Riding the Peak this week? Keep it weatherproof…

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…thanks to some smart thinking by the chaps at Vertebrate Graphics.

And that was before the clouds fell out of the sky…

Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middlin...
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As you may have noticed, the weather has been a tad damp of late (ugh). With no real frosts to speak of and a lot of rain, we’ve noticed our local trails are starting to suffer more than in recent years – and you probably have too.

We reported last year on the excellent Keeper of the Peak Twitter feed; now the guide book gurus and Peak District locals at Vertebrate Graphics have joined in and published their recommendation for a weatherproof route in the Dark Peak. The loop – Chapel Gate, Roych Clough and Jacobs Ladder, a great ride in its own right – sticks to the rocky, hardpack trails which are best suited to resist the damage done by heavy traffic in wet conditions. It’s available to download as a PDF – complete with the relevant OS map extract – for free, from the Vertebrate Graphics website here.

If you’re not a Peak local, then have a think about weatherproof rides in your area and share them in the comments below – this is what local knowledge was made for after all…

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Vertebrate Graphics
Keeper of the Peak

Jenn Hill was the deputy editor here at Singletrack up until her untimely death from Lung Cancer in October 2015. She was and remains an inspiration to us all here at Singletrack. Jenn Hill - 1977-2015

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Comments (9)

    That’s ace (and was pretty much exactly the route we were thinking of this weekend anyway)!

    What a splendid thing to do. Presently struggling to achieve a solid based loop in the Chilterns with little success.

    That’s great, but how about a dry route for the Sussex Weald and Downs? I noticed a sea of mud near Ditchling Beacon Yesterday, they have had cows on the top! Cows on the Downs, wrong! sheep yes, cows no! As for the Weald, well, no further comment is necessary surely!

    Did that loop plus extras on Sunday. Bloody perfect for the weather right now, and the Roych is in awesome condition after the fix up. Not often you get to say that about trail repairs!

    There can’t be many loops that don’t have a weak (wet/muddy) point along them somewhere to let them down
    Is there still a boggy bit above Chapel Gate or is that fixed up nowadays? Roych down and upto Jacobs is a good one, but does suffer with more extreme weather up there and snow tends to stick around more in all those sunken trails

    Redmires Reserviors up the road/track to Stanage Pole, Stanage Edge (wet grass after the plantation though) and the grimmer the day the less walkers on the descent to slow/stop for ime, Burbage road across the tops, turn off above Lady Cannings, straight on at crossroads down Jumble Road, back lane and briefly up the main road Blackamoor repaired bottom section, ride/push up the other repaired bridleway (not the one with the ford at the bottom), but then the permissive bridleway alongside the road gets cut up, maybe stick to the road upto turn off for houndkirk doesn’t suffer too badly IME

    Down Gores FM (screaming mile?), up the winding fireroad just before the middle dam, down Hagg Farm, south side of the reservoir for a mile or so, up the permissive bridleway that takes you onto the Win Hill ridge, weak point being the grassy descent-y bit gets cut up/wet down before the brief rubbley upto the turn off for Blackley Hey/potato alley or the beast (of hope cross).
    Then either up through Rowlee farm if down blackley hey, or ride up as much as you can ride of (ime the wetter its been the easier it is) Hagg Farm. Just have to keep dabbing and trying again.

    all ime, and I may of course have missed some boggy sections out as I iwent through those in my head. So they may not be applicable

    already thought of one:
    “the Win Hill ridge, weak point being the grassy descent-y bit gets cut up/wet down before the brief rubbley upto the turn off for Blackley Hey/potato alley or the beast (of hope cross)”
    Bottom of that gets very cut up doesn’t it as people try to go around the big puddles in the track and all the boggy ruts around
    Stick to puddled main track …

    Hmm wonder if there’s anyone interested in setting up an interactive map where people can flag up trails dry/boggy/snow. Not a strava user myself but would it be a massive job for an add-in where you can flag up sections as good/bad/unrideable mess? iirc you can already flag dangerous sections so sounds like the basis might be there already

    not been out on my local trails yet this year so can’t comment 🙁

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