Saturday 15 March 2003 - A Big Macc Ramble

 

Here's another 'blast from the past'. It's a bike ride that I've done many times. I've recorded other visits, with a description of the route, here.

 

Anyway, on this sunny Saturday, I assembled at Trentabank at 9 am, with a hangover thanks to Egan Brooks' 60th birthday party, with five perfect companions - Don and Liz, Alastair, Simon P, and Sue, making a rare appearance on her mountain bike that for the last few years has lived in our shed.

 

The 15 mile ride is supposed to take 2½ hours. Today it took 3¾.

 

Don and Liz had stayed overnight in a cold bunkhouse, and arrived too late to find any source of food last night. They will be better organised tonight and have booked a table in a local pub. Don was still cold this morning, and nearly turned back.

 

There was a strong, cold, easterly wind. We stopped for a tea break at the left turn towards Macclesfield Forest. Sue and Al shot off. Simon's chain broke, and he proceeded (with a little help from Don) to mend it.

 

Thus we found Al and Sue sunning themselves outside Macclesfield Forest chapel. Simon, Al and I then bombed on, whilst the others walked down the stony track. (See top picture, I walk down that section these days - Ed)

 

Here's Sue, back on her bike.

 

 

From Bottom-of-the-Oven to the Cat & Fiddle, the road cycling was really hard against the wind - we even stopped for a rest.

 

So the now well surfaced (it used to be a very boggy path) southerly path from the Cat & Fiddle was a pleasure to cycle along.

 

By the time we'd reached Cumberland Clough, Simon's chain had broken again - giving Sue and others more sunbathing time at this sunny spot.

 

 

 

We then continued down the rocky track, past Cumberland Cottage, to cross the ford near Clough House, where the remainder of the day's pictures were taken.

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Since 2003, the track has got harder, and the ford - with practice - easier - Ed)

 

With the wind now pleasantly behind us, we completed the route, the final downhill section being slightly spoilt for the time being by a newly gravelled track (hard to go fast). (Now in 2020, walking and cycling routes have been separated, with some bike only singletrack sections - Ed)

9.30 to 1.15 - 15 miles.

Thursday 10 October 2019 - Another 'Big Macc Ramble'

 

Another outing on this familiar route for me, but the first time for Paul and Greg. My previous reports on this 23 km loop with about 650 metres of ascent can be found here.

 

Today we enjoyed a dry ride in cool, breezy weather. After the long ascent from Langley, a rest outside the chapel at Macclesfield Forest was welcome, though I needed the time to replace a punctured inner tube.

 

I didn't reach for my camera until we got to the high point atop Danebower Hollow, beyond the still defunct Cat & Fiddle pub. The first two pictures were taken on the good track here.

 

 

Last time I reached the A54, Richard and I were foiled by roadworks and had to find a way round them. Sparkling new crash barriers and a good road surface now greeted us for a short section of tarmac before the long descent down Cumberland Clough. Technical in places, but great fun all the way down. Greg and Paul are pictured crossing the Cumberland Brook overflow, about half way down the hill. Note Greg's huge new 2.8 inch tyres.

 

 

 

By the time we reached Nessit Hill, there were drops of rain in the air, but we stayed dry all the way down to the car, which can just about be seen in the middle of the next picture, beside Ridgegate Reservoir, which we accidentally reached via a walkers' path, much to the annoyance of a man who had lost control of his dog.

 

 

Here's today's route, which took us three and a quarter hours, including two tea breaks and stops for my puncture, Greg's mudguard which kept falling off, a phone call, and lengthy waits for the others whilst I laboured up the hills...

 

Monday 6 to Thursday 9 August 2018 – A Few Bike Rides

In preparation for another trip, a bit of bike fitness has been deemed appropriate.

1. So on Monday I enjoyed a routine hour long 19 km circuit - along the canal to Stretford, then along the Trans Pennine Trail (TPT) to re-join the canal at the site of the now sadly defunct Bay Malton pub, where the bridge (see here) is still being repaired, before returning home on the towpath.

I checked out the underpass at SJ 787 936 that Conrad struggled through last week. It's down a narrow unmarked footpath that leaves the TPT, re-joining that trail shortly after exiting the mud. Here’s the entry to the underpass.

And the view through the mud…

I suppose a warning sign would be helpful, but I imagine most people would be less brave than Conrad, take one look at the mud and return to the TPT, which crosses all ten lanes of the M60 motorway via a smart footbridge just a little further along the trail at SJ 784 936.



Personally, I'd prefer any funds to be spent on the maintenance of the TPT rather than on the futile maintenance of an easily avoided underpass path.

Here’s the route that I regularly cycle for a bit of exercise. It’s flat, 19 km, and generally takes me rather less than an hour.

2. Tuesday saw me taking the Bridgewater Canal towpath past Waters Meet all the way to the Throstles Nest Bridge. The area around there is full of construction work - the Wharfside area of the tramline extension to the Trafford Centre.

My route follows the Ship Canal as closely as possible along cycle lanes past the BBC studios to Eccles, then down to the Barton Swing Bridge before returning to Waters Meet along the Bridgewater Canal towpath past the Trafford Centre. The last 7 km is the reverse of the first 7 km - the stick of this 'lollipop' route. 26 km with about 40 metres of ascent, generally taking about an hour and 20 minutes.

3. I enjoyed a longer ride on Wednesday, picking up the TPT at Stretford and following it through Stockport to join the Peak Forest Canal beyond Haughton Green and return via the canals of the Cheshire Ring through Manchester city centre. 60 km in a shade over four hours, and back home in plenty of time for lunch. I wrote about this route in more detail here, and elsewhere.

The sad ruins of the Tatton Arms in Northenden continue to be a Blot on the Landscape.

Some bridge works have led to a diversion that didn’t affect me, as I got a bit misplaced in Northenden.

The closed path is on the right in the next picture, taken from the footbridge pictured below.

About half way round this circuit is an elevenses bench where there used to be a picnic table. Never mind, I rested in the company of a dog walker with a view of rampant ragwort and rosebay willowherb.

Looking back over previous trips, it’s interesting to note that I always seem to take photos from the same spots, as in the next two pictures, taken where the Peak Forest Canal meets the Ashton Canal. One day I’ll stop and visit the Portland Basin Museum and enjoy some refreshments at the café next door.

A little further on, Guidebridge Mill, built in 1884, was the second mill built at the this site - the first, built in 1876 was demolished around 1938. Later mills such as this one were built with flat roofs, which could be used as reservoirs for the sprinkler systems. The mill building now houses various diverse businesses.

The northern stretch of the Peak Forest Canal was rather evil in odour, with a greasy film on the water, but the Ashton Canal was refreshingly cleaner, providing good reflections of some of the barges that live there.

I managed to find my way through Manchester centre, where you have to leave the towpath for a while. There were lots of people around, making it slow going.

Around Old Trafford, the orchids have died away, to be replaced by the bright yellow flowers of Evening Primrose.

Here’s an overview of the route I took, which varies every time I do this ride. Today it amounted to exactly 60 km, with about 200 metres ascent, taking 4 hours or so including stops.

4. On Thursday I was joined by Richard for a ‘Big Macc Ramble’.

I’ve been cycling this route every now and then since January 1996. Reports since 2008 are here. They include a report on my first outing on ‘Stumpy’ in 2011. The chain broke. Today Stumpy was rather off colour again. The front brake was sticking, making progress rather hard work, but I wouldn’t have been able to go at Richard’s pace anyway, and at the end of the ride the rear suspension decided that it was to be set in the ‘on’ position all the time – a bit tedious as that suspension is only needed on bumpy downhill sections of track.

We took three and a half hours over the 23 km route, but that included lots of stops. My moving time was about an hour less than that, and Richard’s would have been a lot less, given the number of ‘waits’ he needed for me to catch up.

Notwithstanding all this, and the road closure that blocked the usual route to Langley, and the road closure on the A54 that blocked just the short section we needed along there, and a diversion due to logging in the forest, it was a good ride in fine weather. I was pleased to manage to cycle up the steep section to Nessit Hill, from where the following two pictures were taken before our swift descent to Trentabank that now includes some easy singletrack (bike only) paths.

The header picture was also taken on this ride, on Charity Lane before the rough descent to Macclesfield Forest hamlet and a traditional break on the bench outside the chapel.

Here’s the 23 km route, which includes about 600 metres ascent. A good workout, especially with a sticking front brake, and thanks for your company, Richard.

Wednesday 1 June 2016 – Another ‘Big Macc Ramble’

I’ve written about this bike ride before, going back to 2005, but I was surprised that my last visit was in 2014, so here’s an annotated pictorial story of today’s route. It’s surprising how at different times of the year, or simply on different visits, the eye is caught by different scenes that are absent from previous reports. Though some, such as landmarks like the Cat & Fiddle, usually feature.

I parked outside Trentabank Visitors Centre and started by zooming down past the Leathers Smithy pub and into Langley before heading beside Alan Roberts’ old house and up Holehouse Lane to a quiet spot between Teggsnose Reservoir and Bottoms Reservoir. The houses on Clarke Lane are seen the other side of Bottoms Reservoir (top photo).

Teggsnose Wood was delightful, despite the overcast day, with the last of the bluebells lining the path that leads to Clough House.

A steep pull leads to the main A837 road at Walkers Barn, where this ride enters the Peak District National Park, where it remains until exiting the Park at Nessit Hill.

After a few metres of main road a right turn returns the rider or walker to the quiet solitude (on a Wednesday morning in June) of Charity Lane.

Once the tarmac is left behind, the lane becomes a superb mountain bike track that leads to a high point that is one of my favourite places. Today low cloud meant that the summit of Shining Tor and the buildings of the Cat & Fiddle were both hard to discern through the gloom.

Forest Chapel was in use, for a funeral that would be adjourning to the Peak View Tearooms, just visible in the picture below after a tarmac ascent.

If you need sustenance just now, you need the tearooms (only open on certain days) as the Cat & Fiddle…

… is closed, and has been all this year.

Presumably the owners are waiting for someone suitable to contact them.

After that sad sight of the closure of the second highest hostelry in England, the cotton grass lined track past Danebower Hollow was a delight, especially as it brings back dark memories of a horribly boggy route before the path was re-built.

A kilometre or so along the main A54 road passed in just a few seconds as it was downhill with a brisk tailwind. I could nearly keep up with the motorised bikes!

The descent past Sparbent to Cumberland Clough, and onwards to the Wildboarclough road seems to get rockier every time I use it. It’s what some may describe as a ‘technical descent’. Great fun.

Here are two pictures taken near the path junction at SJ 997 699, where I paused to despatch a pint of tea and some chocolate before tackling some of the bigger boulders and a stream crossing further down the clough.

The rocks get bigger. You have to divert your eyes from Shutlingsloe (on the right in the picture below), or risk disaster!

Once in the valley, beside Clough Brook, I was astonished to see how green everything looked today, even under dark clouds.

My usual route up a steep lane was blocked, but the tarmac via Bottom o’th Oven and Forest Lodge was much more gentle on the thighs. I think I’ll use it in future although it does turn the ‘circuit’ into a ‘figure of eight’ shape.

The views within Macclesfield Forest, with Trentabank Reservoir in the picture below, seem to be continually changing as forest management dictates harvesting and replacement of the trees. I’m sure this is much greener than when I’ve been here before.

All too soon the National Park is left behind, Nessit Hill is summited after a sharp ascent, and here there don’t seem to be any regulations preventing the installation of sparkling new benches with fine views towards Tegg’s Nose and away over Greater Manchester.

On this occasion I took a steep descent route marked for bikes – slightly shorter than the old route on which pedestrians may have felt terrorised by fast paced mountain bikes. The path I took was deserted, so no such problem today.

The 23 km with 800 metres ascent took me 2 hours 50 minutes (moving time 2.10). A most enjoyable morning’s outing that substituted for a planned walk for which nobody turned up at the allotted time at the Visitor Centre. Luckily my bike was in the car, or this would have been a (solo) walk report.

Here’s the route.