Canal ride to Buxworth

A few weeks back we went on a ride up the Peak Forest Canal up to Buxworth. Just with the aim of heading up there and back on a sunny day.

Starting off on the River Tame path to get to the Canal at Apethorn Lane in Gee Cross.

There is a big set off steep steps just before the weir which has a nice channel scored out by countless bikes that have been pushed up and down here. All choosing to do this rather than ride up and around the NCN route that uses some residential roads on a big detour.

Coming out of the Woodley Tunnel. This is a very long and almost pitch black in the middle tunnel underneath the main road in Woodley. It's a bit disconcerting in the darkest parts of this tunnel, because the black painted handrail vanishes from sight entirely and you feel like you will fall in the water at the next step.


This is Marple Locks, a flight of 16 locks which a obviously a very popular spot on a nice day. These locks are alot of fun to ride back down at pace and we'll have to visit again on a quieter day to race down them properly (bloody hooligans!)


My experience of canals has always been of the run down industrial and fairly unused Manchester canals, so it was a bit of a suprise to see so many boats running up and down as well as row upon row of moored boats.

Mummy duck has been busy.

When you reach the Bugsworth basin you ride along what used to be the tram track beds and come across this nice 3D map before reaching the Navigation Inn pub.

Another group arrived whilst we were having a pint, one bloke riding this extremely nice Indian built Hero bicycle.

On the way back I got chance to photo this nice little egg shaped tunnel which is part of the Marple lock flight.


Sharp eyed viewers will notice some cunning vandalism has been done to the information board next to Marple Viaduct.

A little ride up to Sowerby Bridge

I'm miles behind with posts, but here's a little collection of photos from my solo trip up to Sowerby Bridge a few weeks back to join Mr.C's night time canal ride back to Manchester. I had planned to make my way there mostly by road with the main aim being to cycle up the A58 to the Whitehouse pub beside Blackstone Edge reservoir and back down the otherside through Cragg down Blackstone Edge Rd which is the longest continual slope in the country to reach Mytholmroyd. 

On the way up there though I found by chance that a bit of disused old railway has been surfaced since the last time I was up here (probably 7/8 years ago), so I took that and headed towards Oldham.

Oldham is signposted but it doesn't actually get you there. I would probably make for a nice days riding to explore this valley but I didn't have the time so after a look at the supposedly closed bridge I headed up to Lees New Rd and back onto the roads to vaguely head towards Shaw on the North side of Oldham.

Before getting to Lees New Rd I went up Alt Hill Rd which is Tameside's 'Quiet Rd'. All seems a bit odd to me. This area is quiet anyway, since there is nothing around. Plus the idea of having a 'quiet' road then posting it as 30mph is...well... basically stupid. - aha! a new slogan for Tameside Council - 'Basically Stupid'

Fast forward through the boring typical north british streets of Oldham, Shaw, Milnrow, Hollingworth (Nice lake) & Smithybridge and we get to the base of what I presume is Blackstone Edge Hill and the A58 that climbs it. It's about 1000ft of climb and the red arrow is pointing at the pub!.

View from outside the Whitehouse pub looking back down the hill.

After a bit of recovery I carried on down Blackstone Edge Rd, which although downhill now it's such a wet & windy bit of moorland that the pedalling is almost as much hardwork as the ascent up here. Only once you've dropped a couple of hundred feet does it become a fast and fun descent, winding all the way down to Mytholmroyd.

Once in Mytholmroyd I tried to start follwing the National cycle route signs, which is easier said than done at some points. i.e. three signs pointing in all directions for the same route. But eventually found my way up the train station ramp to get to a path which runs alongside the railway line for a few miles until crossing over and joining the canal up to Sowerby Bridge.

Novelty wooden signs

The signage along this bit is all pretty good and I found my way quite easily. Eventually crossing on this bridge to get to the canal.

Of course now canal trip in spring is complete without seeing lots of baby ducks!

 

Canal ride home from Wheeler's Brunch

After having a great time at the Wheeler's Brunch organised by LC of NaturallyCyclingManchester I decided to ride back up the Canals to get back to Hyde. It's a bit more hard work in this direction as the locks are all uphill so it's easier to jump off and push on some of the cobbled sections especially on the 20" wheels of a Triumph Twenty.

Someone has done a bit of  work to the towpath around Dukinfield. Last week this stretch had got some very big potholes, which have now been filled with a gravel sand mix. It's better than nothing of course, but  little more than a short term fix.

A little further a tree has fallen and blocked the canal completely. Doesn't look like it will be the easiest task to remove.

Sunday canal ride

On Sunday me & my brother went for a trip round the Peak Forest Canal, Ashton Canal, Bridgewater Canal then a nip down Seymour Grove in Firswood (?) to get to the Fallowfield Loop. We took the mountain bikes, this wasn't really necessary but it's fun to bounce around on the suspension just for the day.

The canal system has never had a great reputation, but parts of it, especially the Peak Forest canal in Hyde are looking very neglected compared to the last time I explored a few years ago. The ruts are bigger, the litter is worse and the boggy bits are boggier. British Waterways is to be changed into a Charitable Trust as part of the quango axing, which is apparently a good thing as it will give them more access to grants and funds, so hopefully some of that (probably pitiful) dosh can make its way towards Tamesides canal system and upgrade the paths to the quality found closer to the city centre.

If you put the parts of dereliction aside, the canal system is a fantastic resource that goes totally unappreciated in a country thats prepared to spend £3.1m on making congested motorways more dangerous for instance. It's the fastest route to get from Hyde to Ashton for example and involves no hills at all. It's the same on the otherside of Manchester where to get from the city centre to Trafford park would involve a steady climb whereas the Bridgewater canal is a flat, unhindered & quiet route to the same destination. And even on a nippy Janurary afternoon a ride around the canals makes for a really pleasant day out, it's even nicer on a summers day when the sun's out.

Anyway, enough waffling. Here's some photos of the Peak Forest canal to get to Portland Basin in Ashton. (By the way I've taken some of the photos facing forwards, some back the way we've come from.... just in case you think the towpath is switching sides all the time!)

This spot is in a noticeably bad state, I've no idea how long its been like this but eventually the edging stones will collapse completely into the canal and become a much bigger problem to fix than if it had been seen to now. (near the Snipe retail park). There are a few other spots similar, but this is the biggest. The towpath has been collapsed in someway near Asda in Ashton for a long time, but I haven't been over there for about 10 years so haven't seen the state of it myself.

You then get to the Motorway bridge, which is the darkest and gloomiest part of the journey. The main problem here is the lighting is insufficient for any time of day & most of the bulbs have gone now anyway.

 

Just past here you get to the only 'posh' bit of the journey with a range of expensive looking canalside homes. The surface on this stretch is pretty good but I'm not a fan of this sandy gravel surface (whatever its proper name is). It's seen as being more 'countryside' and natural, when in reality canals are anything but natural and it would be a benefit to everyone if these towpaths were resurfaced with the wide tarmac like surface that can be found further on as you get towards the Sportscity.

  

 

The search for Alien life continues in Droylsden.....

A little further on you start to find the good old British tradition of 'Cyclist Dismount' signs. At least these ones are signed with British Waterways so you know who to blame for wasting money. From this point on there are quite a few shoulder gates, but there is no need to use any of them as some are off to the side for no reason and at others the gate next to it is permanently open.

 

From here onwards the surface is good and a decent uniform width. This is all part of when the Commonwealth games was held in Manchester and the whole stretch got a thorough refurb.

This bike rack caught my eye because it's a shining example of form over function. It's a fantastic piece of manufacturing and looks good, but it's quite obviously a useless piece of crap for locking bicycles to (the bent rusty front wheel illustrates this nicely!). Plus it's hidden out the way down the side of the building instead of outside the entrance & visible.....sigh.

This spot is obviously the favourite nicked bike dumping area. We counted at least 7 bikes and 2 shopping trolleys amongst other stuff.

Near Great Ancoats now and you start to find some big apartment buildings. The new metro line goes right past here as well and there is a fair bit of ground works going on. You can stay on the towpath here and come off somewhere near the BDP Architects building on Ducie St, but we chose to come off and zip down the roads to get under Picadilly train station and over to Canal Street where you can rejoin the towpath.

Canal St is one of nicest parts of the city centre. Infact such a good job has been done of creating a pleasant, relaxed, traffic free daytime environment on Canal St that I propose British Waterways should join forces with the LGF and embark on a pioneering revival of the Northwest's waterways.

Once you are back onto the towpath you are heading towards Castlefield with it's city centre living atmosphere,  bridges, viaducts, bars & restaurants and.......hmmm what is it that makes this place so nice?...no cars blasting around.

Once you are outside of Castlefield the towpath reverts back to the thin sticky sand-gravel stuff. 

Our journey on the canals ended at Throstle Nest Bridge where we used the excellent segregated facility (Pavement) to partially negotiate the Mega roundabout of death and begin to head towards the Fallowfield Loop.

On the Loop we met this little fella who I saw again the next morning, but this time at the complete other end of the Loop. So there you have it, the canals are good but the Loop is so good that stray kittens think its worth making Home. That's a seal of approval to be proud of :-)