25th July, 2026
The day started with a sunny morning. Even after flying in to the UK a few days ago, there was little to no jet lag. The choice of flights worked in my favour this time. A daytime flight from Sydney to Shanghai, overnight in Shanghai, then the onward flight to London was also daytime (arriving early evening). Leaving the hostel, I wandered around by the marina.
After carrying out a few errands, I returned to the hostel, finished packing up, and collected my bike. By then, it had become quite overcast. I cycled up to St. Peter’s Square, met my friend Gary, and dropped into a coffee shop for a coffee and lunch. Following that, it was time to head back to St. Peter’s Square for my departure.
Final checks (and an attempted YouTube live stream – which didn’t work properly), I was off. The route through southern Manchester was flat, so it was rather easy going. About an hour after departure, I reached Stockport, passing by the Stockport railway viaduct – this carries the line from Manchester Piccadilly to destinations such as London, Buxton, Sheffield, amongst other destinations. It was just past here where I had my first climb – steeper than it looked. It was the first time (and, suffice to say, certainly not the last) of the day where I’d be getting off the bike to push.
After climbing the hill, and negotiating some of the back streets, I joined the main road (the A6) which flattend out again. There, I was met by friends who cheered me on. Thanks for coming out! After a few kilometres, it was back onto the back roads – nice to get off the main roads. The decision, though, would result in a very tough day. But it did permit me the opportunity to cycle along the Peak Forest Canal towpath, which made for some very nice cycling.
Shortly after leaving the canal towpath, that’s when the climbing really started. Had I continued along the A6, rather than leaving it, the climb would have been a lot gentler. The route I ultimately chose went up and up and up. Some grades were as steep as 24%. Low gear wasn’t quite low enough, so I resorted to lowest gear – ie: my feet.
I maintained my lowest gear for the next couple of hours. However, there were brief respites where I had a little flat or downhill sections. Had I not taken this route, I would have missed out on some great views.
It wasn’t until 8PM before the climbing finally ended. After a wonderful downhill into Buxton, I grabbed some dinner before continuing on to the night’s Warmshowers host. Arriving at my hosts’ place, it was originally agreed that I’d be tenting. However, it did start raining shortly after. I asked whether it would be possible to stay in the garage, to which they were quite ok about. However, they then invited me to stay in the living room overnight. Thanks guys!
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