This autumn’s MTB weekend away was to the rocky trails of the Peak District. Staying at Woodbine B&B in Edale-Hope, 12 riders made the most of the exceptional weather and stunning scenery over three days of challenging riding on the mountainous trails.
The B&B was ideally placed with more trails surrounding us than we could ever hope to ride in just one weekend. Friday’s route took us on a 17 mile loop around Ladybower Reservoir, including the infamous “Beast” section which MBR magazine recently labelled “their new favourite descent”, and which Lee Todman delighted in racing down ahead of the rest of us. A quick afternoon stop at the visitor centre at Derwent Reservoir Dam round was a welcome breather for most people, and then we headed up to Whinstone Lee Tor on the return route. Unfortunately a few tricky rocks got the better of Mike Tyrell, who hit the ground hard, bruising his ribs and effectively ending his riding for the weekend. Thanks to Lee & Phil for helping out, and in particular Graham for driving him to Sheffield A&E. Those who stayed with the main ride will no doubt remember hiking their bikes up Win Hill for a long time to come, although the views at the top and the descent down made all the effort worthwhile. The evening meal was in the Cheshire Cheese pub, which served up good food at a reasonable price, and some of the biggest portions of fish that I’ve ever seen.
The Saturday ride was an epic adventure over to Hayfield, and started off with a tough ascent involving 1200 ft of climbing in one hit from Hope up to the top of Rushup Edge – good preparation for the riding ahead. The excellent descent from Rushup Edge down to Roych Clough was made all the more interesting by playing a game of “dodge the fell runner” on the way down; there were literally hundreds of them running towards us in a steady stream as we did our best to avoid them. We had a much-needed rest at the Royal Hotel in Hayfield, and then headed up Snake Path for the great views across Kinder Reservoir, and up again to Edale Head. Next on the menu were the delights of Jacobs Ladder, almost impossible to climb, but fantastic fun to descend. Monika did a great job of descending it on her Rockhopper hardtail, until the last five yards where she relaxed just a little too early and almost came a cropper. Once at the bottom we spent the next 20 mins having a competition to see who could climb the furthest back up again, trying to emulate the achievements of some of the best MTB riders in the country, but falling sadly short. A quick afternoon stop for tea and ginger cakes, and we were on our way again. The final ascent of the day was a tough 750 ft climb from Barber Booth up to Mam Tor, and onto Hollins Cross. The route back down into Castleton was not entirely clear, although a little improvisation saw us picking our way down the sheep trails towards Castleton which we could clearly see in the distance. Kudos to Lee for tackling a huge drop-off, although his chainrings probably didn’t thank him for it. I backed out of the drop at the last second, deciding I liked my chainrings the way that they were. After returning to the B&B and cleaning up, we headed to the Poachers Inn and replenished lost calories with a high quality three course meal.
Seven hardy riders were still keen for more, and so on Sunday morning we headed out for a ride up the other side of the valley around Bradwell. The route was kindly supplied from one of Mark’s books, and quickly programmed into my GPS after breakfast. Following the now all-too-familiar pattern, we set out on a tough and long climb up Shatton Edge. But this was soon all forgotten as we raced down the fantastically steep singletrack of Bradwell Edge into the village. Next we rode up the hill towards Castleton via the Quarry, where Lee couldn’t resist testing out his downhill skills on the cliffs and provided the entertainment by digging his front wheel into the very loose shale, promptly rolling down the hill, and letting out a cry of “He Survives!” once at the bottom. Graham caught it all on camera and its well worth a view by going to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ys2MVpgcQ4g More ascending followed, and then we took the final and probably most challenging descent of the weekend down through Pin Dale, and back into Hope.
All in all, a brilliant weekend, and one that we are sure to repeat again in the future.