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.


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.