When I said Didsbury was good for crime I meant it had a lot of it!
Changed a lot in the boom years. Car insurance prices are still high, though. Neil Walton Cycles was long gone by the time I arrived there.
there's that organic butchers/deli a bit further down manchester road from unicorn; maybe try them?
You mean Wild at Heart? Surprisingly, very little in the way of meat or dairy produce. When it first opened, I was lead to believe it would be an organic butcher, but it essentially a deli with a few non-cooked items. Haven't been in for ages, as it doesn't really do anything more than I can get from Barbakan or the little deli - Thyme Out - just down the road from me.
I've no massive issue with veganism, or much in between (though if I hear someone describe themselves as "white meat vegetarian", I do tend to have a hora-style overeaction). My mother is all but vegan, and I grew up very aware of a lot of the issues surrounding animal welfar and the impact of livestock farming. But, I choos meat. But, this is a whole other debate..!
Would it be fair to say that anywhere inside the M60 on the southeast side of Manchester is going to be hell to drive from to Buxton?
Anyway, back on topic: in spite of being a Manchester resident (though not a Manc, so I don't sport binners' rose tintend view 
), I am of the view that you need to be outside the M60, and not really any further south than Macclesfield.
Bear in mind, if the folk who live there gave more than cursory importance to mountain biking, then they wouldn't live there would they? They'd live somewhere with decent riding on the doorstep
Er, this evening, I shall be riding one bike from central Manchester, via my house in West Dids, and then out on another bike to the Peaks. Last Tuesday, I was at the top of the Cat at 8.30pm enjoying the views to myself. Depends how seriously you take your cycling as to how many miles you put in from your doorstep...
