[Closed] Moving to NW England - New Life Start

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

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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

[quote=scaled dijo]Marple does have a bit of a drug problem though

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

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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.

[i]Moving to NW England - New Life Start
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*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.

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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.

I moved up to the region a year and a half ago. Very happy I did.

We were initially looking south of Manchester / north of Peaks, but settled to the north of the city to be nearer relatives.

This has turned out to be a good move as property prices seem much more sensible, the local riding is ace and there's easy access to the M6 north or south.

But if you're based in Oldham (?) then you'd probably want to avoid getting across the connurbation around Manchester too much, so west from there maybe?

I wont be 'based' in the office in Oldham exactly, I'll be moving around constantly. Having the office relatively close by will be handy for me.

I worked in Oldham for 3 years, and I live in Rammy. The journey was a doodle even in rush hour (such as it is). All the traffic is heading the other way, into Manchester. And I could commute regularly on the bike and have some great off road routes home.

That picture I posted on the first page is Blackstone Edge, t'other week. Right near Oldham. As you can see; its rubbish 😀

Great stuff OP- remember the first few weeks will be a mind-**** due to getting your head round work etc etc like any new job and environment.

Great place to be though with the Peaks etc 🙂

Enjoy.

@st colin - enjoy it, look forward not back (and all those other cliché's !). If I've one regret its that I haven't moved around enough life and work-wise. Being based in a new place give you time to settle in an really get to know it. I'm not local but I do know that the Peak District is one of my favourite places to ride and worth the 3 hour drive so having that on your doorstep is a privilege.

Its all good- I cycled from Manchester through Marsden to Hudds centre on Sunday. The bad part was the Manchester to the top of Ashton Under lyne.

The other good thing is the south Lakes isn't that far away either.

Well that's the notice handed in and the new job formally accepted.

Will be arriving in England the weekend of the 9th August, not long to go now!

9th of August eh?

Come out for a Monday night spin and say hello to some of us local assholes.

if the offic eis in oldham and your covering the north west.. the motorway is your friend so get north of mnanc. anywhere between rochdale and bolton heden is too far off route so bury would be ideal and its on m60/62/66

Prestwich better. Good pubs/restaurants and avoids that junction queue to Bury nightly.

Bury's Rough? Compared to where? Have you ever actually been there? There's plenty of brilliant places to live around bury, that aren't even remotely 'rough', with brilliant riding straight out your front door!

As I said before, bury up to Rammy and Rossendale means you're straight on the motorway, and Oldham is half an hour tops, even at really busy times.

Edit: good ninja edit there hora bags 🙂

I have nothing further to offer other than,

Pint?

Come out for a Monday night spin and say hello to some of us local assholes.

Can I come? I promise I'll be, er, at least as shit as was last time, I've ridden at least six miles in total this year.

Binners I decided to focus on that Junction/the nightly queue. You must agree.

Rough as in winding 'Harry up.

Its 'ok' but I think its suburbia and ok if you grew up there but too typical to relocate to.

Firstly - big congrats on the job and move. Second; seeing as you'll be working Oldham way, you probably won't need to live in or around Macc, which given the grim conditions early doors today, will obviously be a big relief.

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

I thought the procedure was arrange to ride and then get a message saying he's doing something else while you're in the designated meeting spot.

...having not checked the topic on the forum earlier... 😉

Well with about 3 weeks to go until the move, things are hotting up.

Have my eye on a few places to live around Bolton/Bury and also looking east of Manchester around Warrington. What's available to me for riding around that part of the world?

You lot pay rightly for your council tax, don't you!? 😉

[i]looking east of Manchester around Warrington. What's available to me for riding around that part of the world?

[/i]

Road bike - lots
Mountain bike - can you get your bike in your car easily?

Yes, getting an estate company car.

Have my eye on a few places to live around Bolton/Bury and also looking east of Manchester around Warrington. What's available to me for riding around that part of the world?

It may be an idea to get your compass recalibrated 😀

I'm from Warrington originally. I moved out of there as soon as possible. As did everyone else with anything between their ears. I never ever go back. I'd happily nuke the place from orbit. Its a bloody awful place! A cultural wasteland, with nowhere to ride nearby, populated almost entirely by idiots, and the very very easily pleased

And the M62 towards Manchester, which you'll be on regularly to try and escape the shit-hole, is usually another car park

minor point, but warrington is west of manchester!

anyway, you'd be better off looking further north of there (like, other side of wigan north) and somewhere around horwich/chorley- the M61 provides a slightly less horrific rush hour route into manchester/oldham, and you're much closer to decent hills for riding (either on or off road)...

Seconded that on Warrington; the whole area is ghastly, flat and congested with traffic. The "island" between the M6 and the M61 is difficult to access and a complete ball-ache if you're unfortunate enough to be in a car.

Study the OS 1:25,000 map and look north of Bury - you'll see that the Rossendale valley heads north towards Rawtenstall and then curves east where it joins up with Calderdale, the home of STW. The entire length of both valleys offers magnificent views and great mountain biking. The mind-blowing choice of off-road routes is thanks to the pre-industrial sheep farmers who carried their goods around on packhorse trains, creating a complex network of tracks, some of which are now bridleways. With industrialisation came the mills, canals and quarries with access tracks and roads - look at the area of hills north of Rochdale, starting with the amazing Rooley Moor Road (so-called Famine Road) and ending at Lee Quarry and you'll begin to understand how good the area is for mountain biking. Have a look at this very good website for a taste of the quality terrain on offer:

http://www.idonohoe.com/moorland-gallery.htm

So to find a house that's near the M60/M66 is not too difficult as it's a buyer's market around here. Look north of Bury in Summerseat, Greenmount and Holcombe, Ramsbottom and all the way up the East Lancs railway to Rawtenstall, home of the very excellent Ride On cycles and some quality restaurants including Nino's Italian' almost next door. Oh and if you like beer there must be a dozen craft breweries within riding distance as well.

Ask again if you need any more advice. I could even take you out for a spin in the car to see some of these delights in exchange for a pub lunch.

Haha, yes, my compass needs new batteries. Most of the properties I like are north of Manchester. Warrington appeared to be getting too close to Liverpool for my liking....;)

I'm in Rossendale, and I work in Eccles. It takes 45 minutes during rush hour to get there, avoiding the M60.

The M60 to the North of Manchester is about to become a nightmare for the next 3 years as they turn it into a Smart Motorway.

Can't fault the area, surrounded by hills and you are in easy reach of most places in Lancashire.

Possibly a minor point, but if you go for the hills around Shaw, Milnrow, Littleborough, Todmorden you needn't touch motorway to get to Oldham and will skirt the upcoming works on the M62 if you get on at Milnrow (assuming travelling East) and can get on the M60 without using M62 (other directions).

I moved up here from East of Manchester at the start of the year and the scale of riding from my door stop is still not sinking in, really.

shaw milnrow littleborough greta for rides. littleborough is right on the MTL and the PBW the canal runs through the centre of town so simple connections by bike boat and train to tod/ hebden and all the riding a fool would like or even LGBT nights out in hebden.

I'm in horwich and have been for ten years Its got good access to the M6 m61 m65 and trains to Preston or Manchester

Plus rivvy is ace.

I know I'm a newbie here but if you want a tour drop me a pm

The office is in Oldham which I will visit from time to time.

Whatever you do, don't live in Oldham too - I joined the Army to escape to a safer life...

Saddleworth's OK though, you could look at somewhere like Mossley, quite nice, relatively cheap and easy access to the M60 to get across the rest of the NW. My bro and some of my mates live up that way and it's far enough out of Oldham not to be tarred with the same issues. My grandparents used to live up Blackstone Edge Old Road, so right by where Binners's photo is - Littleborough's nice, easy for the motorway too (his sentiments about Warrington reflect mine of Oldham, especially after the remodelling around Mumps Bridge and the introduction of the Metrolink which make it oh so easy to just completely bypass the place). Otherwise, I'd head north of Manchester as most others have suggested - good local riding and easy to get to Lakes and Dales. That's what I'll be doing when I rejoin civvy street next year.

I echo Binners comments about Warrington. I lived west of there for 3 years and hated the fact you had to drive to any decent riding. It is just too flat. I spent a lot of time driving to Delamere Forest or Llandegla just to find interesting trails.

I now live in Pendle area with easy access to all those areas others have mentioned. Not suitable for a commute to Oldham but riding north of Manchester you have loads of good stuff around Dunsop Bridge, Worsthorne, Yorks Dales and if you like man made stuff there is Lee Quarry and Gisburn Forest.

Thanks again everyone for the replies.

Currently looking at a few places in Royton outside Oldham. Having another being viewed on my behalf today. The move is two weeks today, so it's starting to get exciting. I'm looking forward to getting out riding once I'm over there. I'm much more into natural stuff than manmade.

I'm much more into natural stuff than manmade.

well there's an abundance of both around here!

good luck with the move

Royton... My other grandparents used to live there and still got family around the top end in Thornham, best pub's probably the Summit right up the top of Rochdale Rd. Handy for the motorway and Tandle Hills Park is quite pleasant - no real riding, it's too small, but OK for running.

I used to work in Royton, and lived in Rammy. I'd commute in on the road, and take the long route home. Once you're up Rochdale Road (and through the post-apocalyptic shit-hole at the end of it), you're up Rooley Moor Road and into the hills. I could get a lap of Cragg Quarry in en route. Or head the other way, and you've got everything around Blackstone Edge and Littleborough.

I can think of worse places to live (anywhere nearer to Rochdale being a prime example)

And you're handy enough for the Monday Night Pub Rides. You'll have to join us when you're settled in 😀

I'm much more into natural stuff than manmade.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Royton? Thats just up from the Seat garage? Abit of a deadzone IMO. Nothing of note happening either way. Abit vanilla. (sorry).

When I moved up north from London I moved into a rented flat right in the Northern Quarter Manchester. Maybe too full on but I wanted a social life/stuff to do/mischief etc. If I moved to Oldham/Royton I'd be hanging up my spurs.

If you want to live somewhere close to Oldham, don't bother with Royton - it is pretty dead TBH. As I said earlier, look at Mossley or Saddleworth. Mossley's probably best as you're handy for the M60 - few miles through Staly Vegas and Ashton - and there's a station on the Manchester-Leeds mainline so it's dead easy to get in to either city for some nightlife, whilst retaining a villagey feel and being able to run/ride from the doorstep. There's also some decent pubs in Mossley - Rising Sun foremost amongst them...

Good luck with the move wherever you decide to live though.

Found this little gaff in Mossley....

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-41256734.html

This is the property that has been viewed for me

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-41174308.html

Only issue is no parking outside as it's on a main road. There is parking close by but could be a bit of a pain.