Trans Pennine Trail

[Meredith]

I was thinking of cycling the TPT and wondering whether anyone had any advice or recommendations??

Thanks

[Swizz69]

I live near the Godley stretch of the trail & have also ridden the Hadfield to Woodhead stretch with the kids. I believe some of the signage is poor near Stockport & between Godley/Broadbottom. I can incorporate a recce into my Sunday ride if you want to know how well the route passes from Stockport to Hadfield, although i'm sure i've seen it well mapped in the internet somewhere.

Ian...

P.S:- Which way are you intending riding it btw - Southport to Hull or vice versa???

[Meredith]

I am planning to go from Southport to Hull. I have bought the maps now, so hopefully wont get too lost!

[Swizz69]

I am planning to go from Southport to Hull. I have bought the maps now, so hopefully wont get too lost!

Lol - enjoy your trip & hope the weather is as nice as its been today

[lukepinkhandbag]

I rode the Northenden to Woodhead a couple of years ago on my Greenspeed on the way to York rally. I am a Mancunian and know the Didsbury Stock port area well, but I managed to get lost a coouple of times, and alot of the time I couldn't tell where I was!! It's very artificial in places in the name of keeping you off the roads. But I did enjoy it - beware some of the access controls are awkward especially with full panniers.

[Cunobelin]

The TPT is a good ride, but is "unsurfaced" so gets muddy and tracked in wet weather. I managed it on a Street Machine, but we had to abandon at Doncaster as at the tome there were numerous flooded areas and we were unable to proceed.

[MockCyclist]

I bought the TPT guides as well but still managed to get lost, particularly around Aintree. Some of the waymarking isn't so good and around Stockport there are numerous additional offshoots and it isn't always clear which is the actual through route.

I have the route mapped here (mostly compiled after the event though I believe it to be very accurate):
http://mockcyclist.wordpress.com/2008/04/25/14/

[drjlinden]

just done the section from Stockport to Hornsea and I'm not impressed. As stated earlier the Stockport to Longdendale section is contrived and gnarly in parts. The up hill push from the reservoir to the Longdendale trail is very hard with a fully laden touring bike (and is easily avoided with prior knowledge or warning in the documentation) and the push from the tunnel mouth to the top of the moor very hard though exhilarating (on the way back I saw a pair riding up the road in the VERY heavy traffic ... ).

The most disappointing was the Upper Don Trail which is disused rail bed but poorly maintained with many large unavoidable muddy puddles. Also the newly created trail in the Dearn Valley uses coarse aggregate not comfy for long distances on a standard touring bike.

That said from Doncaster to Hornsea the trail was very nice (except for the airport by Burn that can be avoided by riding the A19 through Burn).

The signage is better on the roads than on the trails... an example would be the top of Hurst Clough where the trail ends with no indication that the rider must more or less double back onto the road, whereas traveling west to east the sign on the road clearly shows the loopback.

The other "traditional" touring riders echoed these views but a "new to touring" pair on MTB bikes (and lower mileage expectations) were enjoying the challenge.

I rode back on the roads and found it both easier and much nicer.

[ikenbikeit]

I guess you didnt like the less than smooth bits then!

[Mr.Benton]

I cycled the section from Glossop to Selby recently on my ladened touring bike. Overall the surface was fairly rough and so not very fast or comfortable. The section from the tunnels at wood head pass to Salters Brook Bridge seemed very rough and a long way round so I simply road along the very busy A628.

On a good note, I had a very nice cake stop at the old moor RSPB reserve just outside Barnsley.
Overall the signage was acceptable.

[merrymac]

Advice ?? DON'T do it, sorry. Having done 000's of miles of Sustrans routes, the TPT is the one that I enjoyed least by far. The urban sprawl round Manchester & Liverpool is horrible & has nothing going for it except broken glass & vandals. We were stopped by plain clothes cops & asked about druggies we had seen............ we're both over 60.

If you havent cycled it yet, do the C2C, much more pleasant

[annholmes]

I completed the trail a week ago, as a charity ride with a support team. I echo other's comments about the difficulties of navigation across the first half of the trail. I struggled a little with the rougher terrain, but I benefited on the country roads later on.
This was my first long distance ride, and I loved it - it was a great sense of achievement getting to Hornsea, and having some familiar faces to welcome us in was rather lovely.
Ann