Anyone commute to J8 of M62 from Worsley/Astley/Leigh/Culcheth? Route advice needed

richardrowan

Hey.

New job tomorrow sees me needing to get to the outskirts of Warrington. Though I live near Bury, I'm toying with the idea of driving to the in-laws off the East Lancs and riding the dozen+ miles from there.

Ride with GPS throws me down some cycle tracks that seem unsuitable for a road bike. Relying on Strava heat maps is a bit flawed because I've no idea how well used the roads are in rush hour by cycle commuters. Before I slave over Google Street view to check for cycle lanes/paths, does anyone do a similar commute? Or any weekend riders familiar with that patch?

The cycle path on the East Lancs is well protected but anything south of there is unfamiliar territory.

TIA

cruff

Yep. Live in Altrincham, have lived in Leigh and worked in Warrington (Birchwood to be exact - which may be where you're working?). Train round there extensively.

Where would you be looking to park up? Be warned, traffic south of the East Lancs through Culcheth and Risley is a nightmare in the mornings and evenings...

alwaystimetotorque

Me too - well almost.
I commute Northwich to Astley/Worsley via Warburton Bridge. The obvious (depending on where you're parking) would be east lancs to Glazebury then Culcheth, Croft, Winwick, Burtonwood which sees you pretty much there.
The main thing will be what time of day you'll be travelling as to how busy it is and how confident you are with road riding. I tend to find I'm going against the main flow of traffic heading north in the morning and south in the evenings which does help.
As cruff has said, the traffic heading from Culcheth through Glazebury up to the east lancs is often bumper to bumper in the evenings (16:30ish) and it's a fairly narrow road.

cruff

I'd do something like this:

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/31523312

Route starts at the Gin Pit Village roundabout in Astley, then does outskirts of Leigh, Glazebury, Culcheth, Croft & Winwck before ending up at the Starbucks in Burtonwood (you should be able to figure out you way to the start of from the end)

There are alternatives, but some of them are really grim - for instance, the direct road down Winwick Lane from the East Lancs is basically a de facto single carriageway motorway - horrendous on a bike (the East Lancs itself is much, much safer - I ride on it a lot and although its not for the nervous rider, the fact that it's a DC and very, very straight means its generally a lot safer than most single carriageway roads).

That should cut out most of the traffic, except the bit between Bents roundabout and Culcheth roundabout - only way to avoid that would be to go down the East Lancs and turn off to go through Newton-Le-Willows

alwaystimetotorque

That's pretty much what I'd choose too @cruff

There is a cycle path alongside the east lancs from Astley all the way to the Leigh/Bents roundabout (and beyond) but I tend to use the local roads as per the route you've shown. It means dodging white van man of which there are many but it's better then the cycle path along the east lancs.

Crossing the east lancs at the Bents/Leigh roundabout is pretty grim as well though so try both ways and choose your preferred option.

Completely agree to avoid Winwick Lane at all costs - it's horrendous.

Also worth noting is that there is the cycle path all along the Leigh to Ellenbrook Guided Busway which gives a good traffic free option and free parking at one of their car parks. This would only make your commute longer though I suppose.

richardrowan

Thanks for the insights, fellas. I’ll consult the map again with your advice in mind.

I’d be setting off pretty much from the old colliery in/near Astley Green. Heading to Amazon. 8am start, 5pm finish.

I could of course ride to Astley Green, hop in the car for the second half of the journey but it’s probably more of a faff.

Though it’s been a couple of months my previous commute was Ramsbottom to Manchester so I’m a confident rider… though not sure I’d ride on the East Lancs itself *gulp*.

In time I might switch to doing the full distance a couple of times a week.

cruff

richardrowan said:

Thanks for the insights, fellas. I’ll consult the map again with your advice in mind.

I’d be setting off pretty much from the old colliery in/near Astley Green. Heading to Amazon. 8am start, 5pm finish.

I could of course ride to Astley Green, hop in the car for the second half of the journey but it’s probably more of a faff.

Though it’s been a couple of months my previous commute was Ramsbottom to Manchester so I’m a confident rider… though not sure I’d ride on the East Lancs itself *gulp*.

In time I might switch to doing the full distance a couple of times a week.

Ah the East Lancs ain't that bad. I've got a few KOMs down it - it's great TT training

Much better than when I used to do Chorley to Manchester or Chorley to Rochdale - both of which involve the A6 (which is the worst road on Earth to ride a bicycle on)

me-109

When I visited Birchwood I used to stay at the hotel in Culcheth (Greyhound?). Many moons back and didn't ride it, but it was a direct route to a busy business park as well as cutting out a chunk of motorway so you can imagine it does get busy. Single carriage, no idea of the current speed limit on it. I can imagine it being horrendous in winter conditions for commuting.