MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
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Any suggestions about good places to live that would allow an easy(ish) commute into Manchester, along with being within 2 - 3 hours travel (by train) to Bangor in North Wales.
Looking for somewhere that has good 'doorstep' mountain biking, road riding, and off road running opportunities. Preferably near a climbing wall, with other things like yoga classes / gigs / and decent places to eat / drink. Has to have a train station.
Any suggestions ... or am I looking for the impossible!
Er, Manchester.
It has all those things, and means you have no reason to go to Warrington (though that does have a climbing wall).
Manchester has climbing walls too. There's a converted Church for a start out Ancoates way as far as I remember.
I'm in New Mills which matches the [i]"good 'doorstep' mountain biking, road riding, and off road running opportunities."[/i] And it has 2 stations, regular trains about 30 min into Manc, 30 min to Buxton and about 45 min to Sheffield (or 25mins to Hope/Edale for easy train access to MTBing)
[i]Preferably near a climbing wall, with other things like yoga classes / gigs / and decent places to eat / drink[/i]
There's a fair bit of natural climbing actually, no idea about walls though - one in Manc maybe? Gigs/yoga less so, decent places to eat mostly in Hayfield (The Sportsman and The Packhorse both being very good).
ah ... sorry, should have said not in a big city! More small town / village. And I guess by 'doorstep' I meant 'can ride on off-road from house' kinda thing. New Mills sounds more like what we'd be looking for - we were wondering what it's like round that part of the Peak.
Also considered in / around Chester if anyone knows that area?
we were wondering what it's like round that part of the Peak
How webbed do you like your fingers? 😉
Actually, New Mills is essentially just a suburb of Manchester. It's all right, TBH and they seem to have quite a nice community spirit going (annual lantern parade is a good example). 20ish minytes by train into Manchester, IIRC or 15 miles downhill on the way in and uphill on the way back if riding.
Hayfield, while it doesn't have a station, is the prettier place to live, and also smaller than New Mills. Pricey, however.
Also considered in / around Chester if anyone knows that area?
Chester is a mere 40 miles from Manchester, so in distance terms not far. However, the M56 (motorway between the two) does tend to get pretty busy. Train between Chester and Manchester is very slow - around an hour - though that may work for you depending on work.
Cheshire is pretty flat - famously so - so mountain biking isn't top of the list of immediate activities, though Delamere forest is pretty good. Welsh side of Chester there is the Clwydian range.
If I was moving out of Manchester, I'd probably go to Tarpoley and suffer the commute. Not cheap, though.
EDIT: Manchester does have a climbing wall, I was only making the point that the wall in Warrington is that town's only redeeming feature.
We moved from Altrincham to about 2 miles from Delamere and we'll be heading back as soon as is possible. Cheshire for MTBing is sh1te. I've cycled less in Delamere over the last 1.5 years than I did when I lived 30 mins away. There was no mtbing from the doorstep in Altrincham, but it's a great place to live, has great schools (useful as we have kids) has a train line plus the Tram into Manchester. It's also great for getting on the M56 to N Wales, M6 to the Lakes, and is still only 45 mins from the Peaks.
I've now come to the conclusion that where ever you live, convenience is the primary focus. I work 5 days of the week and if I was lucky would only cycle for 2 days, so it now seems better to me to live and work conveniently, and have a little journey to the trailhead.
Utopia would be to have it all, but I've not discovered it yet.
FWIW, Hayfield is a very nice place and has the trains from New Mills - as well.
cheers all for the replies. Definately knocking Chester out of the running!
Looks as though the peaks area might be an option - maybe New Mills, Hayfield or Glossop. Alternatively, shuffle a bit further round Manchester and head for Calderdale (where we used to live) or see if a job will miraculously appear in north wales rather than manchester so we could remain over here ...
Alternatively, shuffle a bit further round Manchester and head for Calderdale
Well I was going to say Littleborough...I think it's a great place to live as long as you use the train for travel (driving to and from manchester every day is not fun). Some great riding around. p.s. there is a climbing wall in rochdale