The Davenport Station site is for
users of Davenport railway
station, Stockport, England - and for all the people of
Davenport.
These supplementary cyclist's pages are for everyone who enjoy cycling
around the south Stockport area, and especially those who attend the
Stockport Council Cycle User Group meetings, which are freely open to
all. New faces are always welcome.
Note: this is a strictly unofficial
site, not connected with or approved by Stockport Council or
Northern Rail.
Created and compiled by Charlie Hulme.
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The Royon Drive steps: nightmare on route 558
In 2010, lots of signs appeared on posts and on road surfaces marking
out 'National Cycle Network Route 558' from Stockport to Manchester
Airport. If you follow this route down Cheadle Old Road from Edgeley
you may notice such a sign (circled) at the junction shown above,
pointing to the left down Naples Road. (You may also notice that
the traffic light takes a long time to change to green if there are no
cars about.) You may be tempted to follow this sign, but beware ...
.., you will find yourself at the end of a cul-de-sac called Royon
Drive, facing this footbridge over the Stockport - Altrincham railway.
Quite an obstacle for a National Cycle Network route. The steps on the
other side of the bridge are equally difficult, if not worse. We have
been told that the Stockport Cycling Officer had been negotiating with
Network Rail about the possibility of a 'cycle gutter' to make it
possible to push a bike up the steps rather than carry it, but even so
it would be quite a push.
This map is an extract from the CycleGM interactive cycle map: the
three dots in the middle (euphemistically keyed as 'walk your bike')
mark the location of the bridge. The brown blobs on the map show a
designated walking route for those who don't fancy the bridge, walking
because the hypothetical user does not have the confidence to negotiate
the roundabout by the Morrison's and Homebase superstores.
Is there a solution? There's no room to rebuild the bridge at its
current location, but perhaps a new route alongside the railway and a
new
bridge connecting to Keith Drive - obviously too costly in current
conditions. The roundabout is only a problem when travelling towards
the airport as a simple left turn is all that's needed. Travelling
towards Stockport ... it's every cyclist for him/herself, I'm afraid,
but that footbridge as it stands is best avoided. In my view, the sign
in the top picture should be removed, and cyclists heading away from
Stockport routed along the main road and left at the roundabout.
What a shame it is that nothing was done when the planners permitted
the superstore development.
Written by Charlie
Hulme, May 2011.
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