I am taking two groups of work mates this weekend to pindale near hope and castleton for a weekends cycling.
Friday pm then saturday and Sunday am

Anyone got any reccomdations ??

Need an easy one and a more challenging one for everyday as we will split into two groups

Thnx

Si

buy the vg book, loads of ideal stuff in that

Sorry but vg book ????

Confused

These are very good if you not familiar with the area but can follow very clear instructions and routes. Also dead easy to chop and change making it up as you go along. http://www.bikemaps.co.uk/ladybower.htm

http://www.v-outdoor.co.uk/ = VG Book

V Graphics book, dark peak..

I’ll be honest, you’ve pick quite an area to start people off..

Do they ride? The Peak can be quite intimidating for a beginner. However Friday you could start in Castleton, go up the broken road, right at the top onto the main road climb a bit, turn right onto the Edale road, climb to Mam Nick, turn right through the gate by the bus stop, and go straight downhill (Top of track has just been improved) Drop down to metal gate on the left, carry on the singletrack uphill, gets hard! Get to Hollins cross at the top Take a left along ridge then peel off right on the B’way, follow this to a wooden gate, through gate, follow back to castleton I guess about 10-12 miles at most.

Go over to ladybower on Saturday. Winstone lee tor, Cutthroat Bridge, round to Aston, up Roman road, down other Side (potato Alley) Up to lockerbrook farm and down through Nabs wood

Sunday.. pick you’re favorite bits and do them again!!
Maybe head over to Hayfield and do a loop round there

There’s loads – what kind of stuff do you want? For a classic bit of the dark peak, head down to Hope, up Hope Brink and drop into the west point of Ladybower down what’s commonly known as the Beast. A challenge.

Then work out a route back from there ;o)

Great ideas, any maps or route guides ?.
Downloads??

Thnx si

try a website called mtb

http://www.mtbsharp.co.uk/routes/peaks/dark_peak/index.html

Have a look on connect.gamin.com find Hope, filter by MTB and diatance and you’ll get plenty of options, mapped and upload able to GPS if you have one. HTH

There’s a lovely little ride in the Vertebrate “Off Road Trails” book

Email me if you want a map, or mmo file, but basically the route is:

Out from Castleton, up the broken road
Turn left onto farm lane to Rowter Farm
Just before “Limestone Way”, turn right on BW towards Eldon Hill
After 1/2 mile, turn left on BW to Old Dam
Through village, then Oxlow Rake, Dirtlow Rake and Pindale, and back home

Fast little ride for Friday afternoon, and an opportunity to sort people into groups A and B

nice ride that esme

This siteis very useful. The Hope Triple Eight might be the one you want. But you can do the loop in either direction.

I have to say, I’m worried by your lack of preparation.

Only preparation needed is to rock up, put money in parking ticket machine and decide which pub you’re going to stop off at en route. Then off you go.