There are a number of bits we did yesterday, that I never go near when the ground is wet. Rideable in the dry, a push in the wet.

I'd be inclined to ride it the other way round too.

I have G+ and I can't get link to work either.

Not been down Gratton Dale in a decade but those pictures look far worse than I recall. Would be a 2 dayer for me even in dry conditions.

I was trying to do it off my tablet before. Some things are just easier to do on the laptop though. I'm still on the sofa watching Flanders the course looks easy relatively speaking....

Thanks to Steve H for taking the photos

I knew after last week that some sections would be harder in the rain. I was fortunate to have a beautiful day last Saturday and a reasonable morning Sunday.

Gratton was horrible too and pretty much all unridable last week, wheels had to be cleared with sticks just to push the bike

Firstly, congratulations to all who braved it over the weekend.

Secondly ... has anyone besides me thought that finishing this route might actually be made tougher by it's proximity to civilisation? It always seems much harder to keep on keeping on when you know you could stop and (to a degree) return home / to the start / whatever fairly easily. The more options there are to bail, the harder it is to ignore them when you're in a dark place.

Here's a brief write up of my day http://sometimesridesbikes.blogspot.co. ... k-itt.html

has anyone besides me thought that finishing this route might actually be made tougher by it's proximity to civilisation?

I'd looked at it as a long day ride and packed accordingly. If I'd packed for a full on adventure I'd not have jacked when I did. From Parsley Hey was unknown territory to me, and I didn't fancy winging it with the stuff I had.

......20 minutes after making the call, I was in a nice warm car.

Interesting rich.

I'd packed with the ability to get some sleep. At about 11pm I was changing my plan to a ride through, but didnt have the stamina so had to rest.
I did have the option to get a lift, but as I had the sleep kit it wasnt as much of a temptation I guess.

In the end I had to get back to Edale one way or the other. Only stopped due to having no brake pads left so unsafe to carry on off road, I was struggling to stop on the road by that point. Prior to this my plan was simple ride steady and keep moving.

Regarding kit I had enough to survive a night out but not in comfort. Did think about getting a B&B in Bakewell though. Probably going to ride the second part of this route sometime this week (train to Buxton, then follow the Monsal trail to Bakewell) before picking up the route again. If nice night might bivvy out and bike back home the next day too.

Tough route though especially with the wet weather.

*I've updated The Dark Peak 350 on ViewRanger. I've made quite a lot of changes. It now starts in Rowarth (free parking and a pub) and it generally sticks to tracks that are as weatherproof as possible. I'll post up the GPX file this evening. I'm planning on riding this over 2 days sometime midweek next week.

s8tannorm wrote:Firstly, congratulations to all who braved it over the weekend.

Secondly ... has anyone besides me thought that finishing this route might actually be made tougher by it's proximity to civilisation? It always seems much harder to keep on keeping on when you know you could stop and (to a degree) return home / to the start / whatever fairly easily. The more options there are to bail, the harder it is to ignore them when you're in a dark place.

Absolutely. That was in my mind in designing the route with an initial loop that takes you nearly back to the start just over a third of the way in! A tough test of will...

It was essentially my undoing! And the temptation took out half the group too.

I did try to not go past too many nice places to stop but there are plenty very close to the route. In fact you could have a lovely week cycling the route 'one meal st a time' from cafes to pub etc for breakfast lunch and tea.

Rich is your pump a silver and red one? If so I picked it up on the top of cut gate.

Rich is your pump a silver and red one? If so I picked it up on the top of cut gate.

Hi Ian, yep, that fits the description perfectly..

I'll get it back to you. Although my wife was admiring it!

Are you at the wrt?

I'll get it back to you. Although my wife was admiring it!

Are you at the wrt?

No WRT for me. Hopefully be able to make one of the Peak Monday night rides soonish. Else if you see Dave first you could leave it with him.

Richpips wrote:

I'll get it back to you. Although my wife was admiring it!

Are you at the wrt?

No WRT for me. Hopefully be able to make one of the Peak Monday night rides soonish. Else if you see Dave first you could leave it with him.

Can certainly return it via Dave as I need up get his tangle bag back to him.

I'm around all weekend and off work next week so we should be able to sort it out at some point

Well yesterday I went back and finished off riding the remainder on the Peak District ITT (armed with new brake pads and many spares). I got the first train off the day from Stockport out to Buxton. Then I cruised out to Parsley Hay and then somehow resisted the temptation of Long Dale and Gratton Dale and whizzed down the road to Alport as this was where I had abandoned the route on Saturday.

From there I followed the rest of the route back to Edale. Luckily this part of the route is not as hard which allowed much more time for faffing



Not long after my coffee break my Speedplay Frog pedal disintegrated on Totley Moor meaning I was unable to clip in my left foot for the remainder of the ride.



However I was just glad that I was able to carry on even if it meant that I was doing River Dance kicks on a regular basis to the amusement of many walkers. Once I got to Cave Dale that was a River Dance too far and I safely walked down most of it (evil putting this descent at the end of such a long ride Ian!!)





Just one more climb left and I was convinced I had plenty of time left to catch the train from Edale back home to Stockport. After climbing the old Mam Tor road and ever upwards to the top of Mam Nick before traversing across Mam Tor towards Hollins Cross. A quick look at my watch and it looked like I was just going to finish this ride just in time. I enjoyed the descent down Greenland and not long after I arrived at Edale train station with 3 mins to spare. A perfect day and a really good ride.



My elapsed time for on the route was around 19hours 20mins. So when I get round to doing this as a oner in the summer a time of under 20 hours should be possible, especially with dry trails as it was still very muddy in the White Peak yesterday.

Peak ITT - Part 1 http://www.strava.com/activities/127293170
Peak ITT - Part 2 http://www.strava.com/activities/128599158

Nicely done sir! I must admit it is a bit of a sting in the tail, but a classic peak descent never the less.

I'm home alone this weekend as my MIL is taking kids and wife to Disneyland Paris for a long weekend. I've a 40th B'day to go to on Saturday but am planning a leisurely ride round the rest. An easy afternoon then bivy on Sunday night, finish the rest on Monday.

Will report back...

That sounds like a good plan Ian

When you're riding the Barbrook Valley concessionary bridleway the path that you exit on is the one further to the East rather than the one marked on your GPS route, it wasn't obvious at the time but there are a few posts marking the way.

http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?x=42 ... 77210&lm=0

D Faff Master wrote:That sounds like a good plan Ian

When you're riding the Barbrook Valley concessionary bridleway the path that you exit on is the one further to the East rather than the one marked on your GPS route, it wasn't obvious at the time but there are a few posts marking the way.

http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?x=42 ... 77210&lm=0

Confused my fuddelled brain riding that part in the dark. Couldnt see the posts until I was right on them as I ride with my Toro on low

My attempt that was planned for Monday is off. I have developed some kind of knee problem this week. Crashed 3 times on the left knee during the WC2C attempt but it's my right knee that starts hurting 2 days after getting back.

Has anyone got the gpx for this route I could have please.

mikeclarke87@ gmail.com

Cheers mike

Bit of a dredge but...

While riding the top loop of this yesterday, found the bridleway between Old Manchester Road towards the River Don/Trans Pennine Trail was closed, two tractor-type vehicles parked and a 8-foot fence panel chained to both walls. There were a couple of signs closer to the road about work being done (dated March 2015 for 6 months), although I thought that the was for the small section of bridleway that carries straight on from Old Manchester Road back to the A628, which is also currently blocked.

I guess a short spin along the A616 and a left turn onto the bridleway at Hazlehead may be a reasonable diversion, spinning along the A628 to Salter's Brook Bridge was pretty grim.

THanks for the reminder - I made that mistake recently while out recceing for this year. I will put out a new GPX soon, I've added curbar and longshaw as they have been upgraded to BW status now

Burbage valley will follow soon but not in time for this summer I'm told.


Also what do people thin about dates? I had proposed the 4th July but that's now the weekend after the Yorkshire dales and I won't be able to do both on consecutive weekends! I guess my question is who is keen for a group start and when seems good? the new route will be broadly similar in terms of overall difficulty and time to complete, although will be a shade longer (but more rideable)

I'd look at a weekend about a month or five weeks after the YD300 but that could be within the summer holiday season.