with Mossborough Hall Lane, and since then there have been several other records of the species from all along the Coach Road. The bats of the area are unknown, but certainly some are present.