Hi,

I’ve booked 4 days in the Peak District (staying in Hope) over Easter. I’ve not been to the Peaks before, and I’m going armed with the Vertebrate Publishing Dark Peaks book. If I’m doing 3-4 rides over that period (might do 3 rides and a walk), can people recommend a combination of rides that would give me a classic peaks selection? Looking at the amount of climbing, probably the Epics section in the book is about right, but I’d tackle one or two Enduro length ones if it was worth it for a better ride experience. I’m looking for 3-4 hours max per day.

I’ve got a Soul and a Trance X to choose from, so recommendations on a steed would be good too.

Thanks in advance.

4 days is not enough no seriously your gonna have a wicked time!

Have you got the 2nd edition VP book or the 1st?

Don’t think you can far wrong with the Kinder Circuit, also do Ladybower and the Beast at least!

I was up there on Saturday, starting at Blue John Mine carpark, not overly sure where we went but it included something gate (not cut) the beast, and abotu another 4 climbs and 4 descents, including climbing up the rocky track next to the Lady Bower Pub, traversing the moor and descending the chute to the little stone house type thing and then onto the slabs down to the visitors centre.

28 miles all in, and a nice steady 6 hours of riding in frankly awesome weather.

All the purists on here will insist that the Soul is the bike for the Peaks, but I did it on my Nicolai Helius CC, everyone in our group was on a full suss with bewteen 130mm & 150mm of travel. Personally I’d go for the Trance if you planning on riding back to back, just for comforts sake

I’ve got the second edition book. Longer would have been nice, but the adjoining weekends are already booked up!