Peaks gurus – Hayfield – where are the best bits?

Hello,
I’m off some time soon to try an area of peaks a bit further afield to hope/ladybower. I’ve heard that there is some great stuff round Hayfield.
Please can those in the know point me to some good options for a decent 3-4hours session in the area? what are the best bits- thanks in advance!

Coldwell Clough descent and down the back of the campsite.

Coldwell Clough descent

…is rubbish. Fast gravelly track with a couple of drainage ditches. Yawn.

Shooting Cabins HERE (track heading NW) is excellent, mix of gritstone, peat and rock.

This one isn’t bad: HERE from Ollersett down to Far Phoside, short but steep and, unusually for the Peaks, rooty.

Loads more although some *may* be FP’s…
From Edale go up Jacobs Ladder (yes, UP, the only way to do it!) and drop down Oaken Clough, fork R on FP HERE then pick up the BW across Broad Clough. Long section of DH and Broad Clough is flat out grass with some nice little drops in it. Clear day and dry conditions and it’s VERY fast but still really good fun, some nice line choices. Down to the res, up the cobbled climb then pick up the Shooting Cabins descent.

There was a 3 loop route in MBR earlier this year that I thought was a good starting point for exploring Hayfield.

Kinder Loop (Vertebrate Graphics Dark Peak book) starting from Edale is a superb ride – Roych Clough (blue in the book, but pretty rough these days) is a storming descent (shame about the gates) and the “rocky riverbed” from Rushop Edge is great fun. Finishing with descending Jacobs Ladder is pretty stunning (if often covered in walkers).

Some folks prefer to ride it the other way round going up Jacobs, but they’re all freaking mental!

And wrong 🙂

cheers guys, looks like a few good options there!

From Hayfield, up Twenty trees to the shooting cabins, turn left then down to the road, up the road and turn right towards rowarth, down lantern pike, up t’other side to new allotments, down past Peep-o-day farm, across the road and down coldwell clough back to Hayfield is a nice 3 hour ride 🙂

From Edale go up Jacobs Ladder (yes, UP, the only way to do it!) and drop down Oaken Clough, fork R on FP HERE then pick up the BW across Broad Clough. Long section of DH and Broad Clough is flat out grass with some nice little drops in it. Clear day and dry conditions and it’s VERY fast but still really good fun, some nice line choices.

yup, +1 – I did that grass section last Thursday for my birthday ride – it was very fast!

take a look on Chinley Churn.. some great BW and FP’s on there. Really good FP near the railway line that faces Furness Vale.

Second what Sambob said
My local loop, probably be up there tomorrow
The first bit of the climb before twenty trees is a ball ache though

Simonm, can you elaborate on the FP near the railway line that faces Furness Vale please. Just back from doing Cracken edge which is superb, and curious if we have missed something in the area.

it’s not that bad, probably faster to walk it though…

yep gotta agree Coldwell Clough aint owt special,far more superior downs in that area.

Simonm, can you elaborate on the FP near the railway line

mmm, I cant find my track from that ride now.. lookin at the map it could have been this bridleway.. I’ll check when I’m at home to see if I have the correct GPS track.
The thing thats throwing me is that this looks wide.. but it was certainly singletrack for part of the way

the bridleway you link to is mostly singletrack. It used to be a stream for most of it length, was rebuilt about 18 months ago so the top half was VERY wide but is now filling back in nicely.

[/quote] No_discerning_taste – Member
Simonm, can you elaborate on the FP near the railway line that faces Furness Vale please. Just back from doing Cracken edge which is superb, and curious if we have missed something in the area.

Hmm, cracken edge looks alluring on the map… can you mark which bit you mean on street map?

Up the new allotments, turning left along the top and then right down the Phoside farm bw descent is good. The flat bit along the top is actually pretty good flowy singletrack.

An educated guess – not that I’ve ridden it, er, obviously – would be that Cracken Edge is this:

http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=403721&Y=383455&A=Y&Z=120

You could theoretically reach it either via the footpath from the top of the short, steep grass climb up to New Allotments or by turning right at the point where the track hits the dip on the track descending from Hills Farm.

If you followed that theory, do you think, it maybe worth riding ?

Yes, in theory it might be ace riding along a hummocky ridge with lots of neat little steps, great views and a few places where you wouldn’t want to fall off the side… Mind the spiky bushes though, staying to the crest helps with that.

Theory and practice are obviously two different things though.

Thanks BWD.