The Peak District Riding Thread

I'm coming back. Buying a house in Sheffield near the bottom of Ringinglow Road (coincidence that it is my favourite road? - I think not). Cunningly, I've planned a visit this Saturday on the pretence of doing a survey, should knock that off in an hour, then I'm hitting the hills.

Might have to convert the Harry Hall back to gears for the Sheffield commute if my recent visits have been anything to go by though.

Htfu.

Or that, yes!

No need for either really. I've been doing fine on 42x17 for about a year now. I guess it depends on where you're going. That hack up the start of Ringinglow Road past the church is rarely any fun on fixed.

Best to have two bikes really.

Hope you have fun on Saturday.

Best to have n+1 bikes really.
/statingtheobvious

Gentle little roll round the dales today Parwich > Parsley Hay >Youlgreave > Elton -only thing epic about it was my cold, which made for a slightly spacey ride.

Got chatting to an old boy in Monyash about his van Nicholas. He said I should consider do anything to buy one, including 'selling my body'. Should have been offended, but fear it may be the greatest compliment I get in 2012. Is this standard chat on the audax circuit?

If you sell your body, you can't ride your bike any more, so that's really crap advice.

People of the peak district, any thoughts on what you would do for a two or three day tour? Maybe 50 miles each day, depending on the hillyness of course, staying in youth hostels or similar. Has anyone done something similar they could recommend?

People of the peak district, any thoughts on what you would do for a two or three day tour? Maybe 50 miles each day, depending on the hillyness of course, staying in youth hostels or similar. Has anyone done something similar they could recommend?

I stayed in a B&B in Bakewell for 3 days in August (punctuated by a mate's wedding, selfishly held right in the middle of it). It was miraculously pretty cheap although god only knows how. I used the time to tick off the local hills in Simon Warren's book* and also pinched a couple of rides from KTBee although I was too hungover to really do them properly. What I learned there is that pretty much any direction you go in will be both picturesque and pretty tough. The Blueberry Tea Room in Brailsford is worth making a pilgrimage to.

*the book in question:
[ame="http://www.amazon.co.uk/100-Greatest-Cycling-Climbs-Cyclists/dp/0711231206"]100 Greatest Cycling Climbs: A Road Cyclist's Guide to Britain's Hills: Amazon.co.uk: Simon Warren: Books[/ame]

Using Bakewell as a base is a good idea, or if you are trying to stick to a budget, the youth hostel in Youlgreave. You could do a run out into the Staffordshire Moorlands (http://www.lfgss.com/post3082645-134.html), one heading north - maybe taking in Winnats Pass and maybe something taking in some of the Dales (millers dales, monsall head). That said, I'm a strictly occasional peak district rider and know the dales better than the high peak - sure TSK could some up with some good suggestions

i live there. if i can help gimme a shout

Cheers! I'll have to check out that 100 climbs book, even if it seems a bit daunting. I love the idea that every direction will be picturesque. Thanks for the suggestions everyone, unfortunately I can't see your route KT Bee as Garmin's site is down. I think I'll start compiling potential routes and then see what you all think.

^Let me know if you are still having trouble getting on the Garmin website - I can put my Staffordshire Moorlands, Dales and Winnats Pass routes on Ride with GPS.

Today I:

Finally made it up here

Then left what remained of my lungs on the road getting up here (via Bank Road)

Rode past this ...

...to eat Bakewell slice near Bakewell

Top work, Ms B. I'm still chuckling about my own attempts at the first two. Bank Road was the only one I could get most of the way up but I had to stop for a rest three or four times. There were a couple of old guys standing about watching who cheered me on :D

I haven't cycled 189km in the wind and rain, though (top work yourself!). I had a little fan club cheering me up Riber Road - luckily they weren't there to see me walk most of the way down (wet brakes and the shakes - not a safe combo)

Lulz. I didn't dare go back down the same way, I went down the other side where there weren't any horrible hairpins and it isn't quite as steep. Brakes weren't toed in properly and they were making a hellish racket the entire way down. Wish that castle at the top wasn't closed to the public as it'd make a great stopping-point - imagine having some cake and tea up there after the ascent!

Very excited about my Peak District trip this weekend! Current plan is to head east from Manchester to Glossop and on to Snake Road, probably collapse somewhere near the reservoir, head south from there and stay overnight at Tideswell. Then the Monsal Trail to Bakewell, and maybe the Tissington Trail to Ashbourne and southwards.

This is based on approximately 10 minutes research and a quick glance at google maps. I might have to book next week off work in case this all goes terribly wrong.

bakewell, you tart...

sorry i couldn't resist. have a fab time hats..
Al xx

I intend to eat loads of bakewell tarts, it's my main reason for wanting to go there :)

it's Bakewell puddings when you get there, the tarts came later.

Possibly cut out some crap roads and get the train to Glossop, when you cross Snake, it's worth a diversion left past the Dambuster practice reservoirs.

Good idea about the train, thanks!

Excellent idea about the Dambuster reservoir too! Last week was the 70th anniversary of the raid and I have been to a few meetings about Barnes Wallace and the invention of the bouncing bomb recently (I work in science...) so it would be quite timely.

The Snake seems to be on a lot of folks' tick lists, but I can't see the attraction given the amount of traffic it gets.
An alternative is to head from Chapel-en-le-Frith up Sheffield Road* to Mam Nick. From here you can either scream down Winnats Pass, or drop down into Edale. If you want to head up to the Derwent dams, I'd recommend the back road through Aston and Thornhill rather than heading through Bamford.

*Bonus stop on the itinerary - otters!

Ha - my 10 minutes of research did identify the otters, clearly I have my priorities straight...

I just had a look at the wikipedia entry for Snake Pass and there appears to be a big celebration that it HASN'T made the Top 10 Most Dangerous Roads list for once. Perhaps it would be better to go the alternative (and more otter friendly!) route...