Manchester to Leeds. a quiet way ?

[ton]

i am picking something up in manchester later this week. and want a nice quiet route back to leeds.
in the past i have followed the canal up to rochdale, then tod, hebbers, dewsbury, leeds. it is nice, in summer.

but i want something a bit quicker and quiet.

any route suggestions anyone please.

[redefined_cycles]

Check out this route on Strava: https://strava.app.link/vtU7i7Upwdb — Midland to home

Check out this route on Strava: https://strava.app.link/5H2UPmWpwdb — Manchester>Scapegoat hill>home

Any of these any good to you Tony... might need to edit a couple of hills out of em if you liked

[Chew]

Depends how you want to get over the Pennines?

The most direct/quiet/pleasant way is over Buckstones from Denshaw.

Its a nice steady drag up, usually with a tailwind.
Not many cars, quite scenic, and you'll get your moneys worth on the drop down into the Calder Valley.

Never found a nice way out of the post industrial sprawl of Manchester, and once you're down towards Mirfield you probably know your way home

[ton]

cheers. was thinking summat quieter.

is the canal from mossley up to diggle rideable ?

[Chew]

From Diggle, take Boat Lane up to the farm and then the track up to Brun Clough.

From memory its all rideable, if a bit steep in places, but its a while since i've been over that way.

Unsure of the Canal before

[FLV]

Canal / Cycle path from stalybridge to uppermill is fine, I use that a bit. From Manchester / Ashton to Stalybridge is less nice in an industrial kind of way.
A bit after stalybridge, move onto the saddleworth liner. Dog walkers abound but traffic free.

Cut onto the roads through uppermill (Food opportunity).

Up Harrop lane is a nice climb.

Once up there, PB north or head down into marsden (short busy section) then back on the canal at least as far as slaithwaite (canal side bakery takaway and canal side brewer's )

Over to someone else from there to get through Hudder's and onto leeds

I quite like usung Komoot's 'bike touring route' which gives as much cycle lanes as possible. If you dont have it, I can pull a gpx off that for you.

[In Reverse]

Something like this using bits of what people have said above Tony:

https://www.strava.com/routes/2791334726210364048

Drop down into Elland at the end of that and you can presumably make your way back from there?

I'd give Boat Lane and Diggle a swerve if you're looking for relative speed and comfort - as Chew said going through Denshaw and over the top there is a steady climb on a usually quiet road.

The canal out of town will be busy with walkers and joggers if the weather's nice. Hyde Road is an option - I believe it's now got segregated cycle lanes - but I haven't been up there for a while.

[whitestone]

There's a bridge out on the Saddleworth linear path in Uppermill - been missing for nearly a year.

Not sure about the canal as far as Uppermill but from Uppermill take the back lane to pick up the "Delph Donkey" (an old railway line) to get to Delph, then you've a busyish road to Denshaw. The road out of Denshaw over to Buckstones (the A640) can be quiet but is also a bit of a racetrack for bikers. Once at Buckstones I don't know about routes east.