Leeds Liverpool TPT

john_dixon

Having most of our summer adventures cancelled I'm looking for a Tour later in the year. One week max'm? Living in North Yorkshire (Northallerton) and with a sister in Bridlington and having worked for British Waterways I thought about:
Train to Leeds, ride Leeds Liverpool, detour to Southport and pick up the TPT to Hornsea, ride on to my sister's then home.
But some reports are off-putting, from poor surfaces and industrial landscapes to unfriendly natives. I have a choice of a full sus, with lock-out, or a tourer with 38mm tyres and mudguards, or 50mm without. Any advice?
Thanks, John

alwaystimetotorque

That sounds like a very good few days of riding.
I've ridden the majority of the TPT from Liverpool to the Woodhead tunnels. Not all at once and over a number of rides over the years. I'm more familiar with the sections through Greater Manchester, Cheshire and Liverpool. I've ridden these areas on my road, CX and mountain bike. From my experience of these sections I don't believe that a mountain bike is required. There is one very small section heading from the top of the Woodhead pass down to the tunnels that it would be useful for but you can bypass that on the road anyway or just walk down as it's quite steep.
For the most part the sections beyond and heading west are very good and the likes of your tourer with 38 or 50 tyres on would be fine, though how much clearance you have with the guards may be a consideration.
There are quite a lot of cobbled sections through Manchester but I've done these on my road bike without a problem.
Beyond Manchester you're onto a mixture of generally well paved or well compacted granular canal towpaths and trails.
You're obviously going to pass through many different areas and parts of industry past and present. I've never had any issues although certain sections are going to be a nicer experience than others as is what you are looking at.
Good luck with the trip and would be good for you to share your experience.

amrushton

Leeds Liverpool canal towpath?

jimmocrates

I did the TPT in September 2011 with my brother on a HT MTB with semi-slick tyres. It's certainly varied!

I lived in Trafford at the time, so got the train to Southport to start.

Day 1: Southport to Flixton, Trafford (where I lived at the time)

Mostly good surfaces on old rail lines, except for the section around Fiddlers Ferry/Runcorn which was on the canal tow path - ok in dry weather, poor if wet. I rode into Liverpool a few times from home along this trail too. Well worth a ride down to the Pier head. I liked the scenery - it ranged from some industrial/Victorian Swing bridges/Runcorn bridge to nice villages (Hale and Lymm) and nice country views from the old railway lines. Navigation was ok, a bit tricky around Speke, but that was about it. (Plenty of pubs/shops for feeding)

Day 2: Flixton, Trafford to Wortley (B+B)

Set off from home, wet trails. I knew these well so easy to navigate initially. Nice start around the Mersey Valley. Trails generally hardpacked and ok (but muddy) in wet. I always found the TPT confusing around Stockport!Got slightly lost, but out via Tameside eventually. From Charlestown/Broadbottom over to Hadfield and via Tintwistle, shops were scarce and we were starving! Got a sandwich for the sectionby Tintwistle over the Pennines. Really scenic area, tricky riding on skinny tyres though. Once down on the other side, old railway lines to Wortley (nice village, good pub), which had a nice B+B we stopped in.

Day 3: Wortley to Selby (B+B)

Really nice trail out of Wortley (then got lost where the different trails head different directions). Really nie sections through (I think) the Don valley. Good pub for lunch! Scenery after this largely made of tow paths and through vast open farm lands. Selby had plenty of B+Bs/pubs for the evning.

Day 4: Selby to Hull

Maybe we had a cold, grey day for this, but pretty featureless landscapes for large parts of the day. Very quiet roads/trails though. Had planned to ride it all the way through Hull to Hornsea, but it was a Sunday and my chain snapped about a mile outside of Hull, so had to push my bike into Hull for getting the train back to Manchester.

If lockdown has taught us anything, it's to go and ride bikes anytime, anywhere you can! I've got kids now. Riding all day, pub in the evening is another life!

Enjoy!

jimmocrates

By the way, I live in Lancs now near Forrest of Bowland.
Leeds-Liverpool from Shipley-Skipton-Foulridge = Beautiful scenery, nice towns.
L-L canal through Nelson, Burnley, Clayton, Rishton, Blackburn... less so.
Not ridden it, so can't comment on how good the trails are. I don't mind canal towpaths, but I get a bit fed up with them after 10+miles.

thistle_

It's a few years since I've been but my recollection of the TPT between Thelwall and Altrincham was that it was muddy in quite a few places.
Not swampy but I wouldn't take a shiny road bike down there. Something with wide-ish tyres would manage fine but fat nobbly tyres are overkill.

I think this is where it crosses the Woodhead Pass https://goo.gl/maps/uGJP63pSuBGYSnv27 - might be best to do this outside of rush hour.

cruff

thistle_(mbnw) said:

It's a few years since I've been but my recollection of the TPT between Thelwall and Altrincham was that it was muddy in quite a few places.
Not swampy but I wouldn't take a shiny road bike down there. Something with wide-ish tyres would manage fine but fat nobbly tyres are overkill.

I think this is where it crosses the Woodhead Pass https://goo.gl/maps/uGJP63pSuBGYSnv27 - might be best to do this outside of rush hour.

Yep. It's basically a dirt path between Thelwall and Altrincham along the old Lymm railway line. I wouldn't ride my road bike down there at the best of times, and definitely not when it's wet.

john_dixon

Well, I've got my return train tickets, Northallerton to Newcastle. Cycle the Reiver's Route to Carlisle and back to Newcastle on the Hadrian wall Route. Four days.
The Leeds/Liverpool TPT is still on my "to do" list. Thanks for all the info. I think it will be my road bike, 38mm and mudguards. Steady away!