Commuting from Sheffield to Manchester

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Commuting from Sheffield to Manchester

25 posts & 20 voices | Started 6 months ago by tinman66 | Latest reply from compositepro

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tinman66 - Member

Sorry for the non-bike related topic but any Sheffield / Manchester folk that can help

I'm meant to be moving to Sheffield next month and I've just been offered an awesome job in Manchester. Really need to live in Sheff because of family reasonsbut want the job.

So my question is what's the best way to commute from Sheff to Manc? I'll be living just off Ecce road in sheffield and need to get to the east side of Manchester (about 30mins on foot from the centre)

Ideas please, it seems a fairly slow journey....

tin

Posted 6 months ago #
DaveyBoyWonder - Member

Snake Pass. And tell your employers you won't be in much over the winter...

Posted 6 months ago #
Bregante - Member

I don't envy you that commute at all

Posted 6 months ago #
totalshell - Member

my next door nieghbor does the same but in the opp direction.. best done by car m1/ m62 in the main but if you are doing early / late starts then over the top via emley moor is much shorter but takes about the same.. would nt want to walk 30 mins in central manc where ( area) will you be working..

Posted 6 months ago #
will - Member

Train over winter. Car until the snow arrives, over Snake. Would be one fun drive!

Posted 6 months ago #
JonEdwards - Member

Get a Brompton. Roll down the hill to Dore station. Catch train to Manc. Ride to office. Reverse at end of day. Bit of a ball ache, but not too bad.

If you're into roadying in summer you could probably commute alternate directions on alternate days on a road bike.

Posted 6 months ago #
Frodo - Member

From Ecc road to East Manchester it looks like your driving. Not the M62 mind. Probably Snake Pass to M67. You can go A623 if the Snake is closed in winter although that closes too when it really gets bad.

Woodhead pass is also a good alternative but it looks like an hour plus driving?

Posted 6 months ago #
matt_outandabout - Member

Train is ace.

Posted 6 months ago #
hora - Member

You need to move to Manchester. The train AND a 30min walk ontop each way every day?

You'll be ground down.

Not a chance in hell I'd drive either. Forget winter. Get to the Glossop side and you'll be sat in stationary traffic all the way to the motorway - same goes for coming home.

Sometimes I skip work and go home early for an afternoon ride in the Peaks and even then its nuts.

Posted 6 months ago #
headsup - Member

having done it for a long time its not a great journey either way (although the views are great!)

however, I have mastered(just about!) the art of bending the rules on incurred train fares so its not to bad.

Posted 6 months ago #
binners - Member

I used to regularly drive from Manchester to a clients in Sheffield. The drive is absolutely awful! Truly hideous! Except in winter when every route is impassable anyway. I wouldn't even contemplate doing it daily. Not for a second!

The train is a very pleasant journey indeed. Shove your bike on't train

Posted 6 months ago #
jet26 - Member

Worked with a couple of people who used to do the other way daily. They gave up in the end and used to stay in the week and go back on a Friday.

Snake pass on a nice day with no traffic when you're fresh is a great drive. It's horrendous as a daily commute. Ditto for the woodhead (A628). The M62 is a very long way round and also usually rammed with Leeds traffic from the west.

In summary get the train!!

Posted 6 months ago #
hora - Member

Re bike on train- how easy is it? Lad here does this combo (albeit from the otherside) and sometimes he can't get onto a train because its packed if he has his bike with him.

Posted 6 months ago #
will - Member

Peak times they are usually a bit funny about bikes on the train. I have often been told I can't put my bike on until 10am...

Posted 6 months ago #
alexpalacefan - Member

Train plus that Brompton you've always hankered after (or is that just me?). They do a titanium SS version!

APF

Posted 6 months ago #
cp - Member

Train is your only real option imo. Is be very tempted to get a brompton aswell to reduce the time at each end of the train journey & can easily take it on the train.

Posted 6 months ago #
radtothepowerofsik - Member

I did Glossop to Sheffield for 6 months in the car and it broke me. Get the train and a folder, that's what I'd do. From Eccy Road you'll be at the station in, ooh, about 7 minutes? 15 back up the hill? Don't go from Dore though that's miles away! And you wouldn't get on an express train.

Alternatively get an old bmx for the Sheffield end and the rattiest of rat bikes for the Manc end and leave them at the station/home/workplace

Posted 6 months ago #
Sheffield - Member

Drive to Glossop and get the train to Manc from there. Shouldn't be too busy in the morning as it starts from there. If the weather is bad, try Woodhead. Or 45 mins to Glossop via Hathersage and Hayfield. Suppose then you could catch the train in from New Mills also. Down to Sheffield station, then over to Piccadilly? An hour on a good day.

Posted 6 months ago #
tinman66 - Member

Thanks for the awesome response folks.

I've been looking for an easy ish route but couldn't see one.

I was kind of hoping someone would come up with an obvious plan that I'd missed ....

However can't see anyway round a rubbish journey every day.

tin

Posted 6 months ago #
jackthedog - Member

Motorbike? Wouldn't fancy the Snake day in, day out on two wheels but in a car the whole Mottram traffic nightmare would have me slitting my wrists after a week.

Posted 6 months ago #
thepodge - Member

I did north west Sheffield to Stockport for nine months. had woodhead closed twice while I was on it and four times before I even got there. also wrote off my car on ice and was lucky to not be hospitalized. plus had quite a few health issues including the back of my eye filling with fluid and peeling away from the retina caused by the stress of the commute.

the train is far less hassle but really expensive and you'll probably end up taking twice as long.

Posted 6 months ago #
the teaboy - Member

My cousin has done Ranmoor to central Manc for a few years. He drives and tends to work from home a couple of days per week.

He tends to go early and leave early to try to beat the traffic but it's usually awful. He does a lot of teleconferencing in the car!

He has an awful BMW X5 with snow tyres on it from Oct to about April!

Edit: Do you need to live IN Sheff or just near enough to get there quickly? Hathersage is ace and would help your commute.

Posted 6 months ago #
tinman66 - Member

Cheers teaboy any idea roughly how much time Hathersage would knock off the commute?

Posted 6 months ago #
thepodge - Member

Not enough, You need to be the other side of Snake / Woodhead to get any benefit as most of the bad traffic is on that side of the hill.

Posted 6 months ago #
compositepro - Member

Forget woodhead ......it has this f***** hellhole of a place called Tintwistle to get through then Mottram
there goes an hour of your life sat twiddling your thumbs for a start and its not getting better.
Though it is a pretty drive in a morning when the sun is shining

Posted 6 months ago #

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