The Routes of Neglect

Manchester councils can be so eager to create new cycling routes – so as to be seen to be Doing Something To Encourage Cycling – that they completely forget the ones they already have. So it is with the Manchester Airport Orbital Cycle Route, which for part of the year turns into bramble-choked obstacle course.

Manchester Airport cycle route

And so too with the section of the Trans-Pennine Trail running through East Didsbury and Heaton Mersey, which after a night of rain turns into something resembling Glastonbury 97

Muddy Transpennine Trail, Heaton Mersey

One or two muddy puddles wouldn’t be a problem, but they go on…

More puddles, Transpennine Trail, Heaton Mersey

And on…

Muddy Transpennine Trail, Heaton Mersey

Anyone trying to commute along this trail, which is the only off-road route between Stockport and South Manchester, had better have an understanding employer, or showers and a change of clothes at work.

Sections of this particular trail have a history of neglect, which campaigns by GMCC activists have been able to rectify.

Sometimes councils will argue against putting any kind of non-mud generating tarmac surface onto a bike trail, citing objections by horse riders who have a right to ride on it as well as cyclists. In this case the simple solution is to provide a half-tarmaced surface, as Macclesfield Council has done on parts of the Middlewood Way.

Half-tarmaced surface for Middlewood Way, Macclesfield