After missing last Sundays coronavirus lockdown ride due to being on our Bay Cycle Way tour, things were back to normal this weekend. This weekend it was Tracey’s turn to plan the route, and she decided to take us out to Macc, or more correctly, Macclesfield.

We met at Poynton Pool and headed out up Towers Road. It was a lovely sunny day for cycling.

From there we made our way up through Higher Poynton and on towards Pott Shrigley.

Our route was heading for Bakestonedale Road, more commonly known as The Brickworks. However, Tracey had plotted a more off-road route to reaching it.

This meant heading up a byway towards Moorside Lane.

We had to walk some sections.

Eventually, we reached Bakestonedale Road and the bottom of the Brickworks.

It is a long steady climb. There are also some stunning views.

Next, we turned towards Rainow.

Then we briefly turned into Blaze Hill.

Tracey’s route then took us off-road again when we turned into Kiskhill Lane.

Our route then took us on through Rainow and later Brookhouse.

Eventually, we reached Langley and then Sutton. At this point, we also picked up local cycle network route 70, or the Cheshire Cycleway. We’ll by cycling this section of the route again on our upcoming tour.

Soon we reached the outskirts of Macclesfield. Here we also picked up NCN Route 55 and followed this through the centre of the town.

On the other side of the town, we headed for the Middlewood Way.

This took us over the Silk Road.

Along the way, we stopped for a short break near Bollington.

We followed the Middlewood Way all the way back to Higher Poynton. From there we headed back to the start.

Today’s route had covered nearly 25 miles. This had been the first of our lockdown rides organised by Tracey. It had been challenging, and fantastic!

You can view our Macc route below: