The final Stockport Community Cycling Club ride before Christmas saw a hardy group of riders meet at Torkington Park in Hazel Grove for the Poynton Circular route.

Compared to recent years this Christmas has so far proved relatively mild, and so it was on this occasion, though there was a bit of a stiff breeze to contend with. I was leading today’s ride, and Sarah was due to be the back-leaders. Sadly Sarah was still struggling with the cough that she has had for the last three weeks, and which almost meant her missing last weekends Stockport 10 run, and therefore was unable to join us.

Before we had even started the ride there were the obligatory punctures to fix!

Finally we set off through the park.

We made our way towards the Middlewood Way.

 

  

The route followed the Middlewood Way until we reached Higher Poynton.

From here we dropped down through Poynton through some lovely autumnal scenes as we used the passages running along the backs of the houses.

From here we made our way over to Bramhall via Lower Park Road and then on to the old Woodford Road.

We cycled through Happy Valley.

The coffee stop was taken at Bramall Hall Tea Room, always a place worth visiting – though sadly they had already run out of mince pies when I asked for one.

 

After the coffee break we completed the ride by making our way around Mirrlees fields and weaved our way back through Hazel Grove.

  

This was an enjoyable cycle ride of nearly 14 miles. With the weather on the mild side it was a fantastic opportunity for us to enjoy a winter ride and enjoy the Autumn/Winter colours.

We would just like to finish this post by wishing all our readers an enjoyable and blessed Christmas 2013.

You can view the route we took on Poynton Circular below: