- Time Approx.: 1:15 hours
- Length: 8:43 miles
- Average speed: 10.1 mph
- Uphill: 925ft
- Downhill: 900ft
Starting at New Mills bus terminus head up Saint Mary’s Road until you meet the crossroads.
Take a left here on a beautiful lane to the tiny hamlet of Brookbottom with the Fox Pub in the centre (great for a coffee).
Just before the pub you’ll have noticed a rough track going steeply downhill. Head down here, muddy and rocky at the top, it gets less steep and more rideable, the further you go. Ride down over the cobbles under the railway bridge, and where the cobbles stop you’ll see a dirt road on the right. Head up here through the farmyard and take a left down the valley and when the track forks take the right-hand fork slightly uphill.
Follow this track which becomes nicely surfaced, then muddy again, along by the river Goyt until you reach the gates of the Roman Lakes on the right.
Now you have two options: if you want to get back quickly head straight along the lane and uphill into Marple taking a left along the canal towpath back to New Mills.
Alternatively, take the first right from the lane, then the right-hand fork which leads up a steep, rocky, muddy track (quite a pull). This leads eventually to Linnet Clough scout camp and Mellor golf club on your left.
Keep on the road until you reach Gibb Lane which passes through the centre of Mellor. Cross this road and drop down the side of the pub (Devonshire Arms) bearing right up the hill to Mellor Church. Next to the church an archaeological dig has been going on for many years and evidence of early settlers has been found. Take a right here through a gate and uphill along a lovely ridge. Looking back from the top you’ll see in the distance, Manchester and the Cheshire Plain behind you.
Eventually pass through a gate and head up the lane, turning left at the top down a stony lane, and meet the road to Rowarth. Take a right here for half a mile or so until you hit a crossroads. Here go straight across onto another lane, Castle Edge Road skirting the wood on your left. Continue until you find a surfaced road on the left which takes you past New Mills golf club and straight downhill back to the bus terminus.
