North Manchester Local Knowledge Required

[Nomadski]

Having just moved up to Manchester, and temporarily living in the Crumpsall region I'm looking for places to go visit on my bike. Having no idea what is around or worth riding to I'd love if someone with any knowledge could give some areas of interest I could plan a ride out to.

In London I used to head south into Surrey and enjoy the leafy green countryside, so anything where I'm heading out of Manchester preferably.

 

[ColinJ]

Do you want to ride out and back, or would you be prepared to drive out or take your bike out on the train?

(Depending on where you want to go, you could be doing a lot of urban riding to get to and from the leafy green stuff!)

Do you like hills? What kind of distance would you like to do?

PS Just logging off now, but I'll check back tomorrow to see if you have replied.

 

[classic33]

@stephec & @SteCenturion to the front please.

 

[Hacienda71]

Rivington has some good hills both for road and mtb. Closer to town you have Clayton Vale next to the velodrome which has surprisingly good mtb trails. If you head East or North you will get into the Pennines which are great again for both road routes and hardcore mtb riding. @dan_bo is North/East so knows those roads better than me. If you prefer flatter then head South to Cheshire miles of quiet country lanes to explore.

 

[Nomadski]

Do you want to ride out and back, or would you be prepared to drive out or take your bike out on the train?

(Depending on where you want to go, you could be doing a lot of urban riding to get to and from the leafy green stuff!)

Do you like hills? What kind of distance would you like to do?

PS Just logging off now, but I'll check back tomorrow to see if you have replied.

Rivington has some good hills both for road and mtb. Closer to town you have Clayton Vale next to the velodrome which has surprisingly good mtb trails. If you head East or North you will get into the Pennines which are great again for both road routes and hardcore mtb riding. @dan_bo is North/East so knows those roads better than me. If you prefer flatter then head South to Cheshire miles of quiet country lanes to explore.

Thanks, I realise I should have provided a little more info!

I don't do any rough stuff, just tarmac on my 700c tyres, I don't mind hills, I usually tend to do 30-40 mile round trip rides with between 2,000 and 3,000ft of climbing, and then when I feel a little more comfortable in my surroundings have the odd round trip of 60 or so miles.

I have no problem loading the car up, and intend to do so to get to some of the more well known hills in the various national parks around here, but ideally would love to get started door to door on the bike. I have Heaton Park just up the road, which I will check out, am hoping it will provide some of the fun I always had in Richmond Park, but would love to find stuff to head out to further afield.

I'll check out Rivington, although Google Maps wants me to either go a National Cycle Route way (not tarmac from the looks of it) or the East Lancs road which is a tad busy!

I guess the biggest challenge I face immediately is just finding the good routes out of carcentral, to take me to the nice places.

 

[dan_bo]

We don't have so much 'leafy green' as 'bleak brown'.

From yours head out towards bury and then edenfield. Over your left shoulder you will see peel tower across the valley of Ramsbottom. Thar's a good climb.

There's tons. I'm in failsworth- drop us a line if you wanna go out earlyish on a sunday.

 

[User33236]

Rivington can be reached via the A6 through Swinton and Walkden. Straight run out toward the Macron Stadium area then drop down to the A673. Saves using the East Lancs or the NCR.

 

[Rohloff_Brompton_Rider]

NCN 6 is now fully rideable from city centre to Haslingden on 23mm rubber. It's a nice wander some leisurely ride on quiet to totally traffic free roads, paths and canal / river paths. It's not far from Crumpsall, easiest place to get on it might be near Forest Bank Prison.
Then there's the Fallowfield loop, that's not to bad for access and is pretty well maintained.

If you nip over to LFGSS they do a Manchester cycle tag thread.

 

[nickyboy]

Not so familiar with the best places N from Crumpsall but 10km E gets you into the Peak District around Uppermill and this is very popular cycling country. Loads of little roads around there which, so long as you're not phased by hills, are fab. To get out there I'd go Charlestown Rd, Hollins Rd, then some fiddling about on little roads to get to Lees Rd. From there you're on the road direct to Uppermill

Cheshire has some great easier riding. The only problem is that to get free of the urban area, beyond Altrincham, is about 20km from Crumpsall. For that I'd look at taking a train or drive over there if you prefer.

This is a very useful tool if you've got some time. It shows the most popular routes people have ridden who use Strava.

http://labs.strava.com/heatmap/#13/-2.14570/53.51716/blue/bike

 

[stephec]

I'm in Walkden, and Rivington is about a 25 mile round trip for me.

Avoid the East Lancs Road, the cycle path is often full of dog turf and broken glass.

If you can head over to Bolton you could go out of town up Chorley New Road to Horwich, that will get you to Rivington park gates.

Go past the barns and right up Sheephouse Lane, it gets steep in places but once it levels out it twists all the way down to Belmont.

Turn right at the Black Dog pub and that road will take you back to Bolton.

 

[Katherine]

Thanks, I realise I should have provided a little more info!

I don't do any rough stuff, just tarmac on my 700c tyres, I don't mind hills, I usually tend to do 30-40 mile round trip rides with between 2,000 and 3,000ft of climbing, and then when I feel a little more comfortable in my surroundings have the odd round trip of 60 or so miles.

I have no problem loading the car up, and intend to do so to get to some of the more well known hills in the various national parks around here, but ideally would love to get started door to door on the bike. I have Heaton Park just up the road, which I will check out, am hoping it will provide some of the fun I always had in Richmond Park, but would love to find stuff to head out to further afield.

I'll check out Rivington, although Google Maps wants me to either go a National Cycle Route way (not tarmac from the looks of it) or the East Lancs road which is a tad busy!

I guess the biggest challenge I face immediately is just finding the good routes out of carcentral, to take me to the nice places.

Use the A6 to get to Rivington. The East Lancs cycle path is ok apart from the bit from Walkden into Salford which is still waiting to be upgraded as part of the roadworks.
Look up the new Salford cycling club, rides from Swinton every Sunday. All levels.
Check out @Andrew Br ride this Saturday in 'Cycle Chat and recreational rides'

 

[SteCenturion]

Good mornin' @Nomadski

I was born in Crumpsall at NMGH but only & lived in North Manchester for the earlier part of childhood.

As a Forces child & latterly a Forces lad myself I was also a Nomad.
I travel a large part of the GM region daily for work.

Thinking about your area, you will already know that your in a pretty heavily congested conurbation there, both in terms of traffic & population, that's also a high crime area so take your personal & possessions security seriously.

Seriously, I have worked with GMP regularly in North Mcr & the general areas of Moston/Moston Lane, Cheetham Hill, Blackley, Crumpsall & Collyhurst never failed to produce problems.

O.k, cycling.

Heaton Park, I know it quite well, won't be anything like Richmond Park, No Strava jockeys because the surface is not great & not wide enough, dog walkers, pushchair pushers, amblers & the occasional scrotes etc.
People do cycle in Heaton Park but it tends to be MTB's at very leisurely pace or adults on BMX's, not good for a road bike.
H.Park can be nice for a walk round either alone or with family on nicer days & has a miniature farm for the quite young to visit & also a golf course if that floats your boat.

Nearly all roads locally to you will feature a copious amount of traffic.
Probably best to load the bike in the car & head a few miles out.

If you head for Bury you then have Ramsbottom within striking distance which features 'The Rake' a hugely tough climb used several times in the National Hill Climb Championships.

From 'Rammy' & the Rake head out to Holcombe Brook via Holcombe then head out towards Rivington Barn either via Belmont or via Smithills Dean Road.
I don't know all the roads by name or number without my map but once in Rivington try to get in the climb up Sheep House Lane back towards Belmont.

Rivington is a big walking & cycling area, it's also popular with motorcyclists & is well catered for all with tea rooms etc & the Rivi' Barn itself which at weekends at least is open for food & drink including a bar. Rivi' Barn is a lovely building situated at the foot of the walk up to Rivington Pike & has very nice 'facilities'.
Rivi' is popular with MTB'ers too.

Turton & Edgeworth are nice areas to cycle through, semi rural high dem areas.

Addlington & Chorley areas are accessible easily from the Rivington area.

Given a bit of time & a map I could maybe offer up some alternatives but I don't get out much these days.

Welcome to Englands Capital City & God's County

 

[SteCenturion]

As @nickyboy has said, Uppermill is a nice popular cycling area, leads right out to Huddersfield in the land that can not be mentioned over the tops.

You can get to Cheshire quickest by heading out to Culcheth via Worsley, Boothstown, Glazebury at the far edge of Leigh.
Lots of cyclists seen in the Culcheth & Croft area, very flat though.

You could also go Irlam, Cadishead & head out to Lymm, another popular area.

 

[I like Skol]

both in terms of traffic & population, that's also a high crime area so take your personal & possessions security seriously.

THIS^^^^^

Back in the early 90s I was a student at Salford Uni and there was a mature student there that grew up in a quiet part of rural Somerset. The kind of place where people left the keys in the car ignition incase someone needed to move it! It was a shock for him that he had to take his bike off the roofrack and cling on to the bike while removing the roofrack and locking up the car before taking everything into his digs. If he left the roofrack while he took the bike in it would get nicked before he returned.

 

[Globalti]

Firstly welcome to the North-West. I'm also a newcomer having moved up here in 1988.

The replies above are actually too detailed in a way; you need to study a relief map of the NW to see what I mean. If you also study the Strava heatmap of the world you'll see where people are cycling:

http://labs.strava.com/heatmap/#9/-2.41589/53.47907/yellow/bike zoom in to see the density of use.

Notice that to the far north of Manchester is a big empty area; this is the Bowland Forest and the Yorkshire Dales. From Crumpsall you'll need to head up the M66/A56 through Rossendale valley and over to the village of Whalley, which is a good starting point for all those areas. Generally the northern areas are hilly but wild and traffic-free and very popular with cyclists. Good cyclists' cafes are in places like Chipping, Dunsop Bridge (geographical centre of the UK) Settle, Airton, etc. and the classic outing is from Chipping through Bleasdale and clockwise through the Trough of Bowland and back to Dunsop Bridge.

Even further north and east you're into the Dales, serious cycling country with empty roads, proper weather, big climbs and descents, stunning scenery. Think about using the Settle-Carlisle railway for wind-assisted rides through the Dales using the prevailing SW wind to help you along then taking a scenic train ride back to Settle from somewhere like Kirkby Stephen or Appleby,

If you head up the M61 towards Preston you can access the Fylde, a completely flat coastal plain with good cafes at Knott End (use the foot ferry to cross the river Wyre) Glasson Dock (good ride out from Lancaster) Roots Cafe near Preston, Scorton (bad bike thefts) and further north, the entire Lake District with good cafes in all towns, in Cartmel and Wilf's Cafe near Kendal. Naturally you go to The Lakes for hills, big ones.

To the North West of Manchester are the West Pennine moors, closer but within the connurbation so very busy, lots of traffic, lots of cyclists and some motorist conflict in my experience.

West of Manchester is urban, an area where I've only ever cycled on sportiffs.

South and south-east of Manchester is Cheshire, flat, scenic, agricultural and moneyed and riddled with traffic and a nightmare to access in my experience. Further south-east you're into Derbyshire, same comments as for the Dales but with a lot more traffic. The traffic south of Manchester means I seldom venture southwards, especially when, living near Whalley, we have empty roads from our front door.

If you fancy some Ribble Valley and Bowland rides, get in touch with Clitheroe Bike club, who do Saturday and Sunday rides. Less intimidating is a group called Bus Stop Bikers in north Blackburn who I see heading out sometimes. Or PM me to arrange a 30-40 miler in the area, though if my cycling buddy comes along the pace is likely to be brisk!