Greater Manchester

Saturday 5^th March 2022 – please contact organisers Megan and Mark Whittaker at meganb1985@gmail.com if you would like to join them for this ride.

Megan writes:

Meet us from 10 am at the Pavillion Café in the middle of Stamford Park, Stalybridge for hot drinks, then set off at 10.30am. Toilets available.

Route: approx. 35 miles. Average difficulty, steady pace – a few hills but mostly flat or slight inclines – a nice steady social ride.

From Stamford Park we will head up towards Mottram, via Mottram Road. We will then head to Gee Cross, Hyde.  We will make our way towards Marple Bridge then onto the Middlewood Way at Rose Hill. The Middlewood Way is not tarmac in parts but is described as a good surface.

We will have a rest stop at the picnic area on the Middlewood Way *bring own snacks/lunch and drinks * then head towards Macclesfield where we will turn back a few miles short of Macclesfield to make our way home. 

Middlewood Way leaflet: https://assets.ctfassets.net/ii3xdrqc6nfw/4M0ZqIBVq8suYW6MA0geWi/51725871270e420af544b6d07f221310/Middlewood_way_map.pdf

Car parking – the nearest car parks to Stamford Park are those at or near Stalybridge hospital – charges from £3 to £6 for more than 3-4 hours. See map below:

https://www.tameside.gov.uk/TamesideMBC/media/trafficmanagement/TGH-car-parks.pdf

The Mossley Road car park appears not to have a height barrier.  The other two in Mellor Road and Darnton Road have 2m and 2.1m height barriers. Some street parking nearby may also be possible but the streets nearest the park are limited to 4 hours. Please note that the most convenient car park in Darnton Road east of the boating lake is in use as a Covid testing centre at the time of writing.