McFilter

East Liverpool Loop Cycle Ride

I do a lot of cycling these days—partly because it's my sole means of transport, but mostly because it's fun—but don't write about it much. Not here at least.

I see from my blog post at the start that it's been over five years that I've been marking my #InTheSaddle rides. I have no idea how many there've been though, because Instagram has no interest in my interest in my photos; and the set of embedded posts that they've broken on that blog post reinforces how they're web-hostile and is one of the reasons I'll be leaving them soon. I should really have known better, but it's never too late to make the change.

Anyway, this isn't the post about why Instagram are terrible, you've all got that to look forward to when I find time to write it. This is about sharing a nice ride that I've found of late.

Every other Friday, Peloton Liverpool (not the exercise-bike startup, this is a local bike coop doing lots of good bike-related activity in the city) run a social group ride after work. It's great fun—a real mix of people and abilities; they can lend you a bike if you need one; the pace is pretty relaxed; and you can be as chatty and sociable as you want (or just keep yourself to yourself and get some exercise).

Gorgeous evening for another @PelotonLiv group ride. Had to wait for a while at the marina entrance for the RNLI to tow this yacht In #InTheSaddle #LateNightAdultRiding pic.twitter.com/KSr10LypDB

— Adrian McEwen (@amcewen) June 5, 2021

We do somewhere between 15 and 25 miles, over a few hours. I've started tracking the routes and adding them to this map of Peloton Rides.

Recently I was wondering if I could find a suitable route for us taking in my regular ride through Croxteth Hall and the Stocksbridge Village and Gellings Lane greenways. They're part of the route I've been doing for years, to get out into the countryside and across to Rainford to visit my parents and sister. It'd be nice to get out onto the Coach Road, but there's not a good way to loop back from there.

The National Cycle Network actually has a route from Knowsley Industrial Estate through Kirkby and over to Fazakerley. I knew how to get onto the Loop Line from there, although my routes around there tend to either involve a section on a major road and/or a gated look-both-ways-to-check-for-trains crossing over the railway. Neither of which would work well for a group ride!

I've found a better route through Fazakerley, and have reccied it a couple of times now (the first time, I got caught in a hailstorm and then torrential downpour), and last Sunday got a decent GPS trace and not a terrible timelapse video to give a feel for it.

It's the gold track on this map of some of my routes shows the route. It's about 17 miles in total. Ice-cream at the top of Everton Brow overlooking the city is optional, but recommended.