Whaddayareckon? Cave Dale’s nails IMO. Not been down Chapel Gate for a long time. The Beast/Hope DH isn’t so hard.

Legit only so forget Parkin Clough.

in terms of slippyness the Cavedale is hard. But there is so many different downhills. fast/rocky, fast/smoothish, slow/rocky etc

Cut gate is pretty gnarly

Chapel Gate. :Fact:

Chapel Gate has become very eroded, challenging/difficult/impossible* in places unless you opt for the bale at the side

*delete as appropriate depending on skill level

cavedale is far easier than chapelgate imho, well at least if you ride the proper way down chapelgate..

I’m with richpips on this. Chapel Gate.

Doctor’s gate (only in places)?

Hello thefallguy, not wanting to open a can of worms but, whenever i read that some body says the trails are difficult, or impossible to ride, i think i hope no body from main peak district trust see”s this and then they decide to sanitize the impossible to ride parts, like is happenin all over the peaks. Shall we call these parts the slow fun bits in future and hope no other trails are sanitized. This is not a pop at you fallguy, its just my thoughts.

i think i hope no body from main peak district trust see”s this and then they decide to sanitize the impossible to ride parts

I wouldn’t fancy trying to walk down the natural line of Chapel Gate. If the Peak Park was going to do anything about it, I’d guess it would be due to the requests from walkers.

The “chicken runs” weren’t created by cyclists, but by the walkers.

As the BW traverses a steep hillside, it would cost a fortune to sanitize it as you’d have to ensure drainage that would not wash improvements away.

Remember it was tarmac once.

I found Jacobs ladder pretty intense, on an 80mm Hardtail you feel every bump. Cavedale gets a vote, especially in the wet, but watch out for walkers that just WILL NOT get out of the way. Cutgate is manageable in good weather. There’s a descent near Ladybower, which is just huge boulders all the way down, can’t remember the name of it, but it was also a little hair raising.

Good times though all of them, you can’t really go wrong in the Peaks.

where is cutgate remotely hard? its just fast fast fast

I suppose the most technical bit of Cut Gate would be the switchbacks down to slippery stones, but I’m not sure that they’re actually part of CG at all.. 😕

there are cheeky trails in the peak that are in a different league anything mentioned above, im sure plenty of locals will agree. hopefully no one will spill the beans tho!

I suppose the most technical bit of Cut Gate would be the switchbacks down to slippery stones, but I’m not sure that they’re actually part of CG at all..

And they’re not really what I’d call technical.

Unlike Chapel Gate which really sucks you in- on any given section there’s normally multiple lines, none easy, it forces you in sections to commit to a line and speed choice, sometimes offers no bailout option or even opportunity to stop, has deceptive drops, and a pretty good variety of terrain on the way down, unlike a lot of other descents in the area, which may be difficult to ride quickly, but are still fairly straightforward or offer no satisfaction ridden at slow speeds eg the much vaunted ‘Beast’.

It’s a thinking man’s descent 🙄

Depends on what you mean by hard. Some courses are technically hard to ride down at any speed and so the challenge becomes to get down the route without falling off. Other courses are easy to ride but hard to ride fast. Most of the stuff in the Peak will be in the former category; technically speaking, compared to a dedicated DH course, the technical difficulty of the routes in the Peak is pretty low, but a lot of them are hard to ride fast. The Beast is trick to ride really fast, not least because a stack is really going to hurt.

I’ve never done Chapel Gate, can someone sort me out with a link to a tide with it in… I’ve got both the Jon Barton Peak Districk route books, is there one in there somewhere ?

Hollinsclough.

Chapel Gate – Clicky

yeah – don’t forget the descents into Hollinsclough around Longnor – some of them are big, chunky drops – but whereas Chapel Gate is getting close to being unrideable in some sections (unless you take the chicken runs), you can bounce down some of the descents around Longor very satisfatorily. That’s if when we’re talking ‘hardest’ we mean ‘technically difficult’. There’s a whole section in the back of the White Peak guide on Longnor – and really any of those are worth a stab.

Moo – Member

I’ve never done Chapel Gate, can someone sort me out with a link to a tide with it in… I’ve got both the Jon Barton Peak Districk route books, is there one in there somewhere ?

there’s at least one route in the barton dark peak book – starts in Castleton with the roadish climb up mam tor, then rushup edge, chapel gate, ends with the hollins cross descent back into Castleton iirc. You should be able to find it from that description.

Second the Hollinsclough descent ( near Longnor).
Those rocks ( mahoosive dropoffs) are even tricky to walk down.

It’s in the ‘V’ graphics White Peak book.

Chapel Gate is part of the Mam Tor Figure of Eight route in the Barton Guide. Did it this morning. I’d say its pretty impossible really now to ride all the way down in the gully.

Even the motor bikes that ripped it to pieces in the first place stay on the track to the side now, and are rapidly destroying it as well.

Honestly you boys, grow a set will you. 😉

“watch out for walkers that just WILL NOT get out of the way”

In the bedrocky gulley bit, the hardest section of the descent, they probably CAN’T get out of the way that quickly. It’s pretty tricky to walk on, especially when wet.

I’d agree that Cavedale and Chapel Gate are both pretty hard going. It’s been a while since I rode it but the top section of Doctor’s Gate is difficult too. I seem to remember rocks the size of TVs…

Dont hear much of doctors gate anymore? Why’s that then?

I’d say its pretty impossible really now to ride all the way down in the gully.

Not so. But definitely difficult.

Dont hear much of doctors gate anymore? Why’s that then?

Well firstly it’s a pain to get to. A long approach on the A57 in either direction. Then, the top rocky section is beyond most people. Once you get down to shelf brook the going is crap, tussocks, river braids no path as such. Then you’re in Glossop, which means yet more road to get back to wherever you came.

Oh for a bridleway over kinder/bleaklow… Now that would open up a few possibilities..!