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Cat and Fiddle

A537 · Macclesfield → Buxton · England

Length
12 miles
Drive time
20 min
Type
Technical road
Region
England

Before you go: ⚠ Average-speed cameras operate along the route

The infamous moorland blast from Macclesfield to Buxton past the Cat and Fiddle Inn — a sequence of open, well-sighted bends across the Peak District's western edge. Heavily policed after its accident-blackspot years: drive it for the views and the flow, not the numbers.

Macclesfield to Buxton on the A537 across the western Peak: open, well-sighted moorland bends past the Cat and Fiddle Inn, second-highest pub in England. Average-speed cameras operate along the route. They went in after years as an accident blackspot, and they are the fact that defines the drive now. The tarmac is good, the camber is friendly, and the Cheshire plain drops away to the west on a clear day. It is a flow road. It is also a measured one.

Peak View Tearooms and the Inn itself are the stops with car parks; do not use the verges. Fuel in Macclesfield or Buxton. In winter the moor ices and the road can close; in summer it is weekend motorcycle traffic plus the cameras. A weekday morning still has space.

Pair it with Snake Pass and Winnats for a Peak District day — that is already a Great Escape — or just ride the A537 as the link between the two towns it actually connects.

Drive it for the views and the linked bends. The cameras will have an opinion about anything else, and so will the van coming the other way over a crest. The Inn car park is the obvious pause; Peak View is quieter if the bikes have taken the pub. In fog the cameras still run and the crests still hide oncoming traffic. Buxton and Macclesfield both have fuel and an exit if the moor is closing. This is a twelve-mile A-road with a reputation; drive the reputation out of it.

Highlights of the Cat and Fiddle

Where to stop on the Cat and Fiddle

Drive the Cat and Fiddle

Open Cat and Fiddle on the map → ⬇ Download GPX

GPX works with Garmin, TomTom, Beeline and most bike sat-navs. Free, no sign-up — these are indicative waypoints, so follow the road signs, not the arrow.

Plot it, add it to a club run with a meeting point and pit stops, then share the whole trip as one link. Free, no account, works offline.

Route research: Venture Bound

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