I'm going to be camping / caravanning just up the road west of Hope next week.
Does anyone have a 7-10hr epic ride they'd recommend?

The legendary Silly Circuit. From Hope, do :

Hope Cross
Either The Beast or the other descent from Hope Cross to Snake Pass road.
Snake Pass
Doctor's Gate
Glossop
Snow Road
Cut Gate
Howden/Derwent/Ladybower Reservoirs
Old railway line back to Hope.

That should keep you going for a while…

The Three Gates circuit – bit like what stevomcd said ^^ but with the inclusion of Chapel Gate.
I've usually started from Hadfield but you can easily do it from Hope/Edale.

Steve's route to Fairholmes Cafe then over Whinstone Lee Tor, down to Cutthroat Bridge then fnd your way over to Rushup Edge by whichever way you want. Half way up that then fork R and down the (lethal!) descent to Edale.

It was done as a route guide in ST about 4 or 5 years ago.

Don't bother with Doctor's Gate, you're better off with a loop taking in Cut Gate and either Jacob's Ladder or The Roych at the other, it saves the tedious drag up the Snake Pass and the equally tedious broken descent of Doctor's Gate which is atmospheric but sporadic.

The Vertebrate Graphics Dark Peak guidebook, 18 Bikes in Hope stock it, is very decent. Have a look at the Lord of the Loops route from there which is a variation on our epic local Stoopid Loop. There's also a big route taking in Roman Lakes, you can get a map from there I think, though it's a bit out of your way, might also be on line somewhere.

If you fancy some local company for half a day / an evening drop me a line, I'm Peak local and looking to get some gentle off-road miles in before Kielder 🙂

Oh, and route: Hope -> Roman Road -> Jaggers -> Ladybower via Potato Alley -> Cut Gate -> across to disused railway and over to Dunford Bridge (Snow Road sucks going up, Woodhead is vile) -> Longdendale Trail -> Hadfield -> Glossop -> back of Cown Edge -> Monk's Road -> Middle Moor -> past Kinder Res. -> up Coldwell Clough -> Roych Clough track -> up Rushup Edge and along to Mam Nick -> then either along to Hollin Cross and back way down to Castelton, road to Hope or Pindale down to Hope or… another loop 🙂

That should do ya.

OK.
Thanks for this.
I have access to the book, so will look that route up.
Once I'm back in the office I'll print off the above list and make a plan over tut' wekend.
May well give you a shout, it'd be maybe Tuesday (?) depending on the weather forecast!

Tim

VG books list one called lord of the loops. It's 100 km. That should keep you out of trouble for a little while.

Its a top loop that one. Drops in some top descents along the way too. Apart from Chapel Gate its got pretty much all the obvious ones in the area, plus some good miles.

BWD's variation at the north end of Cut Gate to miss the Snow Road is well worth it – riding up that stoopid bit of bridleway is annoying, until you rejoin the road, then it just gets scary!

Full sus' or HT for this loop / loops?

Either works.

I did the Three Gates (62 miles) and Two Gates (40 miles) loops on my Cove Stiffee without a problem.
Full sus gives you a fair bit more leeway in line choice when you're knackered though!

When I did Lord of the Loops, I took a 34 lb Turner 6-pack. Heavy, but let me get away with a lot towards the end when I was on my chin strap.

I am natrually inclined to take the Turner Flux as it's more forgiving on the rough stuff and you can just bung it down rocky shute and not be so concerned about how to ride it; and as you say, when the chin strap becomes a feature, it's good to know you're working with 4 inches all 'round and not dealing with near £$%^& misses!

Badly wired – what day best suits you out of Tues or Wed next week? Would you join me in the tea time or are you looking at all day? Let me know your options and I'll try and work around your timings. All I know is the routes over the high-ish groun directly to the n and nw of Hope as I did the Summer Polaris this year.

Anyone else care to join us / me?

I'm going out and will try one of these rides on Monday from about 09:00.
email me if you fancy joining me at some point BWDog
tim at t-f-p dot com

I could probably do an early afternoon into early evening, I'll have a think and drop you a line. How does that sound?

Fine. Just join me part way 'round if that suits.
email me and I'll give you my mobile as I'll be there from Monday 1st thing.