National 2007 - proposed route from Salisbury

[Xander]

Well I will definitely meet up with you guys.. But surely you dont mean to tell me that you are going on the m6 Toll????? If I am reading that wrong (and please tell me that I am...) I'll meet you at the junction of the 45 and 42 say at motorcycle museum parking lot (it is right on that junction roundabout.)
and best way to get on to the a452 which becomes the a446 (Litchfeild road)
or I'll meet you at the juction of the 38 at Alrewas (just out side Litchfeild) I will be two up ..

just a bit of warning so my speed will not be the fastest! .. so LV if you want yo and Deb to go on a couples run I am willing to consider this as well.

[Cie]

surely you dont mean to tell me that you are going on the m6 Toll??

Absolutely positively no motorways! Especially the M6 toll

Mate, have a look at the google map link, you can zoom right in to the map

[Xander]

Absolutely positively no motorways! Especially the M6 toll

Mate, have a look at the google map link, you can zoom right in to the map

I did that.. and it has you going on the m42 at cheswick green (a34 junction) to the 42-m6toll interchange.. then to the a446, I dont know that road very well so maybe it is not actually on the M6 toll .. but it definitely the m42

[Cie]

Grrrrr, thanks for pointing that out, I'll tweak the route tonight and re-post it.

mumble grumble Mapsource mumble harumph

[Dilbert]

As interest is picking up again, here's the route I plan to take up to the meet from Salisbury area.



Have a scan around on google maps here: http://waitingcloud.org/wiki/xrvnational2007.html

Absolutely NO motorway 270 miles, just over 5 hours. That's without any planned stops, so it's going to take longer.

The Garmin gpx file is available here.

Of course, I'm open to suggestions and tweaks, which will improve the route.

Cie
Just as a suggestion, you may want to consider an alternative if the weather is not absolutely brilliant, for the section between Ashbourne and Huddersfield, you're going over a lot of high ground and on some minor A roads (open moorland), if the weather's nice it will be a great route, if it's at all bad it will be horrendous up there, you will be about 1,000ft or more above sea level most of the way and while it's sunny in the plains of Cheshire (M6 route) it could be much colder and wetter on the high ground.

[Cie]

Thanks, I'll do a wet weather route too

[Dilbert]

Cie

You could come up to Burton on Trent then branch right towards Derby and loop round the wrong side of the Pennines (see Fewtrees for info?) back to Huddersfield, or stick to your route up to Ashbourne then branch left along the A52/ A523 to Leek (Leek-Ashbourne can still be a bit bleak, but not as bad) and Macclesfield, A527 to Knutsford, A50 to Warrington (highly recommended, my commute route on the bike ) and then link up with the A49 crew (Wigan, Standish, Preston) ?

You are a bit limited because between Manchester and Warrington is the infamous Manchester Shi* Canal, you can only cross this at four places, Barton Bridge (M60), Warburton Bridge (middle of nowhere, 12p Toll ), Thelwall Viaduct (M6) an option if you can bear 3 miles of motorway, or Knutsford Road Bridge, which is probably the way the A49 crew will go, but means going thro Warry (A50/ A49)

p.s. if you do go the Buxton-Glossop route do not stop when you get to Hadfield, just past Glossop or "you'll never leave" (Royston Vasey, League of Gentlemen)

[Lumiya]

Cie
Just as a suggestion, you may want to consider an alternative if the weather is not absolutely brilliant, for the section between Ashbourne and Huddersfield, you're going over a lot of high ground and on some minor A roads (open moorland), if the weather's nice it will be a great route, if it's at all bad it will be horrendous up there, you will be about 1,000ft or more above sea level most of the way and while it's sunny in the plains of Cheshire (M6 route) it could be much colder and wetter on the high ground.

LOL, I remember going between Huddersfield and Oldham as a courier late one year. Going across the moors there it started snowing Had to stop every other mile to clean off the screen as I could hardly see over it. The next day the screen got chopped down so I could always see over it

As for weather, it's more the winds you have to watch on that stretch, the rain isn't really a problem.

Kymmy

[Dilbert]

LOL, I remember going between Huddersfield and Oldham as a courier late one year. Going across the moors there it started snowing Had to stop every other mile to clean off the screen as I could hardly see over it. The next day the screen got chopped down so I could always see over it

As for weather, it's more the winds you have to watch on that stretch, the rain isn't really a problem.

Kymmy

At those sorts of altitudes (800-1400ft), the rain can be an issue, if you happen to be riding thro' the raincloud, peeps often mistake it for mist or fog, but as you come out of it and look back you can see the base of the cloud.
Cie is looking at taking the short cut road through from Glossop to Woodhead Pass, I've been down there when you can't see your hand in front of your face, but that was in winter going to worksites in Rotherham and Sheffiled, early Sept shouldn't be as bad, glorious run alonside the reservours if it's sunny

[Cie]

Right then..

Amended routes are on this web page, and the garmin route files can be had in that directory too.