Manchester to Blackpool ride 2025: Thousands of cyclists on a 100km / 60 mile(ish) Charity Epic!

Join me (Paul), Ken (Sir Kenneth) and Aidy (Clarkey) on an unforgettable journey from Manchester to Blackpool for the annual 100km charity bike ride in aid of The Christie!

Starting off from the iconic Lowry Theatre at Salford Quays, we, along with thousands of other cyclists of every description, pedaled northwest through Greater Manchester and into scenic Lancashire.

This video captures all the highlights, from our stops at Howe Bridge, Haigh Woodland Park and our Preston lunch stop, before our final push through Kirkham and out to the coast at beautiful Lytham.

The weather was absolutely glorious, and the banter among riders was top-notch throughout the entire ride. It was an incredible day raising money for a great cause, finishing strong on the South Promenade in Blackpool for a well earned beer.

If you love charity cycle rides, long-distance rides, or just want to see the best of the North West by bike, this one’s for you!

Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more cycling adventures and reviews.

Thanks for watching.

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So, here we are, the lady. Organized chaos. Yes. Organized chaos. Yeah. So, we’re doing the uh Manchester to Blackpool ride today, aren’t we? We are. Yeah. Um 60 miish, isn’t it? Just 60 miles. 60 miish. Lovely hot weather. Yeah. It’s roasting, isn’t it? It’s always like this around here, though, isn’t it? Oh, of course. Yeah. It’s always roasting like this around here. I mean, look. Tropical. There’s the skies. Tropical Sulford. Yeah. So, we’re just outside the Lowry. There’s the Lowry. Old Kenneth’s just been for another we. So, we not started yet. What time is it? About quart 8 or something. 8. Just gone 8. just gone 8:00. So, we’ll uh we’ve registered. We’ve registered in the tents over there. We got to get in a start now. We’ll get in a start and give it a whirl and see where see where we end up and where what time we end up there. Hopefully end up in Blackfield. Yeah, hopefully. Yeah, that’s that’s the plan, isn’t it? Right. We got to try and find the back of the queue somewhere for the start. Wow. This is going to be fun. [Music] [Music] Yeah, I don’t think I’d go to the You go to the funeral. [Music] I think I’ve just crinkled your number up. Are you all right with it? Makes no to me. I can’t see it. It doesn’t matter. Are you pushing in, Edy? Yeah. Was a cutest organized chaos. I don’t know. Here we go. [Music] Here we go. Good luck, mate. I’ll let the tandem and the fell on the back get in front. So, we got the organized chaos for a few miles until we kind of get out of the uh the busy area around Sulford Sulford Keys Media City. Hi mate. Having a breather? No, I’m just waiting on you. [Music] Here comes Kenneth now. He’s just done the climbing worly. All right, Kemp. All right, there you go. Back with Kenneth. I’ll go and try and find a let him go in front. We’ll catch up to A in a minute. Got you. There you It’s a nightmare trying to catch up when you stopped at the side of the road doing your David Bailey bit. Yeah, Steven Spielberg just got some. Yeah, there you go. There’s a typical junction. There’s a typical satellites on this ride until we get spread out. Jesus. There’s old Kenneth as we’re on our way towards from Ashley towards Lee. It’s still mad busy. So, we’re just in Lee. We’ve done a 12 and a half miles. Just in the organized chaos again because we’ve been a set of lights, but it’s just the way it is. I think Ken wants to stop for a we in a minute. He’s here. Kenneth first first we stop. We’re at a hell bridge aren we bridge leisure center in where is it? Aton aren’t we? So uh we’ve done what we done about 12 13 mile or something. 13 and a half yeah something like that ain’t it? So it’s uh it’s glorious isn’t it? There’s not a breath of wind. Oh there’s a tiny bit but nothing really but it’s yeah tremendous isn’t it? Oh yeah. Are we what we doing then? Cracking on. Yeah. Cracking on. So the next 12 mile we’re going to do that in about 8 minutes. Oh, that’s all uphill now, is it? Yeah, it is uphill now. Yeah. Planning stop at a for refreshments or you carry on. See how you go. See what happens. Yeah, we’ll get a brew with some summit there. E there and then we had that place at Preston. Preston Primary School. Yeah. Yeah. Where we had that right. Yeah. We’ll we’ll crack on then. So back to the route. Heat. Heat. [Music] Hey, mate. So, I’ve done about 20 miles at the minute. I’ve had to keep stopping doing bits of filming and stuff, but we’re uh heading towards kind of Aspel Haywood Park. Uh I just stopped to film Ady going past, so I had to try and catch him up. We got a big downhill here. Um like 30 m downhill and then a 30 mph downhill. And then we got a quite a long draggy climb up towards Hi Hall. So we’ll bring it back in a bit. Oh, what a lovely day. You certainly wouldn’t want to be a driver on the roads around here today. There’s thousands of bikes out. So yeah, good luck to him. Looks like I’ve caught up with a in front here on the climb up to Haywood Park. Let’s sneak up on him. Look at that style. E [Music] fine figure of a man. as well. Yeah, I can see a Kenneth approaching up the hill towards Haywood Park. Here he comes in the yellow, not in the high viz behind him on the bike. There he is. Yeah. So, we just decided to stop here for a a we and a cup of tea. Look at this. Oh my god. Right. Nice to meet you. I got to try and find AD in here somewhere. This is going to be fun, isn’t it? Oh my word. Um yeah, just said I’ll go I’ll go and get a cup of tea and meet you there. It’s like right all right then. Uh he was over there last time. Let’s try down there. See what happens. Thank you. I don’t know. We’ll have a look around. No doubt he’ll turn up. So, we just got to all aren’t we? Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Woodland Park or whatever it is. Yeah. It’s uh it’s absolutely glorious, isn’t it? 22 miles and it’s uh it’s like a it’s organized chaos this, isn’t it? Absolute organized chaos. I don’t know how many thousand do this. Well, we’ve got 1,600 usually, have we? It’s been 5,000 odd, but I think it’s probably about 2 3,000. Two or three since we started doing it. Yeah. Yeah. It’s cut down. Yeah. So, most bought nowadays. So, we just stopped for a brew stop. Brew stop. We stop. And then we’ll once we’ve down these, we’ll get cracking and we’ve got a little climb out of Standish, haven’t we? And then we’re getting towards the lanes then really, aren’t we? It’s a bit nicer. But I mean, you can’t knock this, can you? Not a breath of wind. And it’s uh what how warm is it? Should I tell you Garmin? Must be 25 easy, mustn’t it? Must be. Yeah. Oh, T on mine. You might have to take your woolly jumper off in a bit, Ken. Keeping me woolly vessel. Yeah. Keep keep the thermals on underneath just in case. Yeah, just in case. Get that crosswind. Right. Looks might have been a few little accidents and stuff cuz there seems to be a lot of uh paramedics and doctor’s cars around unfortunately for someone. Uh but we’re just coming out of AOL now Awoodland Park and we kind of start heading out once we get through Standish in the next kind of 15 20 minutes we’ll get on to the lanes really and it gets a bit nicer then away from the busy bit. Yeah. Let’s enjoy in this uh glorious sunshine. Very very lucky today. Beautiful. Oh, sorry. It’s all right mate. Good luck guys. H So, we just come up the climb towards the center of Standish and then we’re going to um make a right turn at the traffic lights, the big crossroads in the middle of Stish. This junction with the bikes is normally chaos. What it be like today, I don’t know. But I would imagine it will be busy unless we can just time it right when there’s not as many numpties like us around. Yeah, we’re turning right here. So, it’s just awkward around here. Cheers, mate. Morning. So longer right here. Look at those for a pair of cycling shorts or skirts or skirts, I think we call that. The skirts and a short put together. But yeah, pink and blue frilly. Very nice. out of sunny uh Greater Manchester into sunny Lanasher into Charlie Burough kind of heading northwest generally towards Charlie and Preston and it’s really pleasant now just coming through Coppel and we’re just hitting a bit of a climb. You can see everyone slowing down in front. So, we’ll just uh pull in here and just have a halfway house break. Just waiting again. Uh yeah, I think it’s going to be a few minutes yet. We’re about 30 mi in at the minute, something like that. So, we’re about 30 mi in just halfway there. We stopped at the Bowling Green, uh the pub. This is one of the official stops. Um so, halfway house really. And we’re just riding up towards the camera. I’ve just stopped here waiting for Vader, waiting to Ken coming. A few little climbs on the way here. Um, so I think it might take take him a little while to get here, but uh yeah, we’ll just let him bimble away and then we’ll try and get him on camera. There you are. Carry on. You’re carrying on. You’re carrying on. Carry on. I’ll try and catch you up again. Cheers for that. Come on, Kenneth. Pull your finger out, lad. Oh, I know. Back with the athlete. Clarky. All right, Clarky. Lad. Hey, mate. I’m going past all these pubs. I thought I took a wrong turn at that roundabout then. I thought I can’t see anyone. But I saw them going straight on. They were part of the rhino on that one. No, but I couldn’t see any signs at the roundabout. I thought, where am I going here? Did you before it going across there? But yeah, they’ve done what I would have done and missed it. M I got last I got lost last year, didn’t I? So pretty. Yeah, I could get lost in a phone box. Me, mate. Oh well, we’re on the right track. There’s people in front of us. Yeah, good stuff. It’s looking like we’ve had some kind of fall here, an accident or something. This is not good. [Music] The police are all in the traffic up here. Okay, so we’re through the little bumper. But if we’re going to have a bet, I’d say it was a cyclist cuz there’s some uh strange people cycling today like there is when you get massive roots of anything. But it wasn’t. It was a motorbike and an old Bentley. And luckily it looked fairly minor. So not too bad. We passed that. We’ll get cracking again. Hey, 50 km we just reached now. So about half just halfway. Halfway. Halfway. Good. Halfway. How you feeling? Great. Good. You’re looking good as always. Better from the back of that. Well, I don’t know. I say as a compliment. Yeah. This bit of the road here has just been kind of starting resurfaced. It’s like the wild west. Just a dust pan. Grally dust pan. weight down your leg. I’ve got me uh punching some caracel tires anyway. So, they’re dealing with it perfectly fine. Look at the other video for a review of them. Couple of review videos. Brilliant tires. 34 milesi in. We’re just coming into South Ribble into the outskirts of land. All is good. Past the halfway point. Feeling fine. I think we’ll be stopping at the next stop and get something to eat. It’s uh what is it? 25 11 now. So yeah, we’ll have a bit of dinner at the next stop, I think. Two there on the tandem in front, I think. You’ve got twice the leg power. You’re cheating. Yeah. Yeah. We’re kind of on the outskirts of Preston here. Getting into Preston and then we’re going to stop for something to eat. Absolutely brilliant so far. Spot on. And now we’re just coming around the edge of Preston Docks here. Um from memory it gets a little bit busy around here, I think. Uh, and it’s a lovely Sunday, so they’re going to be out shopping. There’s going to be a lot of traffic, so we’ll have to take it careful around here. But yeah, I think the um I think the next food stops only about a mile away, mile and a half or something like that. So I’ll wait there for tenonator and we’ll get some grub. Yeah. So from memory I think there’s a food stop on the left there like a school. I think it is local school. And I think they use that. Can remember the way in. This look promising. Yeah. In fact, we’ll have to wait here in case they ride past. 43 and a half. 43 and a half mile. Yeah. So, we just stopped in here, haven’t we? We got It’s an old an old It’s a little junior school, is it? So, we just had our had our dinner. Had a busy there. So, we’re just waiting a lady coming out and then we’ll crack on. So, we’ve only got I forgot about 20 miles left or something, aren’t we? Yeah. I think Yeah, it must be 20. Yeah. Yeah. And it’s still it’s cracking the flags. But, was nice. One one chap’s just said you’ve got a big steep hill coming up. I said it can’t be. You know, we were just talking to this gentleman here as I said, can’t be any more ills like that and he says and then chap said, “Oh, there’s a stinker coming up.” No, not for I don’t think it’s anything too bad from what I can remember. So, about an hour and a half, we should be getting towards the finish. So, have you cleaned yourself up, young man? Yes, I have. They allowed you in those toilets, didn’t they? It’s It’s a weekend, so it made my day when they when when I saw the sign, boys toilet. Yeah, a long time since you reach to reach all the way down there. Was it? So, we’ll see you in a bit. Right, let’s get back on the road. You got a cracking tan lines there, Adah. I know. Milk bottle. Milk bottle white at the top. And then lovely. I’ve got white shotgun that way. Yeah. And for anybody who does watch these videos, I really appreciate it. It’s um you know, cycling unless you’re into it. It’s not the most exciting subject in the world, I guess, watching people go out for bike rides and stuff, but anyone who watches it, me and Ken do appreciate it. Thanks very much. Cheers for that. So, about 46 miles in, it’s probably 15 miles left, something like that. Now, we’re out in the lanes now, heading towards um Kirkham, and then we’ll head over towards Lith and back up the prom towards Blackpool. Um, so these this is the nicest part of the ride. This out on the lanes a lot quieter. But no matter where you are in the ride, it’s a great atmosphere. Everyone’s out having a good time, having a laugh. Not too serious. Bit of fun. Raising money for charity, for Christy. And yeah, what more can we ask? You can see towards the end of the ride how the field kind of thins out once you get north of Preston out into the lanes in Lancaster heading towards Kirkham and Liveram. You only see a bike every few hundred yards. So it’s a lot more pleasant but just great to see people out in the sunshine exercising enjoying the on the bikes. Brilliant. A kind of beat box on the back of a bike. Jesus, that was like hard work. I’m hoping this is the last climb of the day. That’s what I’m hoping. We’re near Kirkham here. I think it’s coming up red on me. Ging it’s about 8% this 9%. [Music] Don’t stop there, car. Whatever you do. Oh, sake. [Music] Let’s get far. So 50 mi in just coming into the um center of Kirkham Village here. It’s nice around here. I think we go left in a minute if my old memory served me correctly. Yeah, left and we’ll let out towards Litham onto the coast. I probably get the wind Yes, nice little soak in there up a boat washing his car. That was very welcome. Oh, nice and cooling. So, we’re just coming into Litham now. Got about 5 miles left up the prom up the front. You can see the living windmill in front of us there and the green on our left. Absolutely glorious. How you mate? How are you? Okay. How are you? Good lad. tower. I’ve not seen it yet. Just asking if I’ve seen Blackpool Tower. We should see it in a minute in the distance. But yeah, what a glorious day. Really, really busy the roads though. Um, not to be I suppose it’s to be expected, I should say, with the weather like this in the UK on a Sunday afternoon. Don’t blame people for getting out getting out to the coast and having a day out. Yeah, absolutely marvelous. Loved it. Beautiful seaside. Oh yeah, look at that sun glistening there on the sea. Nearly finished. Fantastic. It’s not too winding either considering here it’s often blowing a gale right in your face. But uh yeah, no real real breeze as such. It’s just a very gentle breeze and it’s nice and cooling. really welcome. I’ll keep plotting. What I’m going to do when I get near the end, Hy and Kenna are behind me somewhere. I’m going to pull over and wait for them and then you can we can ride over together over the finish line. Try and get a nice picture of the uh professional photographers that they have. So, yeah, we’ll do that. There’s the big one. And I’m not on about the ride. I’m on about him. So, here we are then. We’ve we’ve done it. We’ve got about what about 400 yards left to France to France finish. All the prom’s closed heading towards a glitter ball. He seems to think he’s going to get a gold medal or something in front. Yeah, we’re a pelon. We’re hoping to get there’s a glitter ball there. We’re hoping to get a good shot of a photographer when we go over the line together. So, I’ got AD on me left, then Ken’s on the left of him. We’ll just uh cruise over. I think the the women the women should be on the right, shouldn’t they? To the finishing line. Is it a dip finish? Great day for it, though. It has. It’s been fantastic. Yeah. This is great. This isn’t it. You don’t need to come in. No, you’re all right. It’s all right. Just try and get a spot where we’re all like together so there’s no one. That’ll do it here. I don’t don’t know where the photographer is though. You’ll have to tell us. We’re just approaching the line. Here’s the the hordes of uh hungry supporters on our right cheering us on chuck stuff at us. [Music] Hello. Hey. Well, behind. Hey. Oh, fantastic. So, if you’ve never done this, you just follow it round to the right here. Now, around to the back and then you’ll get your medal. And then there’s a big field set up at the back with all the uh the food and drink and all that kind of stuff. So, we’ve done it. Well done, chaps. Yeah. Well done. That’s to get the shades on. We’ve done it. So, we’ve done our uh Manchester to Blackpool 60 miles. Well done. We’re all in one piece. 62 and 12 62 and a half miles, whatever it was. Yeah. So, we just if anyone’s never been here before, we’ll just spin it around so people can kind of see it’s when you get to the finish. Great place. Yeah, it’s superb. And it all the stalls are set up. You got food and drink, mechanics on the front, the glitter ball. We just come where where the where the wind wind turbine is there. The glitter balls on the other side. They close the prom off. So, you ride at the prom. Get your medals from over there. Then there’s a there’s bands on and music. There’s bars. It’s got everything. Ice cream. I mean, yeah, you need that today, don’t you? Beer. Big beer there. That’s where we’ve sent the women to the beer tent to get us a drink. So, they’re over there. But yeah, it’s fantastic. So, a great day out. For once, they didn’t moan at being sent to somewhere. Yeah. Well, the reason they didn’t moan about going to the beer t cuz we’ve given them the money to buy it. Yeah. So, so they’re using our money. But yeah, so it’s anyone who’s not done it. Brilliant day out. Great atmosphere. Everyone’s just out for fun. It’s not a race, is it? No. It’s just a just a nice easy workout and it’s a stop where you want, ride whatever bike you want. Good organized event. Yeah. Yeah. Well organized. It’s great. people on the way. Yeah. And there’s thousands of people do it every year. Luckily today we’ve had the weather, haven’t we, mate? Yeah, it’s been fantastic. Yeah. So, um yeah, fantastic. So, uh thanks for watching. Like that every year, just just in case you wonder. Yeah, it’s not normally like that, but yeah, this year we’ve been lucky. So, yeah. So, we’ll see you next time. Thanks for watching. Cheers, folks. Have a great rest of your evening, guys. Take it easy. Thank you so much and congratulations everyone. Well done. We’re going to talk to this ice cream. Take it easy, everyone. Have a great one. You’re welcome. Thank you. [Music]