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  • Snake Pass road ride – experiences
  • geetee1972
    Free Member

    Hello to the collective wisdom.

    I’m planning a road ride around the Peak District on Sunday and was thinking of riding up the Snake Pass from Ladybower Resevoir to Glossop and then back down the A624 into Chapel.

    I know the road from having driven it and I’ve been on sections while doing MTB rides around there but never for very long.

    It’s a test piece road climb and I am guessing it would be brutal in bad weather, but what is it like from a traffic point of view?

    I’d be aiming to start the ride very early Sunday morning and guess I would be on the Snake Pass by about 9.30am.

    mintimperial
    Full Member

    Snake is ok in my experience, the driving isn’t too horrific, and Sunday AM will be quiet on there too. It’s moderately sheltered from bad weather most of the way up, relatively speaking, there are far more exposed roads in the Dark Peak. Coming down into Glossop is fun (don’t overcook the big left-hander towards the bottom though, ahem).

    geetee1972
    Free Member

    LOL I guess that you did then Mint?

    iamsporticus
    Free Member

    I remember when very early Sunday morning was 930AM too 🙂

    The Snake is fine if youre early enough although Ive always thought the road from Glossop to Chapel a bit narrow and fast for my liking

    My plan would be to get up PROPER early and do a there and back so you get each Snake climb and descent

    Good luck

    geetee1972
    Free Member

    My plan would be to get up PROPER early and do a there and back so you get each Snake climb and descent

    I omitted to say I was starting from Poynton, so likely will be turning pedals by 6am. 😀

    My morning commute into London from Horsham usually starts (when I do it, which is not every day) at 5.45am and my Sunday morning ride, every other weekend, tends to start at 5.30am and is done by 9am.

    I have small children, I suspect, like you do. 😀 <waves willy for early start award>

    crazy-legs
    Full Member

    Best way of doing it – long gradual drag then a brilliant descent. As above, either do it very early or very late for best traffic. Trying it on a Sunday afternoon in summer is horrific!

    The descent is one of the best in the Peak District, it was resurfaced a couple of years ago. Once you know it you can pedal pretty much the whole way, I’ve had 50+ mph down there.

    It’s mostly fairly sheltered but some of the bends on the descent can get a bit blowy at times, just watch the wind direction.

    nbt
    Full Member

    I’ll be getting out of bed as you approach Glossop, and having my bacon sarnies as you climb the Snake. Id’ say I’ll think of you except we both know that I won’t think of anything except that wonderful wonderful bacon butty,,,

    drooooll……

    JonEdwards
    Free Member

    Hi Greg,

    It’s nothing too bad – there’s a surprising amount of flat and descent in it – it’s only the top bit near Dr’s Gate that gets a bit steep. Descent the other side is lovely. If it’s dry and not too busy, you can take the bottom corner flat out, which is nice 🙂

    As you get into Glossop, take the 1st left, up the side of the golf club – it takes you up to the A624 on minor roads, and is just generally much nicer. Likewise, you can head off right from Peep’O’Day after Hayfield down into Chinley, then into Chapel, all on minor roads.

    Are you riding back to Ladybower? You need to do the descent off Mam Nick into Edale, it’s hilarious – wiggly and with some nice kickers (dust the MTB skills off), then after Barber Booth, it’s just a real nice flowy road, mostly down, back to Hope.

    BadlyWiredDog
    Full Member

    I’d second starting as early as possible. It’s not so much that it’s busy, more that it’s twisty in parts with poor visibility and drivers can be arses on it. I’d also avoid the A624, particularly the section out of Hayfield – the bit up Chunal from Glossop is fine, but the section from Hayfield to Chinley is pretty dire in a too narrow and too fast way.

    You can miss that section by heading into Hayfield, climbing out on Highgate Lane then doing a short section on the main road, turning right at Peep of Day and following Maynestone Road down into the back of Chinley, slower but safer and more pleasant.

    If you’ve got the legs, you could always head over the Strines Road from Laybower to Langsett, then cut across on backroads to Holmfirth then back over Holme Moss and into Glossop on the back road.

    I wouldn’t call the Snake a test-piece road climb, it’s a nice trundle unless you have a headwind. If want something a bit more testing, try Strines or Barber Booth up to Mam Nick or Winnats.

    But the bit I’d avoid is the section between Hayfield and Chinley and particularly the A624 climb out of Hayfied itself which is horrid and also thankfully, avoidable.

    geetee1972
    Free Member

    NBT would be nice to see you guys, perhaps I can drop in for a bacon butty on the way back?

    Jon – I’d be heading back to Poynton from Chapel, probably via Kettleshume and Bakestonedale Road (which would also be the way up to Chapel on the way out).

    It’s a route my brother has suggested:

    Poynton – Kettleshum via Bakestondale Rd
    Chapel
    Top of Winnats, turn back and loop down to the A263 to head south
    Bradwell then to Ladybower
    Snake Pass to Glossop
    Loop back to Chapel
    Back the way you came.

    It’s a big ride – 113km and just under 2000m of climbing.

    will
    Free Member

    Traffic should be fine, it’s a long old climb but never that steep until the last bit, so you can get into a good rhythm.

    BadlyWiredDog
    Full Member

    Hey Greg, sounds good. The one change I’d make is simply to climb out of Hayfield on Highgate Lane then turn right at Peep of Day.

    The back road climb up to Sparrowpit is a nice one btw. Gets in the 100 Great Climbs book, also good value is the one that goes up through the Wash and crosses the main road at the Chestnut Centre, but both are a little more fiddly to follow than the main roads.

    geetee1972
    Free Member

    Thanks BWD – the loop via Sparrowpit was suggested by my brother (as was the whole loop actually) and is based on it being part of the Tour of the Peak race, which he did as a junior.

    I will give the A264 out of Hayfield a miss. I had already had second thoughts about that section as I remember what that road is like from having crossed it many times as a kid when on the way to riding up Kinder.

    crazy-legs
    Full Member

    Yeah, that’s a good route – Brickworks, Whaley, Chapel, up Rushup Edge then fork left and over Mam Nick down to Barber Booth, Edale, Hope, Bamford (from Hope there’s a really lovely little lane round the back via Aston & Thornhill which brings you out just north of Bamford, avoids all the busy main road).

    Ladybower, up Snake Pass, down to Glossop then as you come into town it’s on the brakes for a sharp left by the pub and another little back lane climb brings you out half way up Chunal Head. From Hayfield I’d go right and through Birch Vale, New Mills then A6, Disley, Middlewood Way back to Poynton but if you want a bit extra go into Hayfield, up Highgate Road, down to Chinley (I actually prefer the main road descent cos it’s much faster and safer than descending Maynestone Road) then from Chinley back round to Whaley and home from there.

    Bunnyhop
    Full Member

    Greg – you are very welcome here for a bit of fuel/beverage before your final leg home.

    Gosh you’re sounding very fit atm.

    thisisnotaspoon
    Free Member

    I used to love/hate that road from the Sheffield side, it never seems to get going as a climb from the resevoir, just enough to really blunt your speed, but then just gets steeper and steeper just as I got tired!

    geetee1972
    Free Member

    So in the end I shyed away from the Snake on the basis that I ended up starting a little later than planned (7.30am rather than 6.30am), which meant the traffic was already relatively heavy in the Hope Valley and as someone on here rightly pointed out, Winnats Pass is much more of a test piece. so I built a route around staying on quieter roads and going up Winnats.

    Route here if anyone is interested

    It was a cracking ride especially to do on your own. I think I paced myself a little too easily but then I wasn’t sure how I would manage with as much climbing as the route entailed. Distance wise it was never going to be an issue, but with well over 2000m of climbing I thought I had better take it steady.

    The climb out of the Goyt Valley up to the Cat & Fiddle is just sublime as is all of the first part. It stayed dry until I crossed from the white to the dark peak, at which point the cloud came down in a veil of fine rain. But that was nothing compared to the torrential downpour coming into Chapel, which at 70kph was a bit dicey.

    I do love and miss the Peak.

    molgrips
    Free Member

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