Mark My Words: Familiar Territory

This will be a brief post as I've spent most of the day planning and it's now a quarter to twelve, with me setting off in the morning for the next leg.

Yesterday saw me depart Stone in Staffs and after a few lanes join the towpath to the Trent & Mersey Canal which was also National Cycle Route 55. A pleasant pedal which took me through Stoke (a blessing), passing old potteries, etc and nearly to Kidsgrove. At this point the canal disappeared into a hole in the ground and I had to bike over the mountain that the canal tunnelled through.

I joined the Macclesfield Canal at Kidsgrove and the towpath was in pretty good order for a while but I was soon bumping along the barest of trails. A summer shower then turned this into a bog which was no fun to cycle along with the water a couple of feet away and your feet clipped to the pedals.

I diverted onto the road and took an A road into Macclesfield and then on to the outskirts of Manchester. At this point the planned route took the Hyde Canal towards Droylsden (which is where I wanted to be). A man-haul of the bike up some stone steps had me pedalling along this canal, once again impressed with the fine towpath. I'd assumed this city canal would be in a similar state to the one going through Stoke i.e. good towpath. But pretty soon this towpath was also down to a rocky swamp and for the second time I had to man-haul the bike to a nearby road and set off up a super highway into Manchester. 7pm had me rolling up at our friend, Paul Tam's, in Manchester to be presenting with a few cold beers and leaving one hell of a tidemark in his bath.

After Tuesday's trials today was declared a rest day and I spent it researching my next steps... oh and having a mega-curry in Rusholme on The Curry Mile.