Hi all,

Some of you may or may not have been aware of some of my posts here over the last 6-8 months regarding my personal life etc.

I applied for a job last week with a company that I work closely with for a number of years through my current job. I got offered the job today and I have verbally accepted. It’s the start of a new chapter in my life, I feel a huge sense of relief, excitement, fear, all the things that will go with making a huge change.

I guess my post is a way of seeking some advice, possibly the chance the meet some of you out on the trials. I know I’ll need to find a place to live – most likely greater Manchester – so I see the Peak District is close by. I’ll need to make new friends, find my way around and settle in as best I can.

Anyway, here goes nothing…..

Can’t help with the moving to the NW thing but it sounds like a good time to draw a line on ‘the past’ and look to a brighter future 🙂

Best of luck to you!

No advice on the trails or the housing situation – I live on the edge of the Fenny wastelands for my sins! Sounds like you’ll have better riding options, than I do!

The North West is a marvellous place to live and, as such, a great place to draw a line and move on from the past.

As you start looking at Greater Manchester, post up and you’ll get the standard STW thing of “I live here, it’s the bestest area ever”…. 😉

Well coming from Belfast, I’m sure I’ll cope just fine!

Geez, your council tax is a bit of a sting. I’ll be renting to start, do most rentals include the rates? Not a lot of ads seem to be clear.

As above, loads of places in the Peak District with a direct rail link into Manc that might be worth considering to move to. Make life a hell of a lot easier when you want to get out on the bike!

I’ll be renting to start, do most rentals include the rates?

No, not usually.

Don’t come here. Its rubbish! Seriously! The ridings crap! As demonstrated by the frankly grim footage on Le Tour at the weekend. It was all a bit embarrassing really. Who’d want to live in the middle of that lot FFS?

Theres no decent pubs, and everyones anti-social and horrid

😉

Dont buy a road bike or you will need to ride with Hora 😉

Loads of us on here and I am north of Manchester where the big mast is if you fancya ride out there

COngrats with your new start

I’m in Greater Manchester, North East in the South Pennines to be precise, give me a shout when you move/visit if you like, happy to show you some rides/make you feel better about your riding skills and fitness!

All the best with the move.

bon courage. I did something similar, offered a job in Germany and had had enough of stuff here and wanted to draw a line under things. So I went. It was a tough year. I guess it depends on what they are but I suspect some of them will always travel with you. Now, many years on, when i look back it was one of the best things I ever did. A hard year of survival and learning some tough life lessons.
Wishing you a very serious good luck, to post a forum topic here must mean some nerves.

And whatever you do don’t get involved with anyone off here. They force you into spending your evenings involved in this kind of nonsense

Then you have to go to the pub. Its a living hell!!!

I know it isn’t going to be easy, but I’m as ready as I can be for what lies ahead. I’m only a short flight home, it’s not like I’m on the other side of the world.

Good to hear it’s a miserable place 😀

Binners and the others are right. The entire Manchester / Bury / Bolton / Calderdale area is rubbish and is inhabited exclusively by miserable unfriendly bastards.

We are so miserable that a good number of us meet up once a week to complain about it and fall off our bikes*.

If you want to join us on a Monday night you can sod off.

*50% of this is true.

Back to the OP…

I’d have a look at the north side of Manchester. I don’t know where abouts you are going to work or if you have transport, but for the outdoor life I’d be looking around Ramsbottom / Todmorden. Tod has good train links into Gotham.

The west side of town is billiard table flat until you get to the sea, which is also useless for mountain biking.

If you want the big city I’d go for South Manchester as the immediate suburbs within a mile or two to the north aren’t that great. For a student type lifestyle you want to be south of the city.

Didsbury and Chorlton are full of media-type arseholes who like to knit their own yoghurt.

Can’t tell you much about places further south, but no doubt somebody will be along soon saying how wonderful Marple is. I’ve never been myself but I bet it is crap.

I’d go further afield than Marple. Chinley, Chapel-en-le-Frith, Whaley Bridge and to a lesser extent Glossop and New Mills/Newtown.

As usual there are varying opinions – choice of location will very much depend on where you’ll be working and how you will be travelling. If you do end up in the Marple area then you are welcome to join us for a ride – unlike the NOrth Manchester mob, there are several riding groups around this area so you can ride most nights 🙂

Excellent 🙂

I’ll be mobile with car, my job involves covering the North West of England. The office is in Oldham which I will visit from time to time.

Chicks still dig the Irish accent right? 😉

unlike the NOrth Manchester mob, there are several riding groups around this area so you can ride most nights

The other 6 nights of the week we ride on our own whilst muttering under our breath.

Chicks still dig the Irish accent right?

Greg May to the forum please.

Marple does have a bit of a drug problem though 😉

Hora is our expert on those matters trust in everything he says and you wont go wrong

Judging by the drivel he usually spouts I wouldn’t trust him as far as I can throw him 😉

He’s a roadie whippet now, so you may be able to throw him quite a distance.

Bolton. I moved here 20 years ago, love it. Great riding on your doorstep (Rivi, Darwen etc), 1 hr (ish) to the Lakes, 30/40 mins to the Peak. Good transport links; trains, access to m-ways and airport 30 mins away.

The football team play just like Brazil as well.

House prices are generally more affordable north Manchester as well.

You may occasionally see a blur of blue lycra as the Enigma flashes past

not being able to score easily does not count as a “drug problem” for most people 😛

Sure I’ve seen him in green…

are you any good at replacing facias and soffits? I’ve got a load that need doing.
(North Manchester BTW, in case you don’t want to carry your ladders across town)

Brutal…

I looked at Bolton, the biggest choice of housing that I could see. All in good time I guess.

Moving to NW England – New Life Start

*sniff* :’-(

It’s a case of deciding what is more important. a) Mtbing from the doorstep or b)good access to work.
a) Marple is excellent for this.
b) Marple is rubbish if you want to drive anywhere, good though if you use the train as it has 2 railway stations.

Marple – Great local shops, food and drink festival every year, local cinema, theatre, friendly folk, good restaurants and cafes and far enough away from Harry, Hora and Binners to be safe. I do know them personally and I think that’s why they stay away 🙂
Not good to live if you like a lively night life and need to be in the hustle and bustle of the 21st century.

Like has been said, its rubbish here. I never get chance to nip out for an hour and be in the fields within 3 mins of leaving home.

There is no natural riding and nowhere is acessable.

All the above is lies and it’s the complete opposite. I live just outside Bolton and its great but busy.

Access to motorways, trains, airports is great, in half an hours drive, I can be at the sea, in the city, in the middle of the country or at the airport.

Think Horwich, Blackrod, top end of Bolton.

If your visits to the office in Oldham are pretty infrequent or allow you to travel outside peak times, then somewhere like the Bolton area would make a lot of sense. Bolton to Oldham in rush hour would be a mare though. Or you could live further east, up in the hills?

We live SE of Manchester, towards Buxton, and it’s a pain to travel to places NW of Manchester because you have both Stockport and Manchester in the way. Here to Oldham’s pretty rubbish too.

Hebden Bridge?

Only advice I can give is get a good waterproof coat or grow some gills. Every time we visit friends in Stockport from Durham as soon as we go over Saddleworth Moor on the M62 it pee’s it down till we go home. It’s wetter than an Otters pocket!

Saddleworth is a decent semi-rural place with nice villages and decent out the door riding but can be expensive.Easy to get to Calderdale and the M62 too.If you are travelling to Oldham and fancy a rural life then look at the villages/towns to the North beyond Saddleworth Rishworth,Marsden,Ripponden,Slaithwaite etc some are better than others and I’m sure someone will be along to advise which to avoid etc
Todmorden and Hebden Bridge are always recommended on here for good reason.Ramsbottom is full of weirdos though.

towns to the North beyond Saddleworth Rishworth,Marsden,Ripponden,Slaithwaite etc some are better than others and I’m sure someone will be along to advise which to avoid etc

God no, not Marsden, it’s horrible here.

It is quite a way out from Manc, though, 45 mins drive to the centre even without traffic. 1/2 hour on the train but pricey cos the blood-sucking vermin idiots who run Northern Rail sting you going through the tunnel. Pretty ace if you work in or near Huddersfield though.

Morning all, thanks for the replies. I’m very excited about the move, lots to organise from today onwards including handing in my notice….

Some good advice there. Look seriously at the Rossendale valley; that’s going north from Bury on the northerly edge of the Manchester plain, because both sides of the valley offer excellent cycling, some great pubs and generally property is cheaper. The roads are also less congested and there are great views of open fells everywhere you look. You are also well positioned for trips to the Dales and the Lakes and within easy reach of Rochdale via the motorways.

fwiw i live in chorlton now (south manchester) and am looking at buying in/near horwich. half an hour on the train to the centre of manchester (or an hour’s ride), house prices very affordable, and rivington on the doorstep.
driving to oldham from that area during rush hour would be horrible though, but train/tram makes it reasonable.
and yeah, there’s no friendly cycling types anywhere in or near manchester. we’re all dickheads.