My local trail is around Reddish vale and the river Tame East out of Manchester towards Glossop. I have done some of the obvious places by car:

Lee Quarry,
Hayfield,
Ladybower,

There must be some good riding in them there hills i’m missing?

Tonnes near Glossop but much of it further from home for you

I think there is some good stuff north-west of Glossop on the outskirts of Staly but never tried it myself

Rowarth, Roman Lakes etc? Saddleworth?

Where is good from Marple other than the cannal is tehre loop that can bring you back round?

Mellor Cross, Lantern Pike Theres loads of stuff between Marple Glossop and Hayfield.

Roman Lakes? I put that place firmly in the Chorlton Water park category for ‘enjoyable’ riding. I’m also not a fan of Marple. Both good for CX bikes though.

Lantern Pike looks good.

A lot of the terrain between Manchester and Glossop/New Mills/Marple fits into the “good for CX” category. Not the kind of stuff I’d go out of my way to ride but a decent off-road commuting route into/out of Manchester. There’s miles of singletrack, woodland trails, urban parkland, alleyways and cycle tracks in the area, you really need a local to show you the best bits, it’s all quite piecemeal.

Once you’re out in Marple it’s easy to access places like Lantern Pike and from New Mills you can get up to Chinley Churn very easily too. As rides go, they’re OK for night rides, after-work blasts or as part of a longer route but it’s not exactly somewhere I’d go to ride that one place specifically.

Crazy Leggs, i know it limited, that’s why I’m asking.

I was wondering if there is anywhere i am missing locally without having to drive for an hour or so. Which is what I end up doing or two hours to North Wales.

I think riding your £2k bike round Beswick could lead to some adrenaline charged moments??

Ignore hora, there is loads of stuff just in Roman lakes that he would have no chance of riding on a cross bike!

Best bet is to just get a map and start exploring bridleways and interesting looking footpaths.

Plenty of stuff less than 2 hours drive away – what about Edale, the Snake, Lantern Pike, Rowarth as mentioned above, Chinley

That loose, enclosed in farm-walled switchbacks? Its ‘ok’ but only if you lived in the area. I’m struggling to think of anywhere else around there as good as the Peaks. I remember when I first moved upto manchester and I got the train out to roman lakes- god it depressed me

so the peaks is entirely minceable and easy to push up then seeing as you prefer it ?
personally I would have thought a reasonable cx route is probably both physically and technically demanding for you

The Ural mountains is east of Manchester.

SOme of the best peaks riding can be found in Saddleworth if you know where to look, most of it is on Bridlepaths but as its out of the national park folk aint really bothered, afterall its just londeners weekending in the peaks that tend to winge about that kind of thing!

If you want in on a ride with us let me know, ill let you know when were out there next but its regular, most of us are oldham, staly, b,bottom, hollingworth based

Here is a teaser named expert + 1
Linky

and another
Clicky

Bland,

The video looks good. My riding is sporadic at best at the moment as i have a young family which is why I’m after alternatives to the local run or driving up to lee. I have been unsuccessful in finding trails in the peaks – pushing my bike over pots and pans being a low point.

Thanks for the offer i might be in touch if i can clear some riding time.

Hora, thou parlayeth tosh

I’m struggling to think of anywhere else around there as good as the Peaks

FIFY.

I’d ride in the peaks too Hora, but I doubt my Boardman would cope.
😉

Best bet is to sit down with a Manchester A-Z, an OS map, one or two of the free Cycle Route Maps available at Manchester tourist info places, a highlighter and a computer. Use a mix of Google Maps/Google Earth, bikely and bikeroutetoaster to work out your options, plot it onto the paper map/A-Z.

Some of what you get will be a mix of back roads, estates, canal towpaths, urban parkland etc, some of it will be nice singletrack. It’s just a matter of getting out and exploring it, finding a local group/person to show you the good bits etc. My off-road route to/from work was a mix of me doing what I described above, some “dead reckoning” style point-to-point worked out from seeing trails while on the train or driving or road biking and some stuff that friends showed or described to me and some exploring, usually on a weekend or by extending the ride home on summer evenings.

I’ve done a few rides from Glossop with a local. Some good technical ascents and descents. I live in Chorlton and it’s frankly a joke to compare the routes around Gloss and Marple to the Chorlton’s waterpark.

Uwe-r, thing about Manchester is there’s pretty good riding in all directions if you’ve a car. We ride Places like rivington, darwen, saddleworth, calderdale, most bits of the dark peak, wharncliffe and so on as night rides. There’s plenty of others do same. Join in with some of the local bunches, you’ll soon pick up where’s good.

@ uwe-r I’ve got a few routes round Marple, Mellor, Rowarth and Hayfield etc.. drop me a mail inc your address and I’ll post them out. There nothing full on just (imo) great XC routes that you can really fly round or make your way over to Edale and The Peak if time/fitness permits for an all dayer.

Carl

Oh stop it. What’s with the hidden current of barely conceeled wounded-pride? My nearest (Rivi) is ok but like most of the ‘trails’ round here are double-track, boggy and/or exposed and bleak come Autumn/Winter.

Its ok, abit like the grub served in the workhouses of the day- you live here and exist on the trails on offer. They are ok but hardly the best IMO. You have to supplement said trails with ‘cheeky’.

Thankfully Manchester is 1-1.5hrs from the Lakes, 40mins from the Peaks and various other nuggets.

Hora – I’ve shown you around Marple and you pushed up some of the stuff.
Come here at the moment while its relatively dry and get a local to show you the best bits. There really is enough to keep someone happy for a couple of hours.

Oh yes and the cafe is re-opening soon as a proper Tea room.

Bland – top stuff in those vids you’ve posted!

cafe re-opening??? Where’s that?? Whats wrong with The Roman lakes hatch?? Maybe just me but the cheese and bacon toasties, tea white one and a kit-kat sorts me out at the end of a ride, doesn’t matter if its a 1.5 hr blast or an out and back to Edale

Hora in ‘being silly’ shocker….

There are loads of trails around east Manchester, just because you haven’t walked up them doesn’t mean they don’t exist.

carlos – the owners have got a grant and the carpark has improved.

The hatch (lol.) has been totally knocked out and new glass doors and windows appeared. Its still going to be a mega snack stop for us mtbers.

P.S. Hora stop being such a silly Billy. Most mtbers would give up their cake ration for a month to have the local trails we have 🙂

Thanks for all the info on here. some i have done but definitely some inspiration to get the map out.

Re Sale/chorlton Waterpark – this was once described in the Sun as a ‘Doggers Dream’ and i am staying away.

Ah same place then. lol. Last time I was there was just after Xmas and it was as its been for ages although they had flagged (Indian stone) inside the rather large bay area but it didn’t have windows.

I always park in Marple near the canal as the car and track down to The Lakes don’t get on, to low and to potholey.

Might run out of there this weekend and see whats changed

Reread what I wrote please. I said essentially travelling to such places as Roman Lakes. If you are travelling there are better choices to be had if you travel the same time.

Sorry a lot of the area just doesn’t flick my switch. You can climb roads on a roadbike 😉

Bunny, you have it local. I have to travel so its an open book for me- 30min rivi, 40mins Calderdale or Lee quarry, 40mins Edale or Ladybower, etc. My local is…….the waterpark!

carlos – on Sunday its the North West Mountain bikes demo day at the Roman lakes.

Agree about the bad road down there too.

Bunnyhop – Thanks for the heads up as that means it’s going to be busy. Maybe I’ll do Sat or Cutgate on Sun if it stays dry.

I have just found this http://www.romanlakes.co.uk/images/MTBBookRead.pdf which looks like it sums up a lot of the places above. I will print it of in work tomorrow.

hora – Member
Reread what I wrote please. I said essentially travelling to such places as Roman Lakes. If you are travelling there are better choices to be had if you travel the same time.

I did, this is what you said

hora – Member

Roman Lakes? I put that place firmly in the Chorlton Water park category for ‘enjoyable’ riding. I’m also not a fan of Marple. Both good for CX bikes though.

and it’s still a load of tosh, as usual. You can do some fantastic riding from Roman lakes if you think for a minute. Why drive when you don’t have to? I’ve done Jacob’s ladder from home a few times, tell me that’s not good riding and I’ll have you with some bombers

I have been unsuccessful in finding trails in the peaks

Since no-one’s bothered to say it, there are loads of guide books to the Peak, you can even buy them at Tesco in Glossop, or you could anyway. Try the Vertebrate Publishing Dark Peak guide book for a start, covers all the obvious classic trails.

Then sit down with an OS map and work out what’s just off them, joins stuff up etc. There’s blindingly good riding in odd places like the Goyt Valley, over above Hollingworth etc and none of it’s really hard to find.

As for driving to North Wales, that’s four hours you could be spending actually riding your bike. Anyway, how about a few of the local Manchester-based riding groups/clubs as well? Blah…

Oh, and I quite like the Marple/Mellor/Roman Lakes stuff, it’s nice when its wet and blowy over this side and, if you hook up with a local who knows the trails, there’s some quite unexpectedly techy and entertaining stuff tucked away in random places.

Hora,

Do let us all know when you plan to ride your CX bike down the descent into Rowarth. I’m sure a few of us locals would like to watch. There’s plenty of trails locally in the same ilk.

We’re lucky to have such good trails and the ability to ride some of the best of the peak from the back door.

Whats your point caller? Rowarth is close to Hayfield (which I like).

I don’t MIND Marple/Roman Lakes if I was local. 🙄