Rossendale, a land with an industrial heritage which has helped give us loads of fantastic natural riding. Lots of up and lots of down, proper mountain biking using the old pack horse trails and hill top routes from Rossendales past. There's a good network of bridleways across Rossendale linking with nearby Calderdale, Rochdale and Bury allowing for short and long looping routes to be ridden. In addition there are the excellent Cragg and Lee Quarry trail centres and the Mary Towneley loop, an offshoot of the Pennine Bridleway also runs through the borough.
You're never far from civilisation although it can feel pretty isolated up on the moors, particularly in southern Rossendale or up on Deerplay Moor. Conditions can be variable and can often be several degrees colder up on the tops.
Rossendale highlights include:
- Tthe descent from Cragg Quarry to Cowpe on the Mary Towneley Loop. Long, rocky, steep in places with a couple of nice switch backs and a load of babies head sized rocks to play with.
- The infamous Rooley Moor Road leading the other way from Cragg Quarry down to Rochdale. A famine road which is a mixture of cobbles, dirt and stone flagged tramways. best tackled heading towards Rochdal.
- Thieveley Pike on Deerplay Moor, check out the views from the trig point across north to the Dales, South to Manchester, East to Stoodley Pike and West out to the mast of Winter Hill above Rivington (even better on a night ride with snow on the ground).
Download a map of Rossendale's bridleways here.
How to get there:
- This Weather Widget is provided by the Met Office
