Might do the Jacobs ladder/ Roych circuit this evening but seem to recall Rushup edge is really awful when it’s boggy. I think I recall tell that if you stay on the footpath ( to the north of the wall?) Then it’s betterer.

Can anyone confirm?

I always go up chapel gate and that misses out the sloppy bit.

Yep, we just avoid. Either up chaplegate, or if approaching from the other side, bonus decent if choice off hollins cross and up chaplegate anyway.

Footpath will still be slippy in few places but yes, its generally better in that its less sloppy, easier. I rode it 2 weeks back and it was just rideable

It’s always been a better path. Less boggy but there is one stile about half way between the summit and the Mam Tor road, just to remind you that you’re being very naughty by riding it. Couple of boggy patches but nothing compared to the mudfest of the “bridleway” section.

just to remind you that you’re being very naughty by riding it.

Given the abominable waste of money from DCC sanitising the lovely rocky bit of bridleway that nobody wanted changing, and the fact that the b’way is a mess elsewhere….

I can live with that level of guilt.

Makes you wonder if someone read the map wrong and all that shit they dumped in the bedrock should have been dumped on the boggy bit instead.

Thanks all. Had noted Chapel Gate as the bail out option anyway, so will go with that.

Not been there for 16 years, almost exactly. 13 December in a blizzard and very nasty temperatures. The missus was being unusually nesh and less capable so we bailed up Chapel Gate and cut the ride short before she got hypothermia.

Turned out she was 7 weeks pregnant….

I can confirm that today the footpath was in much better shape.
After shaking my head at the two biking up it, while I did the frustrating slop fest that was the bridleway, on the return leg I took one look at the empty footpath, with a far more resistant bedrock path and became a hypocrite.
Shouted hello to the militant Walker,at the bottom. At least his female friend said hello back, ignoring her partners moaning.
I don’t know what I’m saying with this..

I don’t know what I’m saying with this..

My guess is that you’re a bit nonplussed by the dawning realisation that your long held belief that cycling on footpaths is inherently evil is wrong.

After all these years of automatically going along with it you’ve concluded that when you rode on that footpath nothing cataclysmic happened, no baby robins died, no kids faces got chewed off, the earth is still spinning on its axis. You’re know wondering whether the random definition of FP versus BW from 87 years ago is in fact the best factor to use when deciding where to ride your bike.

I missed the best bikes Ng years of my life by sticking to bridleways in Scotland yearscagox I’m not going to make the same mistake for the next (last) 20 years in England.

PS. Yes, agree the footpath was in great condition this evening. In the end we did the full loop up to Hollins Cross and along Rushup edge. Splendid.

Sorry @crazy-legs. Have reread your post

there is one stile about half way between the summit and the Mam Tor road, just to remind you that you’re being very naughty by riding it

and only just realised what you meant. Soz. Yes you’re completely right. When I got to the first stile I was about to get all indignant that there wasn’t a gate. Then I remembered,🤔

thegeneralist
Free Member
I don’t know what I’m saying with this..

My guess is that you’re a bit nonplussed by the dawning realisation that your long held belief that cycling on footpaths is inherently evil is wrong.

Yep, I had an epiphany this year. I’d always considered riding footpaths a big moral no, no. This year put a few things into perspective. Almost no one cares and if you don’t break rule 1 all is good. I now consider it an outdated, arbitrary rule at best.👍

Doesn’t show it that well but the northerly lane of Rushup was a nice dryish packed earth ribbon.

Blimey crazy legs is a blast from the past. Hey dude. Love the peaks

I ‘accidentally’ ended up on the footpath last weekend, but I was on my ebike, and I can tell you there is more than one stile before you get to the mam tor road. Anyway, the section from chapel gate to the first stile going uphill was awesome on an ebike, just keeping the speed below the 15mph motor cutout. The first couple of stiles were ok, as the wire fence was gone either side so wasnt a big lift over. The next couple of stiles were a pain in the arse, so eventually I bailed out over the wall onto the bridleway, and can confirm it is a bog fest, but better than lifting 23kg of ebike over stiles every 200 meters.