THIS ROUTE IS ONE OF OUR FAVOURITE ROUTES. IT TAKES IN SOME OF THE PEAK DISTRICTS BEST STRETCHES OF BRIDLEWAY AND OFFERS SOME GREAT VIEWS.
TOTAL MILES : 32
TOTAL TIME : 3.5 HOURS RIDING TIME
MAPS : OUTDOOR LEISURE 1, DARK PEAK (BUY IT HERE)
START
You can start this route at either Chinley Station (on the Manchester side of the Peaks) or Bamford train station. I'm going to describe the route as from Bamford Station but this relies on you catching a train from Chinley at the end of the ride so check train times before you set off.
Derwent Dam
1 From Bamford train station, turn towards Bamford and take the first left (past the Severn Trent Water Works), passing the recreation ground until you reach the Quaker Community. Just after the this, turn right onto a short section of singletrack that joins the dissused railway. Follow the railway up to Ladybower dam, crossing over the road at one point and go over the top of the dam. Turn left off the dam and follow the cycle path, turning left at the traffic lights.
2 At the start of the next viaduct, turn right onto the tarmac track. Follow the stone track until you reach a wall. In front of you, the bridleway carries on through a gate, the path can get a bit overgrown with bracken but is still obvious. Follow the bridleway to it's end, this section includes a lovely rocky descent. Caution - Sheep have a habit of jumping out of the bracken, I've come a cropper before. We now venture off the Dark Peak map for a while but the route isn't too complex.
3 At the end of this bridleway, turn left up the access track. The track climbs steeply and is very rocky but presents a good challenge. After the rocky bit, bear right along the muddy singletrack and cross the stream through the gate. Keep bearing left until you come to Cutthroat Bridge. The path runs round the shoulder of the gully and joins another steep bridleway.
4 Follow this bridleway across a boggy section and then a nice technical shallow ascent with lots of rocks to jump up and ruin your chain rings on. In the 10 years I have been riding this route, there has never failed to be a strong headwind on this section! When you reach the summit, take a moment to admire the view and test your brakes, lets face it, you haven't used them for about half an hour! What follows is a section of singletrack, mostly downhill but varying from sublime to ridiculous depending on how much rain there has been. Follow the bridleway round to the right along a precipitous traverse and then following the wall. Cross the boggy section then follow the wider track until you reach a gate on your left. The path heads downhill through some nice bomb holes and ends up with a fast grassy section with a good jump at the end (you'll be glad you checked your brakes now).
5 Go through the gate and head down the steep rocky descent round to the right, through a stream and up to some barns. Pass through the barns and through the gate on the left and down the paved path (slippery when wet). You need to turn left back down the reservoir (if you need a cup of tea by this stage, you can follow the reservoir round to the right, dropping in at the Fairholmes cafe before heading back down to the A57).
6 When you reach the tarmac bit again, go straight on down to the A57. Turn right (there is a cycle way on the viaduct) and then take the first right after the bridge. After about half a mile, there is a turn to the left up a tarmac farm track, this is a short pig of a climb. When you reach the Farm, enter the yard and turn right immediately. At the next gate, turn right again following the tractor track uphill.
7 Follow the waymarked Bridleway as it climbs through fields through a couple of gates. When you reach the summit, carry on along the fields and then along the top of the forest. until you reach a fairly large stone track. Cross this first track (carry) and the turn left down the next (signposted to Rowlee Farm). This is a mega fast descent but watch out for parties of kids from the Hagg Farm centre. If you survive the hairpins, you'll come to Rowlee Farm. After the farm, follow the tarmac (fast) down to the A57 Snake Road. CAUTION - The junction comes up on you quickly and is dangerous.
3 Cross the Snake Pass road from the bottom of the track and follow the bridleway until you cross the canal. About 200m after the canal, the bridleway turns right sharply onto a steep rocky track. This is a very technical climb but can be cleared in one if you really want to! When (if?) you reach the top, follow the track until you reach a cross roads. BEWARE - This is a green road, you may be held up by landys or mown down by motor crossers.
8 Carry straight on at the crossroads, through a couple more gates. Just after the second gate, the trak forks and you want the climb up to the left. Follow this track until you reach a flattened cairn that marks a bridleway turning right. This is a lovely fast descent and it follows the moorland down, crossing the fields and breaking into the woodland at the bottom (you'll be concentrating so hard on the collapsed wall that you'll totally forget to miss the overhanging branches!). At the end of the bridleway, turn right down the tarmac track and then right onto the road.
9 Turn right at the next junction and follow the road until you reach Hope. Stop off at the Woodbine Cafe for great tea and cake. Now Follow the road up to Castleton. In Castleton, turn right as the road bends round sharply to the left. Follow this small road until it turns sharply left and take the bridleway that carries straight on.
Winnats Pass
10 The bridleway climbs steeply through first a pretty much rideable rocky singletrack and then up a mostly rideable pitched/slab path until you reach from steps. Carry up the steps until you reach the cairn at the top and turn left onto the slab path that takes you to the summit of Mam Tor and it's good 360° views.
11 From the summit, take the path down the steps (you can ride down the side of them but the National Trust have spent a lot of money trying to counter erosion in this area so bare that in mind) and onto the road. Turn left onto the road then immediately right onto a bridleway. Follow this bridleway up to the ridge and follow the ridge on the right hand side of the wall until you reach the summit and then a great rocky descent down the other side to the road (you could also head back down to Edale by the Chapel Gate track from just past the summit).
12 Follow the road (first person to touch the brakes is a.......) as far as the Chestnut Wildlife Centre and turn right. Follow this road until it's conclusion and turn right towards Chinley and the train home. You also have the option of making this a true epic if your legs have it in them. Be warned, the next optional section is a hell of a climb for a short but infamous descent. All you need to do is follow signs for Hayfield and then take your pick of bridleways up to the top of Kinder Scout and down Jacobs Ladder on the other side. The climb is pretty miserable in winter but is good in summer. Once in Edale, you have the option of a train back to Bamford or a road spin back.