Marple Health - for Wholefoods and Supplements to look GOOD and feel GREAT!

Author Topic: Alan Newton Way  (Read 1437 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

CTCREP

  • Guest
Re: Alan Newton Way
« Reply #3 on: December 03, 2020, 05:09:44 PM »
We decided to take a second look at the Alan Newton Way and realised  the crowds that had been using it on Sunday had hidden a couple of features.
First, just before the new bridge there appears to be the start of a spur heading towards Pear Mill. This should enable people to get closer to the centre of Stockport.  It is to be hoped it will eventually link up with the Fallowfield Loop and so get closer to the centre of Manchester.

Secondly,  once over the bridge there is an original footpath that heads upstream alongside the river.  This riverside path makes an attractive circular route as it leads to the Jim Fearnley  Bridge that takes you back onto the Alan Newton Way, but is only for the sure footed at present.

However as you cross the Jim Fearnley bridge you realise how Stockport MBC have spent thousands of pounds on the over-engineered monstrosities that are totally out of context with the environment both at Woodbank Park and at Chadkirk.  Probably the whole of the Alan Newton Way from Maple to the centre of Stockport could have been completed and properly surfaced 10 years ago if they really hadn't wanted this particular type of bridge, and really had the interests of Stockport's cyclists and walkers in mind.

Belly

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 358
    • Marple Cricket Club Website
Re: Alan Newton Way
« Reply #2 on: November 30, 2020, 09:19:01 AM »
I would agree that the TPT signage is a bit of a nightmare and not just confined to the immediate area to Marple. Over the past 9 months I've cycled all of the local section from Chorlton through to Broadbottom and have managed to 'mislay' the path for a while on pretty much every time I've gone out. Be that signs pointing in the wrong direction or, more usually, no signs at all at key junctions / connections.

Its a shame as, slowly, a really good netwok of off-road paths is emerging and Stockport Council are at least making some progress, with the work around Woodbank Park very welcome - albeit I wish they would surface these path properly to make them harder wearing and therefore attractive to those who don't want to end up coming home covered from head to foot in mud. Furthermore, parts of the Alan Newton Way between Chadkirk and Stockport are already disintergrating / showing signs of water run-off damage.

Judging by the number of people using these paths, they are a popular community asset, so its a bit of a shame that their upkeep doesn't appear to be much of a priority. 
Words are trains for passing through what really has no name...

CTCREP

  • Guest
Alan Newton Way
« Reply #1 on: November 29, 2020, 11:04:18 AM »
 The  Alan Newton Way is part of National Cycle Network 55 which is an Off Road Route between Macclesfield and, eventually, Manchester.  The Alan Newton Way section is now connected to Woodbank Park and last Sunday we walked from Otterspool Bridge to Vernon Park via Woodbank Park and, as one comment I overheard, it is more like the M1.

Well of course it isn’t, but it was very busy and could do with similar rules,  such as the long time countryside advice of - when in the country you walk on the right - this would allow everyone to know which side you should go when passing.

Next is signing.  For many years cyclists have been reporting signs on the Trans Pennine Trail where the signboards  have been turned round  so that strangers to the area get lost. The repeated excuse from the Council is that the poles to which they are attached are round and so they can’t do anything about it.(of course most other people do have a solution).  They maintained the poles would have to be replaced by square ones, and there was no money availableto do so..

A few years ago my wife and I volunteered to walk the length of the Stockport section of the Trans Pennine Trail starting from Reddish Vale Visitor Centre and ahead of a couple of Council Officers so they could see how we reacted to their signing of the Trans Pennine Trail.   They had their nice square wooden sign posts but unfortunately they didn’t think to secure the finger boards,  so by the time we got to Stockport the Officials were able to take about a dozen boards back to the Town Hall.

So what happens now with the Alan Newton Way. The track is considerably better to what it was when, 20 years ago, we cyclists were  first involved and the potholes were as wide as the original path and the land drains were allowed to empty directly onto the path. - you can look out for their solution -  and now the route is signposted by lovely square metal poles. Unfortunately they can’t be adjusted to point in the right direction.  So after leaving Bredbury Hall the route you need to follow is down to your left, whereas the fingerboard shows you should go straight on which takes you into a housing estate and may well be better if you are wanting to cycle into Stockport and eventually Manchester.  There are no signposts the other side of the bridge  and once in Woodbank Park there are very few signposts so, if you, like my wife and I, want to go to Vernon Park you need to turn right and follow a poor footpath towards the Main Entrance to Woodbank Park, otherwise you will probaly spend half an hour wandering around Woodbank Park wondering where  to go.

I have tried to add some photos but the Add Files facility  no longer works for me. so try.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8cmbga5mvqyxywx/Hole%201A.jpg?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/sp5qwcpkfdgv6he/Pipe%201%20A.jpg?dl=0

Photos added - Admin

[attachment deleted by admin]