10th November- Peaks Mountain Bike, Hope Tour

After a last minute Saturday morning hostel booking I packed my stuff and headed upto the Peak District. I parked up in Hope and unpacked my bike and started off on my planned route, ‘The Hope Tour’ from the book ‘White Peak Mountain Biking’.

I started my ride from Hope and after a bit of tarmac I headed up the side of Win Hill on a stony track upto Hope Cross enjoying the views of Edale in the sunshine to my left. I carried straight on at Hope Cross and then had a good rocky decent down into the valley.

My bike and Edale behind

I crossed the river and the A57 and then rode up a good rideable ascent to a crossroads at Woodcock Coppice. I went left at the crossroads, which went through some woodland and then the track started to go downhill and then got a lot steeper at the end and quite tricky due to the stones and rocks. At this point I noticed my front brake was squealing. And at the bottom of the track I checked my brake pads to find out the front pads we’re worn down to the metal so I would have to ride the rest of the ride with just my rear brake.

Ladybower Reservoir below

I carried on alongside Upper Derwent Reservoir and then Ladybower Reservoir on a flat tarmac road until I started a steep stoney track uphill up Hagg Side. I struggled on some of the stones at the top, but after getting there turned right at the junction of bridleways which took me back to the crossroads at Woodcock Coppice where I turned left down a steep stony track. It was a very good decent but I had to approach the bends with caution due to not having all my brakes. 

Bottom of the decent from Woodcock Coppice, its steeper further up, really.

At the bottom I crossed the A57 and river again and followed the trail alongside Ladybower reservoir before taking a right up a good long slog uphill through the woods. At the top I stopped for some flapjack before carrying on along the trail which then headed downhill which was slippy in the mud so I couldn’t get too much speed. 

Top of the hill over Ladybower Reservoir

The trail rejoined the track by the reservoir and followed it to Thornhill where a right along a tarmac lane took me to Aston where a right took me back up a bridleway up he side of Win Hill. The start of the ascent was unrideable due to the lack of grip but soon turned into a good uphill slog back to a junction with the first track I rode up. I took the stony track and enjoyed the downhill back to Hope.