Peaks & Puddles
Update February 2023: After extending the closure into 2023, Severn Trent Water now confirms “the route is now open however there are large timber trucks using the route, please be careful when using the tracks.” From today, Monday 12th September 2022, a large section of the route around the Upper Derwent Valley reservoirs is due to be closed to all users. For up to an estimated three months, it won’t be possible to complete a loop of the Derwent and Howden reservoirs.
Derbyshire County Council has announced the A57 Snake Pass will be closed again from late September 2022, but with a five-mile stretch blockaded as no through route for all users.
Lyme Park’s ranger team are informally allowing cycling on two extra routes again until the end of summer, as per the terms of a “trial” initiated before the pandemic.
Cheshire East has listened to calls for a rethink of its outdated Middlewood Way access points in Bollington and Macclesfield, taking action to remove discriminatory barriers.
A new road closure order covering “all users” has just appeared for the one-way road between Errwood Reservoir and Derbyshire Bridge in the Peak District’s Upper Goyt Valley near Buxton.
“If the Authority is at all serious about enabling a sustainable future for itself, it needs to ensure that every car park it manages also has secure cycle parking available, in good numbers, as soon as possible.” That’s the challenge I put to the Peak District National Park, and I’m beyond chuffed that they’ve already responded.
Work on the permanent and timed closure of roads around Stockport’s Market Place and Underbanks is nearing completion, with the removal of through motor traffic immediately improving walking, cycling and socialising in the booming Old Town.
Where better to talk to Dame Sarah Storey about cycling safety on fast rural roads than Derbyshire‘s A5004 Long Hill — briefly a cycling paradise while closed to most vehicles. So it was odd that the BBC’s Countryfile failed to mention this fact while using it for background footage in a piece that has been much-criticised online.
Should’ve titled that post Hazel Grove Link, singular. It turns out, the upgraded path through Torkington Park is still the only part of the Bee Network’s most southeasterly project that Stockport Council has funding for.
The fifth book in the best-selling Lost Lanes series of cycling guides is set to focus on Central England – with author Jack Thurston (finally!) spotlighting some of the best Peak District cycling, amongst other routes around the Midlands.