Why this ride
A 276 km round trip from Manchester - roughly 4 h 19 in the saddle. It goes by way of Jodrell Bank Observatory, Saltaire, back through Saltaire and back through Jodrell Bank Observatory. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Manchester afternoon · Saltaire
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 276 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 19
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Scenic road chapters
Cat and Fiddle Road
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 37 km this is Cat and Fiddle Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 37 km
- Named road
- Cat and Fiddle Road
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Manchester
Manchester invented a good part of the modern world and then spent a century being too busy to brag about it. The first passenger railway station anywhere, Liverpool Road, opened here in 1830, the Bridgewater Canal brought coal into the city, and the mills of Cottonopolis spun and wove so much cloth that the damp red-brick warehouses became the model for industrial cities from Osaka to Massachusetts. The Cooperative movement began a few miles north in Rochdale, and the splitting of the atom was first achieved at the university here. Karl Marx's friend Friedrich Engels ran a mill in the city and wrote about its slums.
Read the complete Manchester write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Manchester is where the day begins. Next is Jodrell Bank Observatory.
2. Jodrell Bank Observatory
You see the dish long before you arrive. The Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank rises out of the flat Cheshire farmland like something from a science fiction film, a white steel bowl seventy six metres across, tilting slowly to follow its targets across the sky. When it was completed in 1957 it was the largest steerable radio telescope in the world, and one of its first tasks was tracking the rocket that carried Sputnik into orbit. The observatory, founded by Bernard Lovell after the Second World War, has been at the forefront of radio astronomy ever since, and it was listed by UNESCO in 2019 for its role in the development of the science.
Read the complete Jodrell Bank Observatory write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Jodrell Bank Observatory comes up 35 km in.
3. Jodrell Bank Observatory
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Jodrell Bank Observatory write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
70 km in you reach Jodrell Bank Observatory. Next is Saltaire.
4. Saltaire
Titus Salt was a Bradford wool magnate who got tired of the smoke, the sickness and the squalor of the city, and in 1851 he began building a new mill and a new town beside the river Aire, a few miles north. Saltaire, his name joined to the river's, was a model community: tidy stone terraces of different sizes for different grades of worker, a hospital, a school, almshouses, a church, a park, and a huge Italianate mill with a campanile chimney. The mill opened in 1853 and was among the largest in the world. UNESCO listed the village in 2001 as an outstanding example of Victorian industrial planning.
Read the complete Saltaire write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Saltaire, about halfway. Next is Saltaire.
5. Saltaire
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Saltaire write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Saltaire sits at 139 km, about halfway. Next is back through Saltaire.
6. back through Saltaire
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Saltaire write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Saltaire comes up 174 km in. Next is back through Jodrell Bank Observatory.
7. back through Jodrell Bank Observatory
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Jodrell Bank Observatory write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
209 km in you reach back through Jodrell Bank Observatory. Next is back through Jodrell Bank Observatory.
8. back through Jodrell Bank Observatory
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Jodrell Bank Observatory write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Jodrell Bank Observatory, late in the day. Next is Manchester.
9. Manchester
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Manchester write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 276 km.
Leg by leg
Manchester to Jodrell Bank Observatory
Manchester → Jodrell Bank Observatory is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Jodrell Bank Observatory to Saltaire
Jodrell Bank Observatory → Saltaire is 102 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Saltaire to back through Jodrell Bank Observatory
back through Saltaire → back through Jodrell Bank Observatory is 102 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Jodrell Bank Observatory to Manchester
back through Jodrell Bank Observatory → Manchester is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.