As a soft southerner from the Chilterns I was looking forward to a few hours doing some ‘real’ MTB in the Peaks.
Route of choice was the Hope Triple 8 mainly due to a good GPX trace and directions.
Lovely weather, stunning scenary, the Soul in it’s backgarden – this is going to be good.
A few miles in I wasn’t so sure – does littering a double track with countless large rocks and boulders make it as fun as rockless single track? I didn’t think so. The descents required a severe mental adjustment – getting it wrong would hurt – at best. It seemed enough were of the same opinion that significant parts had soft options along the side – enough that it couldnt just be soft southerners. I was dammed if I was going to wimp out so I juddered or pushed.
I got better, I got used to rocks, I got in the swing of things and at the end I thought ‘I enjoyed that’. Without the scenary, however, I think I’d have hated it.