Saturday was the SCCC Macclesfield Circular Ride. Thirteen of us met up at the Riverside Park near Macclesfield.  Andy P was the ride leader for the day and I was the back leader.

We set out of the Riverside Park car park and headed onto The Middlewood Way towards Macclesfield.

We continued along NCN (National Cycle Network) route 55 towards Sutton.

As we came out of Macclesfield there were some sneaky climbs, which while not long were short and sharp. Unfortunately Rod decided that he was quite as recovered from the previous few weeks of illness (the hills were going to be too much and so he was going to go back). Andy P went back to the car park with Rod and Andy S took over leading the ride whilst he was gone.

We crossed the A523 past the old Fools Nook pub and crossed over the Macclesfield Canal.

At Gawsworth we turned right then crossed the A536 onto Dark Lane.

We cycled along Bearhurst Lane before turning right onto School Lane. It was along here that Andy finally caught up with us.

At the top of School Lane we stopped at the Flora Tea Room for some refreshments.

At the Flora Tea Room we were well looked after and the food was good

Feeling suitably refreshed, it was time to finish our ride. The sun seemed to have gone as we cycled up Pepper Street and headed off towards Prestbury.

A few of us had a very brief stop in Prestbury as Caroline dropped her water bottle!

We cycled up out of Prestbury as we started making our way back towards the start of the ride.

We cycled  passed the sign for Bollington.

We crossed over the Silk Road, using the new cycle friendly crossing.

On our way back to the Middlewood Way, we went along Clarke Lane.

Along Clarke Lane, we passed the Lord Clyde pub.

From Clarke Lane we descended back onto the Middlewood Way.

The Middlewood Way took us over a bridge which crossed the Silk Road. There is a zig-zag up to the bridge and then another one down the other side.

We then followed the Middlewood Way for a couple of miles, back to the point where we had joined it earlier that morning.

Coming off the Middlewood Way, we cycled back up Summerlea Close as we wound our way back to the car park at Riverside Park.

We had cycled about 17 miles and it had been a great ride. The predicted bad weather didn’t actually turn up, although it was very slightly damp briefly and it didn’t actually rain.
You can view our route below: