Stockport Community Cycling Club cyclists arriving at Hazel Grove Park and Ride were greeted by some remarkably warm weather. This Beyond Withington Green route, was a new entry in our longer rides series.

Andy S would be today’s ride leader, and Tracey the back-leader. Sadly, Sarah wasn’t feeling well enough to join us today.

After weaving our way through some backstreets of Hazel Grove, we picked up Buxton Road. This is much quieter these days, now that traffic is diverted around this section. We then turned into Norbury Hollow Road

From here we passed Middlewood station on our way up to Higher Poynton.

At Higher Poynton, we joined NCN Route 55, also known as the Middlewood Way.

We would follow the Middlewood Way through Bollington and all the way to Macclesfield.

When arriving in Macclesfield, we continued to follow NCN Route 55 as it weaves its way through the town. Much of this section of the route is similar to our Macclesfield Circular route, which funnily enough, I will be leading next week. It served as a bit of a recce!

Leaving Macclesfield, we turned off at Sutton and headed towards Gawsworth.

We followed Leek Old Road.

We crossed over the Macclesfield Canal.

After arriving on the edge of Gawsworth, we left NCN Route 55 behind and picked up local network route 70. This would take us in the direction of Henbury.

Instead of Henbury village, after exiting Bearhurst Lane and joining School Lane we turned towards Siddington.

Our route took us past Redesmere lake.

After following Catchpenny Lane we caught sight of Jodrell Bank.

However, after a short break at the entrance, we continued on towards Withington Green.

This included cycling through the grounds of Peover Hall.

Unfortunately, just before lunch one of the cyclists had a puncture, which meant I spent quite awhile marking one particular corner.

Lunch was taken at the new Treetops Garden Centre cafe.

Sadly, this is not a cafe I would recommend. Service was far too slow and chaotic – it took ages just to get a cup of tea – and the sandwich and soup I chose were not very good. It’s early days, but it has step-up its act considerably before I could recommend it.

After lunch, we made our way through Over Peover. Here we turned on to Chelford Lane.

We cycled through Marthall, and then along Mill Lane to the outskirts of Wilmslow.

We continued through Wilmslow Park and then it was back towards Woodford.

Our last section of the route took us along the Manchester Airport Link road for a short distance.

Finally, we left the link road at Macclesfield Road and returned to the start.

This had been another enjoyable longer cycle ride, and the weather had been kind. We had cycled 42 miles. You can view our Beyond Withington Green route below: