A Calver Christmas

Ride Date: 28/12/2013

Location: Calver

Riders : Jake, Deley, Matt & Howard

This ride took us back to Calver, the destination of the first ever post on this blog, for this years Christmas ride. Plenty of absentees this time including Dan due to headset trouble , Basil due to Center parcs, Ryan & Rob due to colds & Tony due to a bad back, some say down to his hard work with Santa over the last week! I also had some back trouble myself, but was OK for most of the ride, just struggled on the steeper climbs.

We set off through Calver village on a crisp sunny morning with Howard sliding off on some black ice at the first junction, good job he had his new knee pads on. Soon we were at the foot of the first big climb, it was just as difficult as I remember but it wasn't too bad especially with the good views lit up by the winter sun. After negotiating a few gates we were soon at the top and decided due to the small group we would make some "on the fly" route decisions and adapt as we went along. So we carried on past "Old Man's Demise" and headed for the quarry descent down into Eyam. The descent was nice and quick although it looks like the council have seen fit to resurface a good section of it, making it fast, but not technical. The last short section however, remains untouched and a good bit of fun.

Next up was a very pleasant climb on the roads up to Riley's Graves at Eyam, with a small break in the village center on the way. This led us to the start of the very good descent down through the woods to the road below, it didn't disappoint, throwing up rocks, ruts, roots & fallen trees. 

The View From The Bottom Of The Riley's Grave Descent

A short bit of tarmac led us next to the blast down to Stoney Middleton which was as good as I remember from last time, worthy point of note, if you ever find yourself at the bottom of this descent put your hand in the roman spring, lovely and warm flowing water especially in winter.

Next up was the steady 3 mile climb back up to Old Man's demise via Coombs Dale. Once at the top we hit Old Man's Demise, another excellent descent that is now a shadow of it's former self due to the council's over zealous resurfacing, it's still a good blast down, but with no real skill needed.
All that remained was to ride back down the first climb we had come up, despite a few interruptions from gates, this proved to be a decent end to the ride.

We finished off with a pint and a nice bit of dinner in the Derwent Water Arms, very nice chips and I'm told, by the other three, that the homemade pies were very nice too.

Dave with his well earned pint, albeit in a "ladies glass"!

Below is my first go at a video of the ride, feel free to add constructive criticism!  

See the full route here http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/280138459/151189

2D gradient profile

3D Gradient profile

The Chase

Ride Date: 01/12/2013

Location: Ambergate Woods, Black Rocks, Crich Chase

Riders : Jake, Deley, Matt, Ryan, Tony & Rob

Back by popular demand & with the knowledge we gained from the last ride out this way, we left the Hurt Arms car park as a gang of six welcoming back Rob who had previously joined us for the sub-zero blast around Sherwood Pines back in April. Absentees this time included Basil & Dan due to "mechanicals" & Howard due to Santa duties!

We set off along the road in the early morning sunshine with plans to improve on the last time by getting in at least one more descent, either Hearthstone Lane, Crich Chase or both. We took the usual fire road climb up to jackass lane and into the top of the wood at good steady pace, where we met some other riders who were setting off to the woods behind us. The ride along the ridge saw the first fatality of the day with Rob succumbing to the rocks and roots that were incredibly well hidden under the autumn leaves & taking a blow to the ribs.
We all met up at the top of the first descent, which again proved tricky for some due to it's nature and took a bit of the flow out of the section, I do have a plan to slightly alter this first bit and make it more flowing as I know there are a couple of other trails leading down from the ridge and maybe also include the woods to the left of the final climb up to the ridge from the fire road, hopefully more on that the next time we ride here. 
The second half of Shining Cliff was the usual fast, fun & flowing section made all the more interesting as a lot of rocks had a nice green coat on them. That just left the fire road climb up to Alderwalsley, where some front runners went the wrong way (that'll teach you for riding off ahead!). 

The winter sun peering through the trees as we rode back up the fire road

Once on the tarmac we had the chance to enjoy the fantastic winter sun on the way up to Black Rocks where with a small stop for Matt to fix a puncture we took time for a quick drink and to take in the views over the area.

A quick puncture repair, just below Black Rocks

Black Rocks was it's usual fine self from top to bottom with nothing to report other than fast, dry trails and we were soon down at the canal side in what seemed to be record time.We made the decision here, seeing as Rob was starting to feel some discomfort due to his earlier fall, that we would miss out Hearthstone Lane & we would divert left at Whatstandwell and climb up to Crich Chase, while Rob would head back along the canal and have a well earned coffee back at the pub.

So Crich Chase it was then, almost brand new territory for us (except for a brief look by me earlier that week), based of some Strava investigation we were aiming for what seemed to be one of the most popular descents, strangely named "The Bishop's Pointy finger", rather than ride the path from the corner of the road down to the wood, we opted to ride just a bit nearer to the reservoir and down to a slightly too high stone wall where we wrestled the bikes over completely missing the stile only 25 yards away, we'll remember next time!
The ride down through the wood despite a couple of stop/starts and us apparently veering slightly from the planned route, ended up being really good with a very nice of tricky bits and faster sections, we will definitely  add this in as a must do part of the ride, I can't believe it's took us so long to get in there and try it!

That just left about 100 yards of canal where we met back up with Rob at the pub and enjoyed a pint in the glorious sunshine and mild temperatures, not too bad for December


Below is Tony's long awaited second movie of the ride, enjoy!

 

See the full route here http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/273628360/151189

Swamp Monster!

Ride Date: 17/11/2013

Location: Cannock Chase

Riders : Jake, Deley, Matt, Howard, Dan, Tony & Damian

Just a quick entry this time, we all met in The Birches Valley car park at 09:30, just missing Ryan due to a "session" on the pop the night before, but we had new member of the group Damian, who is a friend of Tony's & also had a brand spanking new bike to try out!

We set off along a small detour at the beginning of follow the dog as "Twist & Shout" was closed for some repairs to bed in, and started the proper riding at "The Stegosaurus" which has caught a few out in the past and this time it's first victim was Howard, who flipped out on the rocks. The second and more spectacular victim came very soon afterwards, with Damian misjudging the wet and slimy northshore and sliding, new bike and all into the swamp below, where it appeared to completely engulf him!
He was pulled out and gathered his bearings to be greeted with the standard "Swamp Monster", "What's That Smell?" & "Oh, So It Was You That Fell In Then?" jibes, which carried on at least a few sections into the Monkey trail, and some of it even from complete strangers!

After that the rest of the ride went fairly uneventful, the trail was in good condition with only a few slightly damp areas & before we knew it, we were back at the cafe for a well deserved bacon butty & a hot cuppa.

One other thing of note, it was Tony's first run out with his brand new GoPro, below is the directorial debut of our very own Spielberg. It loses a bit of quality as I had to downscale it to fit inside the 500mb limit of the free Vimeo account.

Enjoy!

PS. should you be a masochist, you can now put in your email address in the box at the top right of this page to find out the instant I upload a brand new and interesting post!

Having a minute after "Tom, Dick & harry"

See the full route here http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/269683995/151189

Dog Bites & Broken Nails

Ride Date: 20/10/2013

Location: Ambergate Woods & Black Rocks

Riders : Jake, Deley, Matt, Howard, Alex & Tony

The plan was a variation on the usual Black Rocks & Hearthstone Lane ride, with the introduction of some riding in Ambergate Woods. We met as always in the Hurt Arms car park at 9:00am with the weather still mild, but with some intermittent drizzly showers.

We crossed the river and started the climb up through the woods following the bridleway as we went and it wasn't long before everyone's waterproof had come off due to the humidity. After some stiff climbing we reached the tarmac of "Jackass lane" and progressed along this much easier undulating road before turning right back into the woods. One final burst of energy up past the car park saw us at the start of the trail along the ridge.
Despite the heavy rain of the previous week we only had to dodge a few puddles as we rode along a good bit of single track with plenty of rock, roots, ups & downs. 
As Ambergate woods is fairly new to all of us, I'd done a few rides in there recently to try and find the best trails to ride, soon we came to a point where I hoped we could link up to a nice descent I had ridden a few weeks ago. it started of very promising with a very steep section with drops, rocks & hairpins thrown in, with most of us being beaten by the terrain, with Alex even breaking a nail! Matt decided he was going to make it down in one if it was the last thing he did. See the video below for the story.

 

Once Matt had nailed it we found the descent I had I previously ridden and followed it's twists, turns and surprises all the way down to the fire road. When linked together these two sections will make a really good tricky descent, there are various grades of obstacle on the way down including jumps & drops, all avoidable if needs be. We then made our way back to the top of the wood, albeit via the wrong route (my fault), although I'll remember next time.

Who knew that Meerkats lived in Ambergate Woods?

Once out of the woods we followed a steady path over the fields & through Kennel Wood to Alderwalsley, somewhere along the way I lost a screw from one of my cleats, so that needed a bit of tweaking, then we rode a bit of tarmac climbing to Wirksworth Moor and up the path to Black Rocks.
From here it was the usual Black Rocks fun, spiced up a little after the recent rain, which seemed to make us all a fair bit faster, we had a minor stoppage half way through for a quick tube swap on Tony's rear end. Before we knew it we were flying down the "Chute" and popping out on the canal. From here we decided to head back as time was not on our side with the exploring in the woods & a couple of mechanicals. So we decided to leave Hearthstone Lane & Crich Chase for another time & finished with a blast back along the canal, with weaving in and out of the Sunday walkers & Matt getting "nipped" by a very lively (or frisky) Collie, we were soon arriving at the pub for a pint (which Howard very generously paid for), plus it was still warm enough to sit outside!

All in Ambergate Woods is a superb addition to what is already a very good ride at Black Rocks, add in Hearthstone Lane and you've got 3 belting descents & there's still Crich Chase & Thacker's Wood to explore!

See the full route here http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/260148572/151189

Bakewell Puddings

Ride Date: 22/09/2013

Location: Wye valley - Cheedale Loop

Riders : Jake, Ryan, Matt, Howard, Dan & Deley 

The first of the "new style" Sunday rides took us possibly the furthest yet from the centre point of work, with an early morning start in Bakewell for what was a completely unknown new ride for all of us.

The start of the route was a steady warm up along the Monsall Trail, through the first tunnel & over the viaduct, here we left the easy riding trail and took a sharp left up a fairly steep and rocky "Black" rated climb, once at the top we wiped the blood, sweat and tears away, took in some of the superb views back towards the viaduct and descended down into the small hamlet of Brushfield, we then climbed & dropped on farm tracks into Priestcliffe, where Howard "percy weakbladder" Derbyshire had to nip off and relive himself.
We the proceeded on pleasant country roads to Blackwell, where we left the tarmac and joined the Pennine Bridleway we followed this steady double track for a short while where the first good descent of the day opened up before us with a nice fast loose ride down into the valley, where is was alleged that Matt overshot the final corner slightly! We then went over the Monsall Trail and over the river to start the next climb, a steady bit of singletrack back up the other side of the valley towards Mosley farm, we stopped near to the top for a breather and much needed drink

The view from near Mosley farm

Ryan & Deley checking out the views of the valley below

A "Tractor Action Shot" at Mosley Farm

After a quick drink we set off through the farm and long the farm track, veering off the track at one point onto an old Bridleway & eventually onto a short section of Tarmac before we took a right up over the fields, which turned out to be the muddiest section of trail we have ridden in many a month, there was also plenty of cow dung on this section too, which took a fair bit of scrubbing to remove in the end. This trail lead us to Wormhill, where we crossed the road and followed a fast bit of weaving singletrack, where Matt displayed his nettle avoidance technique by getting his feet above his handlebars! After a short wait for a few ramblers the singletrack dropped off to a great bit of rocky peak district downhill all the way to the road.
We now began a tarmac climb up-to the junction with the Limestone way, where we took a right and followed it nice and fast downhill all the way to Miller's Dale.
We then cheekily followed the river all the way back to the viaduct at Monsall Head and back onto the Monsall Trail

Dan & Howard on the Viaduct, not sure what Howard is looking for!

The view from the Viaduct

We then set off back towards Bakewell along what had become a much busier monsall Trail, but it turned out to be a nice warm down after the hard riding leading up to it.

All that was left was a stroll down into Bakewell for a refreshing pint in the beer garden of the The Peacock Pub with the weather having turned to be spot on with 20°C and warm sunshine, it was a perfect end to a decent ride.

See the full route here http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/248856226/151189

Carro's Demise

Ride Date: 20/08/2013

Location: Black Rocks & Hearthstone Lane

Riders : Jake, Ryan, Basil, Carro, Neil & Deley 

It was set to be the final "North of work" ride before the end of 3 shifts as we knew it, the actual final ride ever was a trip to Cannock a few days later. However on with this legendary tale...

The six of us set off from the Hurt Arms along the Cromford canal at a fairly brisk warm up pace, we left the canal at Whatstandwell and crossed the river to start the tarmac climb up to Wirksworth, we made good progress with only one real stop to drink and have a look at Neil's "rear end creak". As we got our breath back a bit Carro must have been possessed by a monster and set off up the rest of the climb like Chris Froome going for  a stage win & to prove that the more you ride the fitter you get. Once we had all regrouped at the Malt Shovel pub it was a matter of a steady ride along the mainly flat Oakerthorpe Road towards Bolehill, where we diverted off the tarmac and pushed/rode over a couple of fields and up through the trees to the summit of Black Rocks & the "Trig point"

Assembled at the Trig point

After a quick drink and photo & time for Carro to fart on Basil's arm, we set off down the first descent, a rocky, sandy bit of singletrack with plenty of obstacles to navigate, the trail splits a few times however it ends up at the same place so there are plenty of choices each ride. This led to Neil being the only one "lucky" enough to cross the path of a dead sheep, a delightful fragrance he claimed he could still smell some time later! Once through the gate onto stage 2, a wider, much faster, but still rocky section, with lots of opportunities to get a bit of air over rocks & roots. After the short & tricky slightly uphill link we set about stage 3, the woods, this gives fast single track with lots of weaving through trees, fast corners, swooping dips & tricky descent down onto Intake Lane. 
Stage 4 is short climb up the bridleway takes us to another short, rocky singletrack, over a stile & then down the incredibly fast path through the wood down to something the locals call "Anorak Alley", got no idea why, but it's a strange section of natural half pipe with a base of cobbles, rocks, roots & dips, this takes us down to the A6 and High peak Junction.

And so began the second half of the ride, we have on previous visits, taken the canal to Cromford Wharf, then climbed to Riber via Starkholmes, this is however a killer climb, in fact it doesn't even fit on our "Bastard Hill Scale", so as a trial we tried the Lea Bridge route, it's about the same distance wise as we don't do the extra mile of canal, and this was a far more steady & leisurely climb, with Carro once again making a break for the Polka Dot Jersey.
We were surprisingly at the junction of Heartstone lane sooner than I thought and still in good shape even after the tough rocky climb to the top, there was the usual debate over whether we veer left or right after the first section, just to clarify ITS LEFT, it has always been left, it has NEVER been right, despite what Carro might try and have you believe.
The first section was the usual fast & breath taking trail over drops, rocks & roots, it's probably my favourite section, just because you can go balls out. We continued through the trees with the tricky up and over roots, through the broken down stone wall and down the steep drop under the tree (watch your head) to the top of the infamous "Brown Trouser". Now being late summer the whole area was overgrown with ferns and the descent, which you could normally pick your line over a good width, had nothing but a very narrow rutted trail down the middle. Still it's got to be done so off we went, it was very sketchy with the rut trying to kick the bike about a lot, and I arrived at the end with basil & Ryan not too far behind. After what seemed a good few minutes there was no sign of the other three, there were a few comments such as "fannying about" "Gay" and other not printable things, then Basil though in an almost psychic "I reckon something's happened!" Ryan went off on a recce for info, we waited another short while and went to look too, we were greeted with Carro limping down the hill with his left arm in a makeshift sling. Turns out he'd gone arse over head, landing on his shoulder & potentially broken his collar bone. Luckily he could walk ok and he was guided down the rest of the trail to the road.

Once back in civilisation Ryan phoned for an Ambulance, and a paramedic turned up within a few minutes and started to check him over and fit a neck brace, whilst there was a not inconsiderable amount of piss taking going on. As this was happening an air ambulance flew over, "be funny if that was for you, Carro" someone joked. "it is" said the Paramedic.

Left: Looking a bit sorry for himself
Right: After medical attention

While waiting for the Helicopter to land, I legged it back to Ambergate to get my car so I could take his bike with me, I returned just in time to see the Helicopter ready for take off, which it tried once and had to land again, now the more cruel members of the group suggested that they had to remove some ballast in order to cope with their passengers weight, apparently the real reason was down to a hatch not being closed, again some of the more mean people threw in suggestions of too much girth! However after another false start to ask some bloke to move, it took off and carried our friend off to the Queens Med.

A direct link to the video as it doesn't seem to show on iPads

http://youtu.be/U-r6VBjnRew

And that was it, we all said our goodbyes, unfortunately most of the group still had a 4 mile ride back along the canal!

See the full route here http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/233478492

The Heat Is On!

Ride Date: 18/07/2013

Location: Cannock Chase

Riders : Jake, Ryan, Basil, Simon, Dan & Deley 

It wasn't the hottest day of the year, but it was probably the hottest day we'd been out for an after work ride. Talk in the carpark was of a complete run of Cannock chase, both "Follow the Dog" & "The Monkey trail", so off we set onto the Tackeroo campsite full of energy!

Things started off well with a flying run down to Birches valley & a good pace through "Twist & Shout" down to "Stegosaurus". After that things started going awry, with Si coming off on some Northshore. By the time we had got to the split we had decided, due to the incredible heat we would do "High Voltage" & "Devil's Staircase" then back up the hill officially known as the "Bastard Hill" then back onto follow the dog.

The rest of the trail was uneventful, we even took some time out to practice some log hopping and wheelie-ing. All this got us back to the carpark much earlier than planned.  Dan suggested we go and look at some more of the old trails out on the other side, more specifically a bomb hole he'd seen whilst out on a walk.

Off we set through a series of nice, fast single track, where Si came off again allegedly caused by a "hidden" tree stump, most of us missed the crash, only being alerted by Deley's laugh as Si left his bike. It wasn't too long before we found the bomb hole & had a good mess about before moving on to the smaller bomb hole with the jumps, where we had been on a visit earlier in the year. More fast single track over varying terrains led us to the jumps. 

We started off just messing about, when I all of a sudden got a bit more adventurous than usual & started tackling things that normally only Dan would do (I blame the heat!). The first few jumps went well if not a little short of the target. However the "one last go" ended up as a bit of a disaster! Basically too much speed and a poor technique saw the bike twist in the air and me flip head & shoulder first into the ground and travel a few metres to a halt. Injuries were a lot less than they should have been due to my helmet taking the brunt of the impact, although the should is still a bit sore 3 weeks later.

See below for a Slo-mo of the jumps & crash!

A direct link to the video as it doesn't seem to show on iPads

http://youtu.be/je4ue2ROdns

That sort of cut the ride short, after some very much appreciated help and support from the lads, I was eventually back on the bike and riding back to the carpark, where much rallying round got me & the bike back in the car and on the journey back home.

Worst thing was missing out on a lovely cold pint at the Chase pub!!

The moral of the story is... well there are 2 really, never take that "One last go", also if Dan can do it, don't assume you can do it too, not without a lot more practice first anyway!

The latest full map of Cannock Chase (Click for Full size)

A useful guide to hydration given how hot it was in the day, makes you think a bit!

See the full route here http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/217977016

Ticknall Tremors

Ride Date: 25/04/2013

Riders : Jake, Ryan, Basil, Tony, Dan, Howard, Deley & Carro.

Been a while since the last post, but here goes...
Spring is here!!! And with dry trails appearing we opted for a couple of rides this week, the first was more of an investigation into Black Rocks & Riber in which we found some very promising downhill trails, but more of that next time when we do a full group ride out there.

Onto the second ride of the week, which took us to the very familiar territory of Ticknall & Robin's wood. Although it's been a while as most of the area doesn't ride too well in wet & muddy conditions, but with this outrageous dry spell it was excellent.

First off after some delays getting started with cheeky bike hiding & Carro forgetting his drink, we made our way into Robin's Wood with plans of having a good few goes on the trails. After a few minutes for Dan to get his bearings we were off down the first one, a nice rocky, rooty & twisty number which lead to the well known jumps on the bottom trail. This is where incident number one happened, with Tony proving that Hopwas wasn't a one-off and him leaping from his bike to hug a tree again! After some informative words of advice from Carro to help Tony improve his skills we were off again up a quick climb to find another trail.

This next one had some good stone jumps and was nice and fast, dropping again onto the bottom section of jumps & incident number two. As I passed Basil he swung a leg to get off his bike hitting my handlebar with a glancing blow and throwing me over the handlebars. 

We managed a couple more runs down various trails, losing Deley in the process and Dan having a hidden stump collision accident, which left him with a nasty gash on his shin. We made our way back through the wood to the exit, where Deley left us to go and enjoy his wedding anniversary tea.

Myself & Ryan trying a stone drop off in Robin's Wood, filmed by Carro Speilberg

We then carried on via many bridleways and trails out towards Kings Newton & Stanton By Bridge, coming back round the top of Robin's Wood and off towards Foremark.
We lost Howard towards the end due to a slow puncture & the rest of us carried on to finish a good 18 mile ride and we didn't even make it to Repton Bottoms or Bretby!

An enjoyable ride, with some good Robin's Wood action and a very good pace over the remainder of the ride you certainly knew you had been out there.

I'll finish off with a huge welcome back from all of us to our long lost friend "dry, dusty trails".
Let's hope we see a lot more of you this year!!

See the full route here http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/181307172/151189

If You Go Down In The Woods Today.......

Ride Date: 30/01/2013

Riders : Jake, Ryan, Basil, Tony & Dan.

Another new route and this one with the promise of some down hill jump action!
Several of the team had jibbed due to a combination of the weather, destroyed brake pads, enforced dog sitting and alleged injuries, but the rest of the intrepid adventurers set off towards Huddlesford and our start point.
Things didn't start too well with me discovering that like Deley and previously Howard & Ryan, my rear brake pads were none existent (down to the previous ride from Denstone we think), still "who needs brakes" chirped Dan!
So off we set along the canal, which was a mix of real hard going mud and some incredibly fast harder standing parts where we were pushed along by some very strong winds and it wasn't long before we reached the bridge into Hopwas Woods.

Once in the woods we found protection from the wind and a surprisingly firm and dry surface, as we headed up the first slope we were greeted with the first ramp of the day.

The first ramp at Hopwas

After a bit of a chat about the ramp we headed further up to see what else we could find, and came across a steep trail down a gulley and some more ramps, further inspections and chatting was done, then it was time to try some of it out.

First up was Dan on the first ramp, then all down the gulley (except me) which would later provide big offs for Basil then Tony and finally Ryan, the latter ending up in quite a bit of pain after an argument with a tree root.
In-between the first gully runs and the crash riddled final runs, there was time to try out the double ramp further up the hill, with both Dan & Ryan giving it whirl to good effect.

Tony in the "post crash" position towards the top of the "gully"

Ryan inspecting the first ramp of the double jump

With Ryan struggling after his crash, my back brake getting worse and the weather staring to change towards the wet, we decided to head back using some pre planned bridleways, the first one lead us through Hopwas firing range and down a road it seems we shouldn't have gone down, then a short bit of road, followed by another bridleway, which as most thing recently would be a lot better "when dry & with the sun beating down on your neck" as Basil put it.
This slightly uninspiring track however threw up a bit of a bonus in the shape of a dirt jump area, but with the fading light and most lacking energy only Dan could find the effort to have a quick go, one for another time though.

Just a small amount of road back through Whittington left and we were at our cars.

This is certainly another area for the future, loads of potential in the woods and more tracks and bridleways than you can shake a mudguard at in the area & the bonus of only being a quick drive from work.

Bonus: Video of the Jumps & Gully

Music is The Skints - Rise Up http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NgOTFQHh8s

See the full route here http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/155312919/151189

Mud, Rain & Badgers

Ride Date: 08/01/2013

Riders : Jake, Ryan, Neil, Deley, Basil, Howard, Ady & Dan.

With several days of nice and dry weather with a few glimpses of sun, spirits were high as we walked to our cars from a hard day at work. We all set off on a short journey west down the A50 to Denstone for our first crack at a route in the Churnet valley. As we drove along in convoy the heavens opened, "just a quick shower" I reassured myself as it continued to rain all the way to the carpark and while we got ready.

We set off along the road and onto the disused railway line, which we expected to be like the High peak Trail, however we were greeted with loads of water and mud, not to worry though, we've had a lot worse over the last 12 months, so we set off and at good lick for about 4.5 miles just skirting a few metres away from Alton Towers.

The former railway track, in believe it or not, drier conditions

At the end of the track there is a tunnel which is sealed off, so we took a left and followed the road for a short distance and went down into Dimmingsdale & Threap woods where we rode around looking for some useful trails to ride, this was however proving difficult mainly due to the weather & that the place was new to us. Eventually we came back to the road and headed for the Youth Hostel on top of the hill where we found some ridable trails, albeit very "sketchy" with lots of wet rocks and roots, which lead to a very muddy track littered with branches and logs (presumably to aid vehicle grip), this proved to be a fun and fast downhill which provided a few thrills and spills and lead us, eventually back down on to the disused railway.

The railway was even wetter by now and darkness had set in, but we still maintained the pace we had in the other direction. Then without warning Ady stopped, did he need a quick piss or had he spotted something? It ended up being the latter as he had seen a creature in the undergrowth, we all stopped to look and saw a Badger!! 

A Badger - Yesterday  (not THE Badger though)

Without any prompting a few broke out into chants "Badger, Badger Badger!" to which the badger now only a few feet from us turned, shrugged and promptly buggered off!

So after that excitement wet set off back along the trail and into our cars, it's worth noting I don't think I have ever been that wet in my life! Still we are used to all this rain and mud now, and it didn't ruin a good burn out, which hopefully will set a foundation for discovering a bit more around there.

Bonus: For those who burst into song & for those who had no idea what it was all about:

See the full route here http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/117987340/151189