It was a cool and slightly damp morning as fifteen Stockport Community Cycling Club members met at Bramhall Library on the final Sunday before Christmas for a ride to Gawsworth. I was leading the ride, and Sarah was the back-leader (and chief photographer!).

Leaving Bramhall we set off through Woodford.

And on to Mottram St Andrew.

A steady climb then took us up Hare Hill and towards the outskirts of Macclesfield.

This was proving a lumpy ride!

From here we cycled through Broken Cross.

Eventually we reached Gawsworth. This is a village we have skirted the edges of many times before, but usually we somehow seem to miss out the picturesque centre.

After leaving Gawsworth we picked up local national cycle network route 70 and made our way towards Henbury.

This continued our lumpy ride.

Lunch was taken at Flora Tea Rooms. Our arrival didn’t start well, for in spite of pre-booking they hadn’t reserves a table for us (though they had reserved a table for another group) and it was busy. That said, once we had been squeezed in, the rest of our stay was excellent. The service and the food were great!

Refreshed and back on the road after lunch we headed for home and cycled towards Alderley Edge.

I had planned that we take an adventurous route down Swiss Hill, but on witnessing the slightly wet road surfaces throughout the day I judged it wiser to keep to the main Macclesfield Road. That proved a worthy descent in to Alderley village too.

From here we made our way along the edge of the village and Wilmslow.

And back towards Woodford.

The final part of the journey saw us weave our way through Bramhall and back to the start.

This had proved a lumpier ride than I had expected. That said this was an enjoyable 30 mile winter warmer. And everyone seemed to agree.

You can view our Gawsworth route below:

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