- Time Approx.: 1:30 hours
- Length: 12.2 miles
- Average speed: 7.9 mph
- Uphill: 1,100 ft
- Downhill: 1,125 ft
A ride for the fitter rider who enjoys a climb, but well worth the effort.
From New Mills bus terminus, head downhill (Union Road), left at the bottom and first left again. After a couple of hundred yards you’ll see the Leisure Centre on the right. Turn into here and at the far end of the car park you’ll see a gateway. Cross the road here to meet the Sett Valley Trail which you follow towards Hayfield until you meet Station Road in Birch Vale (3 km approx.).
Instead of turning left to the café, take a right and then another right, carefully crossing Hayfield Road. After 100 yards, you’ll see the beginning of Oven Hill Road on the left. And it is a hill! So get yourself into bottom gear and twiddle until you get to the top, passing the quarry on the left. The top of the hill is marked by stables on the right after you have passed Moor Lodge house on the left.
Here the tarmac becomes rougher ground and enjoy a flat, sandy section until you reach the top of Laneside Road going down to the right. Don’t take this but keep on in a straight line, up and down over rocky ground and stay on this rough stuff for a further 2 km or so.
You’ll finally meet a bend in a surfaced road, take a left eventually reaching a long descent into the village of Chinley (coffee shop available).
Don’t cross the railway bridge in Chinley, keep straight on up Maynestone Road; another climb of about 2.5 km, the toughest bit being at the end. Here you will see the busy main road on the right. Head towards this and stay on the grass verge, take a left. Just before the house across the road you’ll see a small track. Take this track for a couple of hundred yards where it meets another track. Here go left for an exhilarating descent right down into Hayfield and follow the Sett Valley Trail back to New Mills.
