I went up on Rushup Edge and down Chapel Gate, a ride I haven’t done for ages cos its usually so busy at weekends. Wow Chapel Gate really is a mess!
It has been rough for years I know but it does seem worse than ever. I should have just carried on down Rushup and over roych.

Yeah, I don’t bother with Chapel now. I was over Rushup in the snow last week, I could see the tracks of MX bikes that had come up it and then carried on down Rushup towards Roych.

I feel old now. When I started riding in the Peaks, Chapel Gate was a tarmac road with the odd broken bit along the way!

“I feel old now. When I started riding in the Peaks, Chapel Gate was a tarmac road with the odd broken bit along the way! “

I too can still remember when it had a wide tarmac strip down the middle, bit like really grippy northshore 😉

Onzadog – Member
I feel old now. When I started riding in the Peaks, Chapel Gate was a tarmac road with the odd broken bit along the way!

Wow, given it’s current state i find that so hard to picture. Still quite a fun/challenging decent. 😆

used to be a tarmac farm road :-O

Chapel Gate is awesome fun.

Not done it since the snow, so it might have changed again.

It really pisses me off though that EVERYONE (MX bikes, 4x4s, walkers, bikers, not seen any horses) seem to want to use the muddy track on the edge which is rapidly eroding away. The “old” path, where the tarmac used to be is a really good DH – fast, rough and plenty of variety, and perfectly rideable on any bike (although I suspect I’d suffer on a rigid!)

I agree it’s no longer cleanable as a climb though.

AndyP, that’s the Chapel gate I remember, the old farm track. I can remember being stunned when the first big trench opened up just before the gate half way down. I always tell people i was going to jump the gap but the gate was in the way of the run out! Truth is, I pooped my pants when i first saw it. We used to tank down that road at silly speeds.

I’m not a big fan of trail maintenance/sanitisation but I’d really like to see something sympathetic done for Chapel Gate.

not sure what could be done, its current state proves that even tarmak cant cope.

Short of turning it into a series of steps with drainage ditches which allthough fun to ride for the first time would soon get boring.

Just waiting for castleton old road to fall apart a bit more, im seeing a hucktastic boulder garden!

Did it last weekend on the Soda. Awesome descent. I just really wish people would ride the “old” trail, not the grassy mudy mess to the side.

I wish I could ride all the way down the track, but we’re not all riding gods – I just haven’t got the skills or the bottle.

If you’d looked at the old Mam Tor road you would see its not purely down to MX bikes the whole hillside is a tottering pile of C@ck that would far rather be down in the valley

I feel old now. When I started riding in the Peaks, Chapel Gate was a tarmac road with the odd broken bit along the way!

I’m sure I can remember riding it before it was surfaced. I might be mistaken, but I think so. About 1990/1?

Agreed – mid ’90s it was tarmac, with a few breaks, by 2000 it was broken tarmac, with lovely central run, by last year it was destroyed.
🙁

FYI the Ice Cream Run at Rivi also used to be a tarmac road (though before I ever used it)

Chapel Gate had a go at destroying me in 2001 when I fell off at 30mph and slid along it on my face 🙁

the lower section below the gate has smoothed out a lot and looks to be very ridable now. Still a coupleof big rock steps but after that the rockyline in the bottom is quite smooth compared to a few months ago

It’s now the best natural north shore there is!! Second only to the beast or rushup edge (e to w) as a place to take southern shandies down. 😉

most of the “natural north shore” has dissapeared, was there in 2005, gone by 2007.

Now all thats left is a 2 mile rock garden folowed by a test of nerves as to how fast do you want to hit the potholes in the road at the bottom. Great for raceing your mates down, just make sure theyr able tp bunnyhop over the chasams that have opend up other wise it coud get painfull!

I wish I could ride all the way down the track, but we’re not all riding gods – I just haven’t got the skills or the bottle.

I’m not a riding god either. But you don’t get the skills or the bottle by avoiding the difficult stuff. You just keep banging away at it a bit at a time until it all clicks. Sure you might bin it a couple of times whilst it’s coming together, but that’s usually a learning experience too.