I'd decided I wanted to explore the Fallowfield Loop line for a while. This is the railway route that they built the Sainsbury's in the cutting of in Fallowfield (thus blocking it up!) - and Revolution[1], the bar next door, is part of the old station. It took ages to get a good map of the route because the Friends of the Fallowfield Loop's map is fairly useless and the one on Cycle Greater Manchester isn't much better. The map I used in the end, in conjunction with Stuart's old 1998 sustrans map and my Orange OS map of the area was one sent to me by email by the Manc council's cycling officer, which I include here - Manchester Cycleway leaflet - but even this one isn't fantastic. I suppose they presume that once you're on it you don't need a good map!
Anyway, having worked out vaguely what I was doing (planning to follow the line, and either going to end up at ASDA in Eastlands (near the new stadium) or to find the Openshaw Market/Boot Sale, I got going. Finding the beginning in Chorlton wasn't /too/ tricky. Something I discovered fairly soon though was that the track was, although well-surfaced in general, very undulating. I was knackered by about the fourth mile, which I couldn't work out - I wasn't doing /that/ badly! The only thing I could think of was that there was a slight incline on the path; amongst all the undulations where the track rose to the access points and dropped down there must have been a small ongoing rise. If you look at the elevation data for the route I took (link above) - click the Elevation link on the left if it's not visible - this becomes clear to see. Hurrah - so it wasn't just that I was being useless; there /was/ a slow incline. (If it's one thing I can't cope with, it's hills...!) To reinforce my hypothesis, I found it a lot (a /lot/) easier coming back from the market - it was downhill all the way! Well, basically I got the slow incline back again, in my favour, and it made for a much easier, comfortable and more enjoyable ride (because I didn't have to keep stopping to get my breath back so much). Oh... a side-note - I went up the slope at the side of Sainsbury's all in one go. Hurrah.
Took a slightly different, less faffy route back to the loop from the market - mainly because I wanted to cut the corner. In the end I only saved about three quarters of a mile, mostly because the roads didn't go where I wanted them to. Did a little muddy footpath in one place that was pretty much offroad. Even Manchester's roads were smooth by comparison!
So why is the timing (above) split into two parts, I hear you ask? No? Well I'm going to tell you anyway. Simple explanation - at the market I took my bike computer and put it in my pocket. However, it obviously made contact with my metal keychain in there which made it think that it was still on a bike - I spotted this when I got back to my bike, and had a quick look at the stats... it thought my maximum speed was 64mph! A slight exaggeration (on this ride I didn't even hit 20) so I took a note of the settings etc and reset it again. Mental note: Next time, put it in another pocket!
Wore my cycling shorts under jeans and it probably was the right choice; I was debating beforehand what to wear and at the last minute I abandoned just cycling in a T shirt and took my fleece too. It was really quite chilly (BBC weather reckons it was 5C) and although the sun was out for most of the day the breeze whilst cycling made me pleased I stuck my fleece on (although I didn't have it done up). I think my legs would have been quite cold had I stuck with shorts under shorts. As it was when I stopped to look round Openshaw market for an hour I got cold just with a T shirt and fleece, though I suspect that wasn't helped by the fact I was slightly damp from sweat. I did take some gloves but didn't wear them (nearly did at one point).
18.35 miles is the second furthest I've gone in one day (after the Sandbach ride last year) so I'm quite chuffed I did it, even though the route's a bit underwhelming. Perhaps if I looked out for various things to see on the way I'd have been more inspired, but the route was at least better than a) offroad and b) Manchester roads!
Slightly sore backside now.
[1] It's been pointed out that what I referred to as Revolution may well be Bar XS instead. I plead ignorance!
There's some good photos of the Fallowfield loop before it was dismantled here (which mentions the electrification - I spotted a catenary support still on one of the bridges today). Levenshulme Railway Memories has some pics of the Loop line in various states of use, disrepair and being turned into the pathway.
I also noticed that the path from the loop to Gorton seemed to follow the line of an old canal, though I forget which one...