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The Lovell Telescope at dusk, behind a hedge and a big tree

Ride out · Jodrell Bank and mid Cheshire · 31 October 2026

A coffee at Jodrell Bank

After a week off the bikes we needed a quick route, and we know this one well: lovely twisty roads and a coffee under the Lovell Telescope. Bikers ride straight past it, but the car park is free and flat, and you don't need a ticket.

21 miles · About 45 min riding (estimated) · 2 stops · Ridden by Mel and Glyn

Nobody paid for this. The opinions are ours, and they're not for sale. Our promise

The route and the GPX

WOULD WE GO BACK?

Would we go back?

Yes.

Why
Distance
21 miles
Riding time
About ¾ hour (estimated)
Stops
2 stops
  1. Coffee stop
  2. Ride past it
Play the route

The video

Garage Gave Us the WRONG Sprocket… So We Went for a Ride!

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Everything on this page is from this ride. The video has the bits we couldn't write down.

Who rode this

Mel and Glyn. Mel on the Z650, Glyn on the Tiger 900 GT Pro.

Ridden this one yourself, or think we got a stop wrong? Tell us, car parks, cambers and all.

The story

Written like a diary, not a guide.

A quick one. After a week off the bikes we needed a quick little route, and this is one we know quite well. It doesn’t take long, and there are some lovely twisty roads, with speed restrictions in places. We went in autumn, and the trees round Jodrell Bank were doing their best. I missed this so much. You have to take these days wherever you can get them.

Why we stopped. If you know the area, you know this place exists, but bikers often ride past because they don’t think it would be a good place to stop. It is. You ride through the gate and nobody stops you. The car park is free and flat, with no gravel or mud to plan round, and on a quiet day you can park right at the front. You don’t need a ticket for the café, so walk in, get a drink and take it out to the benches, where you can keep an eye on your bike with the telescope in the background. The area round it is really nice too.

Wall of clocks. Inside, there’s a row of clocks for Jodrell Atomic, Local Sidereal, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and a black hole. The board by the counter quotes The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: at Jodrell Bank, “someone decided it was time for a nice relaxing cup of tea.” So we did.

The Lovell. The telescope outside is 76 metres across, finished in 1957, Grade I listed and part of a World Heritage Site since 2019. It found Sputnik’s carrier rocket by radar on 12 October 1957, about a week after launch, and for a while it had a missile early-warning role, which is why Glyn calling me a Russian spy works better here than most places.

The money. In July, the Science and Technology Facilities Council said it won’t renew e-MERLIN, the network the Lovell works in, after March 2028. The University of Manchester says that without a replacement, observations stop in April 2028, the Lovell’s included. There’s been a petition, and on 15 October the government told the Commons the site’s future is secure, but no replacement money has been announced that I can find. The visitor centre is funded separately, so your coffee is safe.

Space nerd. If you’ve got time, you can pay to go in. There’s the First Light Exhibition, the Whispering Dishes outside, and films in the Space Dome, added on when you book for £2 to £5. We want to see Supermassive Black Holes, which is on until the end of December. An adult ticket is £17.10 online and lasts 12 months, so you can ride back for the bits you missed.

The verdict. Come for the twisty roads, from around Macclesfield up to this area, and stop for the coffee. The GPX is below.

Mel in her helmet, arms out beside the Z650, with the Planet Café sign and the telescope far behind her

Glyn: How many layers have you got on? Me: Fat layers. Loads!

A café wall of clocks labelled Jodrell Atomic, Local Sidereal, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Black Hole

I'm becoming a space nerd here, completely.

Glyn with both arms up beside the Z650 and the Tiger, the Lovell Telescope filling the sky behind him

The route

21 miles, 2 stops, 0 watch-outs.

About 45 min of riding, not counting stops (estimated).

GPX by Mel and Glyn. We didn't record this one. It's rebuilt from memory, in the order we rode it, from Warmingham to Jodrell Bank and back to Holmes Chapel.

Download the GPX
01 02

Scroll to draw the route

  1. 01 Coffee stop Planet Café, Jodrell Bank
  2. 02 Ride past it Twemlow Viaduct, near Holmes Chapel

The stops

The car park, the camber, the food, the loos.

In route order. The things that make a nervous or autistic rider turn round at the door, written down so you don't have to.

The tarmac car park in autumn sun, a hedge and fence along one side and the Lovell Telescope behindThe glass doors of the shop and café, with a sign pointing left to the main entrancePlanet Café's boards: cold drinks, hot drinks, a Douglas Adams quote and the local suppliersGlyn at a wooden picnic shelter on the phone, two helmets and a coffee on the table, autumn leaves all roundMel's selfie at the picnic shelter, with two takeaway cups and the helmets beside her
Bike parking: biker friendly

Coffee stop

Planet Café, Jodrell Bank

Car park
Free and completely flat, with no gravel or mud, and you can ride through the gate with no one stopping you. There's no dedicated bike parking, but on a quiet day you can park right at the front without any issue, and it's big enough anyway: Jodrell Bank says about 320 cars.
Camber and junctions
When you come in there's a kind of grid across the way. I don't really know what it's called. It's a little annoying, and in the wet it might be slippery. Once you're on the car park, you're fine.
Food
We stopped for coffee, so that's all I can vouch for. Prices from the board on 31 October 2026: mug of Yorkshire Tea £3.70, americano £3.90, flat white £3.80, cappuccino or latte £4.10, mocha £4.40, hot chocolate £4.20. Dairy-free milk is free. The same board names its local suppliers: Heart & Graft coffee from Manchester, milk from Bidlea Dairy, about three miles away, and H.M. Pasties, an Oldham social enterprise.
Culture
You don't need a ticket for the café, shop or car park. Walk through the gift shop by the main entrance, or through the little gate. Jodrell Bank lists Planet Café as 10am to 4.30pm and the site as Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm, last entry 3.30pm. An older site map calls the café's hours seasonal, so check before you ride. The address is Bomish Lane, Lower Withington, SK11 9DW, off the A535. For the full site, an adult ticket is £17.10 online, children £11.90, and it lasts 12 months.
Loos
Between the gift shop and the café, male and female, and both were clean.
See the bike from your table?
From the benches outside, yes, but from inside the café, no.
Watch this stop in the video (7:30)

Ride past it

Twemlow Viaduct, near Holmes Chapel

Culture
A really nice viaduct on the way back. It carries the Crewe to Manchester line over the River Dane: 23 arches, built in 1841 for the Manchester and Birmingham Railway, and Grade II listed. The route runs alongside it on the A535, so this one's for looking at as you pass.
Watch this stop in the video (9:48)

The roads

Which bits are worth it and which bits you get through.

  1. 01

    Worth riding

    Warmingham to Goostrey

    Lanes out of Warmingham, the A530 and A54 through Middlewich, then Byley Lane through Byley and Cranage. Quite nice roads, with speed restrictions in places.

  2. 02

    Worth riding

    Twemlow to Jodrell Bank

    Goostrey Lane, Twemlow Lane and the A535, then Bridge Lane, Red Lane and Bomish Lane to the telescope.

  3. 03

    Worth riding

    The A535 back to Holmes Chapel

    Short, with the viaduct alongside as you come into Holmes Chapel. The route ends there, so carry on however suits you.

The verdict

The short and tall of it.

  • 5ft (153cm)

    The car park is completely flat, so there's nothing to plan before my feet go down. Watch the grid on the way in, especially if it's wet. On a quiet day I parked right at the front, and if you want to keep an eye on your bike, sit on the benches outside, because you can't see it from inside the café.

    Mel · Kawasaki Z650

  • 6ft 2 (188cm)

    Ride in, park on flat tarmac, get a coffee. Nothing here gave me or the Tiger any trouble.

    Glyn · Triumph Tiger 900 GT Pro
WOULD WE GO BACK?

Would we go back?

Yes.

A free, flat car park and a coffee with the Lovell Telescope over the hedge. Plenty of bikers ride past it. Stop.

No star ratings. No scores. What happened and what we'd tell a friend.

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