Just done my first weekend in the Peak district.
Day one. Ladybower Res, out over Cut Gate and back.
Dat Two. Jacobs ladder, Kinder Res, Spray House, Lantern Pike, Hayfield, Pennine Bridleway, Rushup edge, Hollins cross, Greenlands.

What a weekend. The climbs are tough, but the down hills are brilliant. Distinct lack of flat riding. Also there was very few people on the hills even though it was a Bank Holiday.

To everyone who lives in the area, you are so lucky.

T'was funny that yesterday we did our local loop (near New Mills) at 4.00p.m in the rain and we saw loads of mtbers.

Glad you enjoyed it.

Also there was very few people on the hills even though it was a Bank Holiday.

They're all doing the ladybower Inn/Derwent Edge/Blackleys Clough route that MBR published this month. Never seen it so busy on there

We only saw two riders on the first day once we got away from the reservoirs and no more than 10 on the second day. A few walkers were kicking about and we went past some 4×4 drivers on the pennine bridleway.

What a great place to ride though and the bit of rain at the finish made the drop from Hollins cross more entertaining.

We did Cut Gate today from Ladybower Inn, mate maybe a dozen serious off roaders all day, loads of families doing the circuit of the lake though. Cracking ride, they;ve done a really good job of the work up on top of Cut Gate

nbt – care to elaborate, i can pass on any comments to the National Trust estate manager.

mrmichaelwright – Member

nbt – care to elaborate, i can pass on any comments to the National Trust estate manager.

I know Mike Innerdale through my work with RideThePeak, thanks, but it was an honest comment – I've not ridden Cut Gate for a couple of years, it was rebuilt last year and they've done a great job, I really enjoyed it

Just realised, by offroaders I meant MTBers as opposed to just people riding bikes….

nbt – that's great, i'd love to know more though, it's nice to be able to pass on positive comments direct to the top.

details of why it's good for bikes would be good, i've always tried to give feedback on this but don't ride up there enough to know all the surfaced bits.

I've ridden it recently, get up there once, maybe twice a year, and we go out specifically to ride from the Flouch, down to the stream then push/ride back over again.

The re-build is an excellent job; we rode it while it was in progress about 12 months ago, and were worried that it would become another stone trail through the wilderness, but it proved to be a really good example of sensitive restoration that has added to the ride; allowing you to keep going, maintain momentum, but also preserving the essential technical bits that make it a good climb up and a cracking ride down.

Particularly impressed with the way that the addition of bits to the stream-bed bit up near the top now allow a bit of flow.

Good job path building fellas!

great, i usually only get to pass on negative feedback.

Give him our feedback, after the initial bedding in its as good as its been in the last 20 years. The girls think is the best next thing to the Alps but they would like some of the old jumps back please

Tracey

will do Tracey, i suspect i'd be put to shame by your girls now!

Going to have to ride it again.

Was so disappointed when I rode the VG route a couple of years ago …

I'll second the comments on the restoration of the Cut Gate, really nicely done.

And il third it! i rode it on saturday, 1st time in a year or so, the best piece of sanitation ive seen in the peaks by far. Thanks to those responsible.

That's the reason it was busy on Derwent Edge the. I rode out from Sheffield, Redmires, Stanage Causeway, Bamford Clough, Shatton Edge, Bradwell, Hope Roman Rd, Potato Alley, Lockerbrook, Fairholmes, Derwent Edge, Cutthroat Bridge then back to Sheffield. Only met other mtbers round Ladybower and D Edge.

To everyone who lives in the area, you are so lucky.

Yep, not arguing with that – though I turned my life upside down to be able to live here, so maybe as much judgment as luck? Love the way the trails change through the seasons, just watching lines erode and grow and change and surfaces shift from rubble, to smooth, to dusty.

I'd second the positive comments on the Cut Gate works by the way. I've ridden it four or five times this year and while it's changed the character of some of the riding and I'm still uneasy about what feels like trail centre culture casting a shadow over proper riding, it has at least been sympathetically done and, if you really want to ride it, much of the original, more challenging line is still there running alongside the new stuff.

I think it sets the standard for Peak trail restoration, but unfortunately atrocities like the recent gravelisation of the bridleway dropping down to Mam Nick from Rushup Edge suggests that there's still some horribly random trail work going on.

On the plus side, I'm gratified by the way that the parts of the Roych Clough track that aren't stone pitched are starting to resemble their old selves from pre-restoration days. Proper disintegration in progress. I'm confident that winter will kick the living daylights out of the Mam Nick stuff. I don't think people understand just how brutal the rain can be round here, I've seen roads half blocked by brick-sized rocks washed down farm tracks by a quick cloud burst round here 🙂

heres to hoping BWD – is it still just "dug over soil"?

heres to hoping BWD – is it still just "dug over soil"?

The track on the Rushup side of Mam Nick – from the last gate to the next one where the bridleway starts to dive down – is just a wide, gravel path, no pitching, just the odd small-scale water bar.

On the other side, it was just flattened soil, don't know what the longer-term intentions there are, but according to NBT that's being done by Moors for the Future, so should be a tad more sympathetic. Crossed fingers…

As far as I can see, anything round here that's not either armoured with rock, pitched with stones or simply natural bedrock, will continue to disintegrate as soon as the elements and trail users get to it. It's like Botox for trails rather than full-on cosmetic surgery. Or something like that…

Gosh there's a lot of confusion here about who does what.

Cut Gate was / is a Moors for the Future project its off the NTs patch. It looks like it does because its been approached from a landscape restoration angle. Although the surface works have finished its still going to take a couple of years for the heather / veg to come back. The imported surface material is a bit too yellow for my liking but its from the right point in the geological strata. Most of it was actually surfaced just re-packed. In an ideal world you'd shut the whole bridleway for 6months or so to let everything settle, not an option in this case.

Mam Tor area is PDNPA in house.

Greenlands, yes, really there are things happening on Greenlands, is Ride the Peak under the umbrella of PDNPA conservation volunteers. Its basic trail fettling to sort ruts and drainage.