Sarah, Andy S and I made a trip to Keele last weekend. The purpose was to recce the routes for the forthcoming Stockport Community Cycling Club weekend. Our first recce was the Saturday ride. This would see us cycle out to Eccleshall.

The cycle ride began from Trentham Gardens near Stoke-on-Trent.

We cycled out of via the back door of the Trentham Gardens complex.

The first few miles of our cycle ride were quite lumpy as we made our way along Newcastle Road.

Essentially, we climbing up and over the Hanchurch hills.

We turned off Newcastle Road and made our way towards Swynnerton.

And after 4 miles most of the climbing for the day was complete.

After cycling through Swynnerton we continued on towards Cold Meece.

A little further on we reached Eccleshall.

We had a look around at where we might stop for lunch when we return fir the club weekend.

We decided on the garden centre on the other side of town. When we arrived, we hunted around for the restaurant. Finally, we found it. We went in and asked for a cup of tea, but were refused. It was 4.01pm and they closed at 4.00pm. Poor customer service. It all left a bit of a sour taste.

Just outside the garden centre, there was a bench.

We decided to stop there and eat our sandwiches.

Then, back on the road, we set off along Stone Road in the direction of Yarnfield.

Next, we picked up the Trent and Mersey Canal.

As we cycle along the canal we were also following NCN Route 5.

Eventually, we left the canal at Barlaston.

We had been following a similar route to a guy on a recumbent. We passed him for the last time just after Barlaston.

We arrived back in the village of Trentham, and for the last section of the route we picked up the Longton Brook Greenway.

This proved to be an excellent route. It covers 23 miles. There was the hill at the start and then a mainly flat route. We are confident SCCC members are going to enjoy this route.

You can view the Eccleshall route below: