Dark Peak Double

Two Mid-Week Dark peak Epics.

Ride Date: 23/06/2015 & 21/07/2015

Distance: 27 miles each

Climbing: 4000ft (ride 1) 4500ft (ride 2)

Route: Hope > Mam Tor > Hope Cross > Derwent Edge

Riders : Jake & Matt Plus Mick for ride 2


Ride 1 started just outside Hope and began with a steady warm up along the road through Castleton and up the broken road of Mam Tor, then a bit more road before taking the north descent down towards Edale, then a mix of riding and pushing back up to Hollin's Cross, before descending back down another great trail to Edale and the not unpleasant offroad climb & short drop to Jagger's Clough. Next up is the short but killer climb to Hope Cross & a decision point, we opted for "The Beast". Now I'd only ever come up The Beast as a short cut, so was more than chuffed to clear it clipped in & without dabbing, the only negative was a rock strike near the bottom that resulted in a fair whack on the shin from my pedal.
Next choice was a push up Hagg farm to Lockerbrook, with the sun starting to warm up this was a very tough climb. The reward, Lockerbrook was excellent as usual & almost dry on top. Time for a quick break at Fairholmes.

The usual excellent view from the broken road

For Ride 2, we were joined by Mick, the start of the route was the same as Ride 1 as far as Hope Cross, from here we chose Potato Alley, another superb descent, then over the snake and up via Rowlee Farm to Lockerbrook. Again the ride down Lockerbrook was a delight, probably my favourite in the area. Then we had a steady roll to Fairholmes for refreshment, the highlight of which was a malfunction of the "99" machine which gave me and Matt probably more Mr Whippy than we needed, still it cooled us down, but I felt a bit sick afterwards.
From here it was same again with the tortuous climb to derwent Edge, from where we decided to ride down the cheeky bit and on to Cutthroat without stopping, again it was bone dry. Once down on to the road we opted to climb up Hagg Side (where the flies were abundant) and do Hagg Farm, then push up The Beast to Hope Cross.

Taking a breather on the way up The Beast

Once at the top of Hope Cross, it was a case of pedal at full chat down the Roman Road in to Hope, well that was the plan, I had a game of chicken with a ram and Matt had a blowout, might have even been both tyres, memories are fuzzy after the sheep altercation.
That was all fixed with a pint in the Old Hall afterwards though.

Two cracking rides, i think if I was forced to chose then I may prefer ride 2 as Potato Alley is a faster ride than The Beast and climbing up Hagg Farm was a bitch, whereas Rowlee is all rideable, either way, we might have to squeeze another in before Christmas!