Historically Reddish Vale has had an industrial past with a close relationship with the railways. Highly visible from the old visitors centre is the sixteen- arch brick viaduct built in 1875 to carry the Hope Valley Line over the River Tame.

A Railway once led to Stockport from Reddish Junction at the Brinnington (east) side of the viaduct. This line has now been turned into a public bridleway joining the two parts of the country park and forms a section of the Trans Pennine Trail (TPT).

The Railway history has had a significant impact on the shape on the land. During the construction phase of the railway, the railway line needed to be kept level. This meant digging through any hills in the way of the railway line. Reddish Vale was such a hill and in order to run the railway line through it, a valley was dug. The spoil was discarded to the sides of the line and this created an area of mounds. Locally know as ‘bonkings’, these mounded areas of rising and falling hills are ideal for ‘off road’ mountain biking. In mountain biking terms this type of winding, rising and falling, slim track is know as ‘singletrack’.

Reddish Vale covers over 200 acres and contains miles of pathways suitable for MTB’ing. The only issue is that most of these paths are unknown to the majority of users. A large section of RV LNR, to the east of Mayfield grove, doesn’t even contain any safe pathways to use.

I have been riding the Vale since my early teens on my BMX. As a ‘mature’ 38 year old I still ride the Vale with the same enthusiasm as in my teens. The vale has some excellent singletrack and the potential to be so much more!

It is unfortunate that there are few users of the Vale in its current form. I have ridden the Vale for a number of years and occasionally see dog walkers off the TPT whilst on the TPT I seen people cutting through the park on their way to work or Cyclists/ horse riders riding the TPT. Reddish Vale has so much more to offer that just the Trans Pennine trail.