Me and few friends are thinking of cycling from Manchester city centre to Littleborough, where I believe the tour is passing through.

I’m very much assuming this is possible and there will be no roads closed that would stop us from doing this?

Unless I get shot down, all are welcome – the more the merrier.

You might have a long wait on day one. And the tour isn’t actually passing through Littleborough, even on day two, as far as I’m aware – just nearby.

Can’t see you’d have much trouble with roads, coming from that direction, though.

http://letour.yorkshire.com/stage-2/map

B*llocks.

Holme Moss was another shout for day 1?

There must be some sort of STW informal event that we can just tag onto.

I want all the fun and perks without any of this organising lark.

Holme Moss is day two as well! Day one is Leeds-Skipton-Dales-Harrogate.

Yep, day two for Littleborough. Riding over here from Manchester won’t pose a problem as far as road closures etc. are concerned.

The route is passing through Littleborough, albeit not the village centre. Top of Cragg Vale is the spot in question.

As it’s a nice slow point due to the sharp bend at the top I will be riding up early doors with a picnic and sun cream/waterproofs as appropriate. If anyone wants to come along and call it an informal STW event I’m happy for that to happen. 😉

If we wanted to get up really stupidly early we could have a ride about the place first and then plonk down on the route and play the ‘Will-The-White-House-bother-opening lottery’.

I’m not bothering with bikes, it will be crowded up there and having to keep an eye on several bikes will be a pain. Train into ‘boro then walk up the edge. I think the roads around ‘boro will be pretty crowded to be honest.

Yeah, that junction at the top will be choc full o’ nuts for sure as it’s pretty easy to access from NE Manchester.
I reckon a bit further down the dill towards Ripponden will be good as there’s a few big bankings to climb up on and watch. Plus the lack of easy access will make it quieter i reckon.

Right, Day two it is then.

My mate is banging on about Holme Moss so might be riding out there.

The route is passing through Littleborough, albeit not the village centre. Top of Cragg Vale is the spot in question.

The official map shows that in addition to the TdF route, the A58 is going to be closed for a couple of miles back towards Littleborough. I don’t know how easy it’s going to be to get from there to the route. Don’t really fancy walking that far in road cleats…

I’ve decided to view at this point as well.

Can’t work out whether to ride / walk up the A58 from the town, across the Pennine Bridleway from the other side of the M62 or just drop down on the MTB on a off road section along the climb.

All these options will involve parking the Van and walking or riding.

I’m going to nip up over the weekend and have a mooch about to see if there’s anywhere to drop onto the route on the MTB then take it from there. A bit back from the A58 looks like a road that comes over the hill but looks like it Water Board property……..

Might be walking up but isn’t that the section of the A58 that’s really steep ? Ages since I’ve been that way.

isn’t that the section of the A58 that’s really steep

not really (max of about 10% I think) :

http://www.strava.com/segments/blackstone-edge-873245

Top of Holme Moss is expected to be one of the largest crowd spots of the 2 days… I’ve had a few people suggest spots around Ripponden for watching as again the access from Manchester side is fairly easy (and a scenic ride).

I think we’ll head out to Cragg Vale and see what’s happening. We can always ride somewhere else.

I don’t doubt we’ll get caught in some sort of traffic and miss the whole thing.

isn’t that the section of the A58 that’s really steep
not really (max of about 10% I think) :

http://www.strava.com/segments/blackstone-edge-873245

Its ages since I’ve been there and all I remember is when I first started driving, heading down there and being petrified of hitting any sheep 😯

Roughly how long would it take from Gatley ou to Rippondon ? Say running solo at 16mph average speed ( old and lazy man speed ) Holme Moss is nearest but sharing with 100,000 people scares me

manc city centre, rochdale canal to littleborough, up blackstone edge to cragg vale the night before, set up camp/ bivvy spot before the road closure