Hathersage Circuit.

Todays route, like so many that I ride, comes from the 'Dark Peak Mountain Biking' guidebook. Graded Hard its a 29K route starting and ending in Hathersage, your advised to use the swimming pool car park. Being a cheapskate I parked in a layby just outside the town on the A6187, a 5 minute ride away.
Bike off, helmet on, and I'm spinning into Hathersage, new chain and cassette on the Kona behaving itself (I changed the jockey wheels and re-greased the freehub as well), turning right up the B6001 then turning right again up towards the gliding club. Steady climbing on tarmac leads to another right turn onto a dirty tarmac farm road which in turn leads to the first off-road section of the day, a bridlepath across Offerton Moor. A fairly hard but satisfying middle ring climb on good tracks next to a stone wall took me up to the start of the Shatton Moor track, a stony restricted byway. Granny ring engaged its an easy spin up to the mast, where the ground levels out and the views are superb.

The view from the Shatton Moor mast, looking down the Hope Valley.

Now its just a case of following the wide track around, wondering where the playfull children were (see photo below), riding past the paraglider's parked cars and dropping into Brough. The descent is 'excellent and rocky' according to the book, now its just fast and loose being a newish stone surface with the occasional water bar to slow you down (well they slow me down anyway!).

Hide and seek perhaps?

A few miles of tarmac now as the route crosses the A6187 and heads up towards Aston with its dark narrow sunken lanes. Left at the junction, then first right up steep tarmac, disturbing a pair of pure white doves, towards Edge Farm. Left here is an excellent and pretty 'top ten' stony climb, ridable by anyone fairly competent. I stalled several times. Then out onto sheep fields, admiring the view up the Hope Valley, before climbing around Win Hill on 'top ten' singletrack and heading on a wide Roman road towards Hope Cross.

The start of the climb.

On the Roman road.

After the Cross there's a smart little technical climb leading up to a 4 way junction. Here the route turns right and starts losing height. The first section is good stony track, not too steep not too difficult. Then through a gate where all hell breaks loose. This is the 'Beast of Hope Cross' a 'top ten' downhill described as 'very rocky and technical descent', try death chute of death! The gradient is fairly steep and the rocks are big, line choices vary from very hard to extremely hard. I managed to get down, walking down a couple of the bigger steps, mainly by scooting along slowly with one leg off the bike.Still, its good to be tested.

First section of the Beast. From here it just gets gnarlier and gnarlier...

Having survived that I now found myself on the south bank of Ladybower, familiar ground and easy riding along fire roads east towards the A6013 where the big ring is selected for a quick spin down to Bamford. Left at the Anglers Rest, keep going straight and follow tarmac until it runs out and then I'm faced with Hurst Clough Lane, a sunken narrow old road bounded either side by trees. Select granny, spin through the mud at the bottom then try and pick a line through the broken tarmac, rocks, slabs and loose detritus. This climb is tough! I ended up walking the steepest section. The lane ends at a farm track, and the next is a narrow overgrown bridlepath between fields. That's overgrown as in rampant nettle and brambles, so I emerged scratched and stung, rode past a holiday cottage (stayed there once) and disappeared through a gate into a muddy field. This part of the ride has a distinctly agricultural feel. Turning right its a short muddy drop to a stream, then a 'pleasant technical climb up narrow slabs'. Except those slabs are buried under slippery mud and grass so again I pushed up to a gate. The next field is far easier going, leading to tarmac on which I dropped down at speed, mud flying off the Panaracers, chasing roadies and dodging Police cars, to Hathersage and the final spin to the Landy arriving three hours and thirty five minutes after I set off.

Last photo of the day, taken at the end of the last off-road section, looking down the Hope Valley. Note the mast on the horizon, that was where the first photo was taken.

Weather wise it started out misty, clearing up but staying slightly overcast.

Paul.