This is such a good idea. However, I tried the route for the first time today and the signage at certain key points is absolutely non-existant and destroyed the whole experience. I went clockwise round the route, and even though I had a printed copy of the map from the website, I got completely lost in Wythenshawe Estate and after 15 mins ended up where I had started from and then at the Holiday Inn end had to lift my bike over a locked gate and climb over after it having missed another sign. Please sort this out.

Unfortunately we are not responsible for the route or the signage.

However, to improve things, we have now added a weblink to the Orbital Route leaflet and a link to the City

Council report form for cycleway problems.

We will bring your comments to the attention of the Cycle Centre at the airport, as they seem to be involved in the route.

Perhaps you could report where signs are missing to the council too.

Does anyone have a name to contact at the council or someone else that we can badger.

In response to our email to the Cycle Centre at the airport, we received an out-of-office reply to say it was temporarily closed until October 2009. We have contacted the airport and are awaiting their reply regarding who is responsible for signage etc.

Cycle Centre: we have discovered that this is a facility for airport employees only (not much of one as it seems to be more closed than open).

Orbital Cycleway map: we have discovered that this cannot be viewed or downloaded from the council website. We have e-mailed them to find out if the paper map is still available and for more information about online availability.

The council website webmaster has replied to say the Orbital Cycleway map is now back online (15th June 09).

Orbital maintenance: We have had a response to our online fault reporting and the area we highlighted will be swept this week, and the vegetation assessed this week for possible trimming.

Also, there are plans to redevelop Runger Lane cycleway subject to approval.

Cycle Centre: The latest on this is that it will now function as an information point for visitors. Apparently there have been a lot of changes since the Orbital Cycleway leaflet was printed. For the current situation, we've been advised to contact Ground Transport, Manchester Airport, Manchester, M90 1QX.
Tel: 0161 489 8718
or online: using bug before the 'at' symbol and manairport.co.uk after the 'at' symbol.

I did this ride today with my family (wife, Josh aged 6 and Natasha aged 8). I would not recommend this as a family ride because the side roads are still quite busy and we crossed quite a few busy roads. We parked near the airport viewing platform (well, just down the road at the premier Inn). The viewing platform was OK to see all the 'Plane spotters' taking photos, although not really my idea of fun. Spoilt because we could not look in any of the 3 planes on display and the fact that to see concorde we needed to spend £20 (£5 each, even for the kids) I though was too much. However, they have a good restuarant and cafe. From there we cycled to Styal which is a lovely place and had a picnic. Good so far !, however the rest was quite bad. The signage near wythenshaw was poor (we got a bit lost as signs stating 'manchester Orbital' stopped) and its a very rough area indeed. Kept going in fear of being mugged. Glad we did it but will never do it again.

Useful to hear of your experiences, but the Manchester Orbital was never really designed as a leisure route. It's a network for commuting to the airport, or travelling via the airport, and for greeters and weepers. A lot of it goes alongside very busy roads so it's neither quiet or pleasant. We included it on this website to show that it is possible to cycle to/from the airport, as this sort of info is often hard to glean if you're not local.
Please, please report the lack of signage by clicking on the link just above the map, so that the council knows about it and will (hopefully) address it.

I did this Manchester Airport Orbital Cycle today, at the back of the Airport was a cycle path, it went onto a very fast rough track that took me to a locked gate,now please bear with me that Im 62 had to lift my bike over the gate and climb over it,good job I eaten my weeterbix that day,lol, then under the Airport Tunnel,bit scary but I did it, and I was going great guns so I thought.

I came out the tunnel , guess what happened, I ran out of cycle track and had to cross a carriageway onto another cycle path from the tunnels both ways, this was no mean-feet I can tell you, it was blooming hard work,I wont bore you with the rest of the details as there was so many ,lol. I will just say It was a good job it was a sunny day.

I might try it again in a few years time when they get better signs and a pelican crossing on the other side of the tunnel,lol.

Hi Mike

A useful warning to others regarding choice of cycle track through the tunnels. So to repeat your advice -
choose the western side of the carriageway as that cycle track is continuous.

Regarding the rough track and gateway - you missed the route around this obstacle. When cycling around the route clockwise you have to look out for a path going off left that does look more like a footpath. This takes you through some fields and then onto a lane that comes out very close to that gate, but the correct side of it, so you can then cycle to the roundabout.

We'll have to amend the above map with a couple more warning signs to alert others to the two points you've made.

You might care to report the lack of signage too (link above).

Hi Alec and Val,

Thanks for the advice about the Manchester Orbital, I thought I better have another crack at that and give you some feed back, and yes it was a much better ride , going on the western side of the carriageway, but the paths through the field before that are very rough, would be nice to see some tarmac on there even for walkers, as for the cycle ride ,took it steady and did it in one hour and ten minutes, not so bad for an old timer,lol.

Hi Mike

Glad the second time went better. Was there a sign there at the junction where you went wrong the first time? We remember it being signposted but it was a while back when we tried it out, and we cycled anti-clockwise too so we joined the perimeter track instead of having to look out for an exit from it.

NB Message to all. Please, please anyone who's cycled the Orbital and has comments about wayfinding, surfaces etc, do tell the Manchester Council - use the reporting form on their website (the link is a long way above) - if they don't know about it, they're unlikely to inspect it or put it right.

Hi Alec and Val.

I'm not to sure If it was signposted, as a dog walker,pointed to the turning on on the left of the path onto the field and path area, so Im not to sure about that.

What I would like to ask you, are they any more cycle routes near the Orbital Cycle Route,or nearby to the Airport area that are easy going.

Take Care

Mike

Hi Mike

Maybe someone else reading this can tell us if that junction off the perimeter track is well signposted?

Regarding other cycle routes - you could always link in with bits of the Cheshire Cycleway - which was the reason we put the Orbital on here in the first place - to show people arriving/leaving by train/plane how to get to the Cheshire Cycleway route.

Hello! Interesting thread above. I was thinking of cycling to the airport and back as I fly regularly with only a small backpack for luggage. It would save me a small fortune in taxi fares... It sounds do-able, but does anyone know if there are safe bike parking facilities where I could leave a bike locked up for a few days? Has anyone tried cycling to the airport as a user of the airport?

Thanks for any advice!
Ryan

There is a Cycle Greater Manchester website
(cyclegm.org/maps_guides/maps_index.aspx) that has links to maps which show cycle parking, including lockers, but these are not marked for the airport. Presumably these would pose a public security threat? There are cycle racks though. I wonder if the airline you use offers left luggage facilities? The airport itself offers left luggage (items accepted at discretion of the person in charge and subject to available space), currently £5 per 24 hours per item according to the airport's website. Where would you cycle from? You could cycle to the nearest railway station to the airport (Heald Green or Stockport, depending on the line you use), leave your bike in a secure locker there, then use the train for one stop, which might save costs. Locker locations are shown on the BLUC section of the Transport for Greater Manchester website (tfgm). We will put links to these in the text above asap. submenuheader=1

We've done some more exploring of the Internet and found a number of useful links. We have amended the text for this page and hope you will find all of them useful. We were pleased to find an updated map of cycling around the airport with lots of info on routes and racks too.