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In t'Peak District. Is it any good as a descent? What's it like at the moment?
Cheers!
Its a great descent. Not a good place for going over the bars and the rocks are slippery in the wet (same applies anywhere around there)
if you mean this, which im guessing so....
then its a great descent, fast, steep and rocky....the descent is the way the arrow is pointing also....
i like doing it as a climb to, its a tough climb to from the stream crossing at the bottom right to the top at hope cross, but a good fitness challenge!
Its ok but you dont get a run off cos of the ford, gate and immediate climb back up. I prefer to climb it having descended Hollins X (then on up to Hope X). I am always interested to know where folks go having done it as a descent, cos the climbs are horrendous thereafter ie up to Hollins X or Chap Gate.
its not even near good - its part of a loop that has to be done.
Short and semi steep at best
Pretty dull as a descent. Easy, but steep in places, climb.
Climbs after it? The one up Back Tor from Greenlands to Hollins Cross ain't too bad.
Used be interesting, got tamed a few years back. Boring now. Not a challenge by any stretch of the imagination.
As racing ralph says, it gets you from hope X to edale, that's all
Think this is it
[img] http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=yz4qyx&outx=600&quality=70 [/img]
[img] http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=138sug&outx=600&quality=70 [/img]
i always think its pretty good as a finish to end of my rides up that way, as others suggest, its literally good for getting either to edale, or to hope cross...i still think its an added bonus as its better than just finishing on a road anyways....i wouldnt go specifically out of the way to do it as a descent, but if you want a challenge as a climb its pretty good..
as said thats usually the first climb of the day for me upto hope cross, its a pretty long slog of a climb to do in one go, but a good challenge that sets the tone for the rest of your ride....
[url= http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?x=425405&y=361990&z=120&sv=425405,361990&st=4&ar=y&mapp=map.srf&searchp=ids.srf&dn=802&ax=425405&ay=361990&lm=0 ]Jaggers Clough[/url]
This is the one I meant (White Peak).
[edited: didn't know there was a Jaggers in the White Peak]
Its not a great descent, but useful as a link between Birchover area and Masson / Two dales riding.
A nice steady climb when its dry, but its very cut up at the moment by offroaders.
There are some 'alternative' trails through Clough Woods which are better. Hop over the wall at the top of the bridleway, and follow your nose down the footpaths.
ohhh righty, never heard of that..... 🙂
Say hello to the Ostriches when you ride it 😉
Ahh haa, I've got you now.
Its o.k but not overly steep or technical, just fun. I bet there's been quite a lot of water damage there though.
Ah, I meant the one in the Dark Peak, coming down from Hope Cross - as per Oscillate Wildly's link.
We've got into the habit of doing a really short ride on Sundays (Park at Fairholmes, up Screaming Mile, down Hagg Side, up to the Roman Road then down to Hope Cross and the Beast then back up Hagg Side and down Suicide (Lockerbrook) and were looking at ways of extending it...
If you wanted to extend from Hope Cross, IMHO you would be better continuing down the Roman Road into Hope, turn right, along the road and up past Jaggers back to the cross. The Roman Road is a better decent than Jaggers.
Better still would be go past Derwent Damn from the start at Fairholmes, along the NE side of Ladybower and up Derwent Edge on the flag stones (this is a tough climb all the way to the top). Get to Whinestone Lee Tor and drop back down to the back of the Ladybower pub (there is a sneaky one straight on at the junciton at the top or a longer BW that heads east then doubles back on itself to the pub. Anyway, cross the bridge towards Bamford and head for Aston, turn R past Twitchhill Farm and past Hope Brink (both named on the map) and climb back to Hope Cross, then decend the Roman Road to the bottom of the Lockerbrook climb and back to Fairholmes.
You should be able to do the whole thing in 2 hours ish.
Aye we quite often do Whinstone Lee Tor, but it's such a boggy mess at the moment we're avoiding it.
When you say carry on along the Roman Road - do you mean past Harrop Farm into Hope?
The one in Dark Peak is ok, it's not a bad descent, but it's nowhere near as good as the others that lead off Hope Cross.
Yes, that's a better decent IMO. Jaggers is okay at the start with a couple of nice little rocks you can pop a bit of air off, then there's a a quick right and then a left which are fun but most of the height is lost down a straight wide track surfaced in marble sized gravel. Plus as someone else said there's no runout because of the stream, so you're on the brakes half way down the hill.
The Roman road is longer (or at least you can ride faster for longer) loads of rocks and 'jump' options, much more technical. Depends on what you want I guess.
Roman Road sounds like a MUCH better option, cheers 😀
Technical is definitely good.
Are you riding this Sunday?
Yup, we are indeed 🙂
Might see you on the trail, there's a good chance I'll be around there Sunday morning from about 8 if all goes to plan.
Ah cool, look out for a green Mmmnop and an orange 456SS. We'll probably be there a wee bit later though, coming over from Hull
I'll be on a grey Orange 5 with a CCDB shock. Have good one!
The climb out of the clough heading north is a good middle ring challenge.
The descent going south west to Edale is good after the clough, going towards the clough is steep and Ok.
Best done North to South, Ok South to North but is mainly a link to other trails.
The climb out of the ford towards Hope Cross is interesting on a singlespeed - stunning views on a good day as well.
A good day? What's one of those now? Oh wait, something like this?
[url= http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5167/5300035197_4c99a961ec_z.jp g" target="_blank">
I do remember having one of those once...
Durr,
The white peak route is Ok going towards Darley dale, there are better (more technical) descents. Its a double-track byway.
@flyingmonkeycorps - did you ride Sunday?
If you followed my suggestion and rode up Hope Brink, I apologise, I rode it Sunday morning and it was dreadful 😳
I've done it many times in the wet and mud but the thin layer of slush/snow was in places unridable 🙁
Rode the Beast and the Lockerbrook decent, which were relatively unaffected, which made up for it though.
We did ride in the end, not Hope Brink though. We foolishly decided to give Whinstone Lee Tor a go, the initial climb was fine, after the first gate was a boggy mess then the singletrack along the side was ok. The first part of the descent was a complete waste of time, I managed a rather unpleasant groin / stem interface and my riding buddy managed to twist his knee. The rocky descent down to the pub was grand though, although not quite enough to make up for it.
We then went over the bridge, over the damn and along the reservoir to go up the permissive bridleway to the Roman Road. 'Cos of forestry works it was an absolute mire, axle deep mud for long stretches and not even remotely rideable for a lot of it. Got to the gate at the middle and we were so fed up we decided to cut our losses and shortcut back to the A57 and Hagg Side rather than going all the way up to the Roman Road. Lockerbrook was, though, as you say, riding rather well and just about made up for it.
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