Riders : Jake, Basil, Deley, Ryan, Dan, Matt F & Leon.
Start point was a handy little free car park near the Bridge Inn in Duffield, we left the car park taking a right on to Makeney Road, followed by another right on to Eaton Bank, the first bridleway was on the left and almost back on ourselves towards the top of a small climb.
The start of this bridleway was littered with pine cones which made the steep climb difficult, we were then presented with a fair few steps which required navigation on foot. Once at the top the track lead us through several fields to the top of Eaton Park Wood, this a nice and quick downhill with some fast bends and the occasional obstacle. We left the wood and dropped down on the main road where we had the only puncture of the day on Basil's front.
A small track over a disused railway line and a footbridge took us onto Derby road and a 3 mile ride towards Belper via Kilburn Toll bar and Killis Lane.
Almost at the top of Killis lane's stiff climb, we joined another bridleway which started as tarmac and became more rough later on past the farm, this took us all the way to Sandbed Lane, we soon took a left onto a nice fast limestone bridleway which lead to Mill Lane with a small pause part way through after Leon struck a gate that everyone else had managed to navigate, this caused some sniggering, mainly from a couple of school girls and a pair of pensioners.
Halfway down Mill Lane to turned off through Belper Park and over some fun steps to Belper Market Place.
We made our way through the town via the cobbles of Long Row and along Wyver Lane, stopping for a quick break at Broadholme before heading over the field towards Wyver Farm, once in the farmyard we opted to avoid the mud route and head up the lane through the wood on to Belper Lane End. We attempted the single track up to Longwalls Lane but it was far too overgrown, so we decided to head back to the road via the Hissing Geese and a scabby Turkey. Once on Longwalls Lane we absorbed it's big rocks, trees and steep downhill with some confidence.
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| The rocky descent of Longwalls Lane |
Once at the bottom we took and quick left onto a track through a ford and up a killer hill to Lumb Grange, a few of us were starting to flag a bit by now so it was nice to roll down the hills towards the Bluebell at Farnah Green before joining the Chevin for the last off-road part of the circuit.
The Chevin proved good value and proved even better with the steep tricky descent onto the road below. Alll this left was a steady ride back along the A6 for a few miles back to Duffield.
We finished up with a much needed pint in the Bridge Inn.
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| Pedigree Diamond, Mine and Basil's choice, couldn't taste the biscuit though! |
See the full route here http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/63682218
