Hello! The best part of a decade ago now in my exile to the south of England, I used to put in a lot of hours on the bike – mostly New Forest and South Downs Way. I did the latter in a day a couple of times. I was never any good at the technical, on account of being a bit dyspraxic and more than a bit risk-averse/just straight cowardly, but I built up to long rides and loved a bit of sweeping singletrack.

Now I’m back in the north but I barely even ride to work, I’m fat and old, and talking to someone about the SDW has made me long to get back into some appropriate form of riding. Oh and I have a Cotic Soul that must currently see the least action of any ever made, which is sad.

I’m in North Manchester and I do have a car. I went around the Philips Park red trails in Prestwich for the first time today, very slowly and cautiously, and they turned out to be both great fun and less daunting than I’d thought, but I’d like to find a longer routine to build up some endurance. Something that remains tolerable in winter would be a plus too.

So, any suggestions please for some sort of SDW-esque rides in the North West?

Rivington,there’s all sorts of stuff at Rivi.
A good low tech route is Rivington Barn to the ‘Rocketship’,the Tower above Darwen.The San Marino descent is a bit technical but if you roll stuff it’s easy,apart from that it’s a good steady loop.
Someone will no doubt be along soon to advise you on some other good routes around the area

You could link up the high Peak or monsall trail with some other bridleways in the area. Carsington water for example. How many miles are you after?

Cheers both for the tips, I’ve heard a lot about Rivington but wasn’t sure on difficulty levels.

As for mileage, depending on climbs, 20-30 seems like a reasonable start, and if I get my act together I should hopefully be able to double that in fairly short order.

Rivington has lots of varied stuff but a lot of it is very busy with walkers at the weekend. And probably during the day the rest of the week too.

I wouldn’t bother with Rivi outside of dawn, way too busy. Look at the Pennine Bridleway and Mary Towneley Loop tracks north of Manchester and leading over to Blackburn/Burnley way. Ride out, train back, or vice versa, then add in other stuff as you get to know the area better.

You can string an easy loop together using the Longdendale Trail from Hadfield – bits of non-tech off-road stuff running parallel to it on the valley bottom – and add some of the Northern Horse Route, which starts from Crowden and links up with the Longdendale trail to make it into a loop. None of it is technically hard, but it’s quite scenic and not particularly hilly. You can also continue up the Longdendale Trail, drop down towards Dunford Bridge then string a bunch of road and easy trails together to come back over the top on the Pennine Bridleway – I use it as a cross bike route, so it’d be fine on a mountain bike, though there’s a big stretch of road on it, lots of it downhill though. Depends on how far you want to go really.

I guess it helps if you’re familiar with the area, but you can work most of it out with the help of a map and the internet.

Ncn 62 is your long non technical riding, fine on a gravel bike, easy to get some good distance on that

Come along to the NMPR – Monday night Pub rides, all around your area and Phillips Park is a regular point, there is quite a bit of other stuff in Phillips as well as the two loops; the bits around waterdale and by the canal, hurst wood etc

https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/mnpr-14th-jan-rivington-dont-break-your-bike-edition/

not scary – no one gets left behind – turn up and bring money for a beer afterwards

Well there was this one time…

Plenty of easy tracks to potter around on at Rivington, you’ll have to climb a hill unless you stay down by the reservoirs – which you might enjoy actually.

Only really busy weekend mornings, still no reason to avoid it though.

Rivi is fine. The path up to the top of the Pike can get a bit busy, but not overwhelmingly so. And walkers tend to go up the steps at the front. The rest of the area is full of quiet trails even as far as Darwen Tower. You’ll be just fine over there.

I’m based near Wigan atm. Rivi – or jump on a direct train to Todmorden and Hebden Bridge, one hour down the line? No brainer.

Cheers for the various replies. I will try Rivi, and scope out a few other places mentioned. I might join some social stuff eventually but need to get my endurance & confidence up again a little bit first.

Pm me and I’ll take you round rivy I live in site of the pike so it’s my back garden

Baz also lives near me n he’s gotten into big 40mile xc routes round here as well.

Holcombe hill is nice and for a longer ride you can get to it via the irwell sculpture trail from North Manchester.

I went around the Philips Park red trails in Prestwich for the first time today …

Try the blue trail nearby, it’s pretty good. Short but if you’re very local then it’s great when you’re short on time, and you can always do laps or link the Philips Park reds in.
Not technical at all unless you take the red optional bits, even then only one of them is a bit tricky (steep bit near the bridge).

Buy this map, you will be amazed at the variety of superb trails it shows you in Rossendale and up in Calderdale:

That is a good map – but even better are the Yellow Publications 1:16,000 maps. There are so many tracks round there that the larger scale makes it just that bit easier picking them out. I use them with the Landranger 1:50,000 for a bigger overview.

There is absolutely loads you could try!

When I want to get my mileage up I use the canal network to get to places. You can use the Rochdale canal and then explore some of the routes near there, such as the Rooley Moor road.
Or head towards Wigan and hit the Leeds Liverpool canal, or trans pennine trail for very easy routes.

Rivington is my local playground and can get busy as plenty have mentioned but it’s still a great place to visit. You can head along the Irwell, through to Leverhulme park, through Bolton and long River Croal to Horwich then to Rivington.
Or head toward Bury which has a good bike route network, then towards Ramsbottom to explore Holcombe.

Lots to explore to the East and South of Manchester as well. I sometimes like riding along the Mersey for an easy route, or along the bridgewater canal.

Plenty of potential for some big days out on the bike without using a car if you’re not bothered by doing some easy tracks such as canal towpaths.

Good shout. No objections to the odd canal here – I first got into riding when I lived near Nottingham, up and down the Trent.

Got a couple of maps on order now too.

I’m surprised no one’s mentioned Clayton Vale by the velodrome – they’re pretty easy XC trails with green, blue and red options. You can park at the Velodrome and use it as a trail head too, café jet wash and bike shop all on hand.

I’ve ridden there for years (I’m only down the road in South Mcr) and I think they’ve done a decent job with space they’ve got. None of the climbs are long but they’re steep enough to make a couple of laps a good workout. To carry speed and hit everything fast takes a lot of fitness and technique at Clayton Vale, some people dislike it because of this, but it’s a great little training ground.

The trails are made in a similar way to Philips Park with that hardcore stuff that turns to marble grit in hot weather so watch out if it’s been dry for a while.

In terms of easy natural stuff I don’t know a right lot about North MCR, but I have a decent route out towards the Peak district (Roman Lakes) from South MCR – it involves the Fallowfield Loop, Reddish, Reddish Vale, Haughton Green (River Tame), Peak Forest Canal, Woodley, Up Werneth Low, Etherrow Country Park, Marple Mill, Roman Lakes. Once you’re in Roman Lakes you can link bridleways all the way to Sheffield!

Clayton Vale and Philips Park are going to be your closest. You can link together the blue’s and red’s at Philips with some other bits and get a decent loop together.

Darwen Moor is good also, bit quieter compared to Rivi, something like this
https://www.bikemap.net/en/r/3180616/

Or this from Pedal North –
http://www.pedalnorth.com/content/darwen-tower

In my mtb days I used to link Darwen Tower and Rivi together in one ride. Easy to do and gives a good day out.

Another option is to start around Fairfield hospital in Bury or the B&Q just off the M66. You can get all the way up to Scout Moor, Cragg and Lee Quarry. You’ve just got to cross a couple of main roads.

On google/bing maps the route would be Castle Hill Road, Scotland Lane, it then joins Croston Road – (there’s a path), Edenfield road, Fecit Lane, Coal Road up to Scout Moor (don’t be put off as there are no cars bombing passed you other than Edenfied road bit. The others are either very very quiet lanes or unpassable by cars). From Scout Moor you can do, Waughs Well and back through Dearden Woods/Brook or head to Cragg Quarry and/or Lee Quarry. The descent back down from scout moor to Owd Betts Pub is great and can be done at speed or bimbling down at your own leisure.

You can also park on Edenfield road near Owd Betts Pub and start there to Lee and Cragg etc.

Just be mindful that Ashworth Road is out of action again due for 3 months due to roadworks, that’s only if taking car up to Own Betts that way.