Outline maps - paper and online

These are OK for planning, but not so useful once on the road.

Apart from the outline map on this website, Cheshire County Council had a Cheshire Cycleway leaflet that included an outline map of the route. This leaflet may still be stocked by Cheshire East Tourist Information Centres (TICs) (or Cheshire West's, Manchester's or N. Staffordshire's) and you may find it in some local libraries too, or you may be able to get one posted to you by them or the council. However, Cheshire County Council ceased to exist after 31st March 2009 and we doubt that the replacement councils (Cheshire East; Chester and Cheshire West) will continue to publish this.

You can also view an online route (shown on a 2010 or older map) and download an outline route map (dated 2007) on Discover Cheshire's website.

Signposting

The route is signposted in both directions, but signs are attached to the nearest existing road sign, which means they are not always exactly on the junction or that obvious. So you have to develop a sixth sense for them. Also there are still a few signs dating back to the original route, which can be confusing.

And...where the route is shared by several cycleways (notably the 55 on the Wirral), all reference to the 70 can disappear for a while.

Additionally, with the demise of Cheshire County Council, cyclists are reporting that signs are missing at many junctions - although sometimes in summer the hedges obscure the signs. Another current problem is the Alderley Edge bypass construction, which has closed the route at Welsh Row. Although diversion signs were promised for Jan 09, these have yet to materialise, although the latest is that they should be in place for August 09. Let us know if you see any!

All of this means it's always useful to have a map to hand. In any case, a map is useful for both overall planning and detours on the day.

Detailed maps

Ordnance Survey (OS) Landranger maps (1: 50 000 or 1.25 inches to 1 mile)

are sufficiently detailed with off-road routes and are marked with some cycle routes, but there are a few mistakes - nothing too major though. You'll need Chester & Wrexham no.117 for the west side of the county; Stoke-on-Trent & Macclesfield no. 118 for the east; Manchester, Bolton & Warrington no.109 for the north. You can compare prices of OS maps using our online cycle shop.

We usually use the OS maps for planning but on the ride we use the relevant pages torn out of a spiral-bound motoring atlas based on Ordnance Survey mapping. The scale (1:190,000 or 3 miles to 1 inch) is just right for finding routes, railway stations and tourist attractions. The other advantage is cost and convenience - these atlases are cheap, produced annually so new roads and developements are shown, and a couple of pages are easy to fold up and put in a pocket for quick reference.

For the technologically up-to-the-minute of you, there's always GPS and handlebar mountable units.

Browse, compare or buy maps/satnav/GPS from Cheshire Cycleway's online cycle shop.

Local council cycle route information - transport or leisure?

Cycling is regarded as both transport and leisure, so when you're checking council websites for the latest route information or people to contact, look at the transport section and the countryside/leisure/tourism sections.

Although the Cheshire Cycleway route is seen by the local councils as a tourist activity, locals use sections of it for everyday cycling and of course these can be used for day rides too.