A bicycle, a canal towpath, & a bucolic side of Manchester

Manchester’s gritty industrial heritage masks the fact that it’s actually rather bucolic in parts. On a fair-weather day, the one-time Cottonopolis is a fine place to get on two wheels and explore — especially if you’re pedalling away from the built-up city centre and along the paths fringed by tree-lined waterways, pastoral landscapes and stopping-off points bubbling with history and refreshments.

Though it still lags behind the likes of Copenhagen, Amsterdam and Paris in the bike-friendly stakes, Manchester is hoping its stint as the first-ever European Capital of Cycling in 2024 will act as a catalyst for more cycling infrastructure and increased pedalling from both locals and tourists.

GO EAST

A stone’s throw from Manchester Piccadilly railway station, the Ashton Canal dates from the late 18th century and stretches 10km to Ashton-under-Lyne, one of the myriad market and mill towns in the Greater Manchester sprawl.

The views change as you cycle; one minute you’ll see crumbling red-brick cotton mills and graffiti-daubed bridges, the next it’ll be idyllic narrowboats, antique locks and waterside properties with beautifully tended-to gardens. Keep an eye out for waterfowl and waterbirds, from Canada geese and moorhens to grey herons and cormorants hiding by the purple-tinged buddleia (butterfly bushes) that thrive in the northern spring and summer.

This lushly-vegetated route takes you past Sport City — a cluster of modern leisure arenas that staged events for the 2002 Commonwealth Games, notably the National Cycling Centre and the City of Manchester stadium (now home to Manchester City football club).

Facing it is the brand new Co-Op Live, Britain’s largest indoor arena, where Olivia Rodrigo, The Killers, Eric Clapton and Take That will perform later in 2024.

KEEP GOING EAST

When you reach Ashton’s Portland Basin, there’s a free-to-enter museum in a 19th-century warehouse charting the heritage of a canal that had fallen into disrepair by the 1950s and was later restored by volunteers.

You’ll also learn about the industries that flourished by the water, such as hat-making, textiles and coal mining. Fancy pedalling some more?

The basin joins the Huddersfield Narrow Canal, which ventures into Yorkshire via the Pennines hills, with its summit the highest stretch of canal in Britain.

Cycle onwards at least to Ashton’s neighbouring town, Stalybridge, where you can picnic in pleasant Stamford Park then take a train back to Manchester (with your bike) if you feel you’ve pedalled enough.

Head to platform 4 and have a pint at the enchanting Stalybridge Buffet Bar, one of the few remaining Victorian railway station bars.

GO SOUTH

Veering south from Ashton’s Portland Basin, meanwhile, is the Peak Forest Canal, which snakes to the cusp of the undulating Peak District National Park on the border of the counties of Cheshire and Derbyshire.

Originally built to transport limestone from quarries, often with horses towing storage boats along, this 24km-long canal dazzles travellers with its pearls of engineering, especially around the town of Marple, where there’s a giant aqueduct, railway viaduct and a flight of 16 locks.

Quaint stone cottages, tearooms and cafes dot old Marple, which is said to have been the inspiration for Agatha Christie’s legendary female detective.

It’s rumoured that the author had relatives in the area and passed through Marple several times on the train, with the place-name sticking in her head.

The platforms of Marple’s railway station are decorated with bygone posters of Miss Marple novels.

Closer to the city, some of Manchester’s most extensive dedicated on-road bike paths course south of the centre to leafy suburbs like Didsbury, where the TV drama Cold Feet was shot, and Chorlton-cum-Hardy, where the Bee Gees grew up and went to school.

Chorlton is also the springboard for the Fallowfield Loop, a cycle route that runs 14km along a disused suburban railway line.

GO WEST

Not just central Manchester’s most photogenic enclave — with its Victorian viaducts, wharves and warehouses — Castlefield is the springboard for cycling adventures. It’s the terminus of the Bridgewater Canal, which was constructed in 1765 to transport coal from the Duke of Bridgewater’s mines in Worsley, a village 10km to the west of Castlefield.

After passing Manchester United’s Old Trafford stadium, the canal branches into two sections. One ventures to the town of Leigh via Worsley, where visitors are charmed by the village green, the picturesque mock-Tudor waterfront houses and RHS Garden Bridgewater, a new haven for horticulturalists on the duke’s former estate. The other canal branch goes as far as Runcorn, near Liverpool, and joins the River Mersey.

Pootling beside the water on this stretch of canal, you’ll be deep in the peaceful countryside, all prim hamlets, gently rolling fields and farmland, with the odd kayaker or canoeist causing a ripple from time to time.

Call in at Dunham Massey, a National Trust property framed by gardens and a deer park, and Lymm, a postcard-pretty Cheshire village sprinkled with nice eateries, watering holes and moored barges.

GO NORTH

Castlefield is also the terminus for the Rochdale Canal, a 50km-long waterway that cuts through central Manchester and ends up in Sowerby Bridge in Yorkshire (not far from Bradford).

Cycling along the towpath, you’ll pass housing estates and timeworn cotton mills in varying states of repair, but the route is mostly blissfully rural, with lots of wildflower-speckled landscapes, brooding, windmill-strewn moors and grazing sheep and cows.

There are several historic industrial towns hugging the canal, including Rochdale, Todmorden and Hebden Bridge (this trio also have railway stations so you can always take the train back to the city if you want).

Another biking option north of Manchester is the Irwell Valley — which, for much of the time, runs parallel to National Cycle Route 6. You can pedal by the river with birds, bees and butterflies for company, take a break in parks and forests with sculpture trails and duck-dotted ponds, and stop for a bite in market towns like Bury and Ramsbottom.

The former has a food hall with classic Northern English and cosmopolitan offerings, while the latter has several eateries to recommend, notably Colleen’s, one of Greater Manchester’s best casual-chic restaurants, where Australian Tom Morgan is co-owner and head chef.

Fact file

• There are various bike hire options in Manchester, including a new council-backed scheme offering regular pedal and e-bikes from more than 150 docking points in and around the city. For more information on this and potential cycle routes and hire options, see beeactive.tfgm.com
• For more details on visiting Manchester and Britain, see visitmanchester.com and visitbritain.com