Bakewell

crispybug2

So, me and the natural blonde have been invited to a friend's wedding which is being held in Bakewell.

We'll be there for the Friday night to the Sunday morning, and I'd like to put in a couple of rides, not too long as there will be much to do, where should I go?

Rigga

Mam tor and winnats pass are nearby, also snake pass and the Strines (with the infamous deliverance) are also nearby. Some great roads round there. Mam tor and winnats are at Castleton/Edale. For the Strines head towards ladybower reservoir turn right at lights past ladybower Inn pub then a mile or so later turn left at the sign for the Strines Inn and stay on that road!

Moonbiker

Dissapointed this wasn't about tarts

andcp

In no particular order...
Frogatt Edge
Curbar Gap
Grindleford climb
Surprise View
Abney
Chatsworh
Beeley Bar Road
Rowsley Bar Road
Mam Nic
Monsal HC
Riber HC
Winnats
Eyam
Hartington
Goyt Valley
etc...

Personally I'd avoid the Snake - too busy, even at weekends. How far and hilly do you want it?

londoncommuter

There are loads of sportives that start from around there so I'd be lazy and nick one of their routes eg:

http://www.ukcyclingevents.co.uk/events ... tive-2015/

balb0wa

You really want to ride up Beeley and go down it, its my favourite hill, im from Chesterfield, its not hard by any means, curbar and rowsley bar are a lot harder to get up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NToQbZksMyc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfHuZKz78-E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35O-OQQc5dY

IanRCarter

Andcp has listed pretty much all of the big ones. Winnats is a real grind, I've covered a lot of road in the Peak District and it's the hardest climb I've tackled there. Mam Nick is probably my favourite, steep, but you can get a bit of a rhythm going and it's a quiet road. Monsal isn't the hardest or longest climb, but it's well known because of the annual hill climb event there, so it's a good one to do. Getting over to Glossop to do Snake would rack up a fair few miles, as Andcp said, it's a busy road and it's also pretty boring, it averages about 6% and never really goes above 8% or below 4%.

Lots of lesser known hills in the area, one that I discovered and really enjoyed doing a couple of years ago is called Moor Road out of Great Longstone (https://www.google.com/maps/place/53%C2 ... !1s0x0:0x0). It slowly gets steeper for the first half a mile or so before you take a right hand bend, then it eases off to around 4% for the rest of the climb, giving you the opportunity to recover and enjoy the view out to the right.

There are a fair few 'roads' on the maps on route plotting sites, my small tip would be to drag the Google Street View man onto the map and see if the road turns blue. If the Street View car can go along the road, it's usually safe to plot a route that way.

DeVlaeminck

So much does depend on the length of ride, what kind of roads you want to do, do you want to tick off some well known climbs etc

An easyish one would be roll South down the A6 for 10 miles to Cromford, turn right at the lights and right again in Cromford on to the 5012 Via Gellia to Newhaven. Just before you reach the A515 take the right and follow that to Youlgreave. At Youlgreave take the left by the pub Conksbury Lane, take the right at the end sharp down and up and then follow that road back to Bakewell. That's probably 30 miles max - the A6 is quite nice to cycle on despite it being a mainish road and you get to roll through Matlock and Matlock Bath, the Via Gellia is a fairly gradual but very very long climb maybe not so well known outside the area as some listed but I really like it. You could do that ride in a couple of hours so might do for a shorter easier one depending on time available. To be fair though there are lots of options even for a short ride - you could take the road to Monyash from Bakewell then loop back round the area around Flagg or go out round Longstone or as mentioned the climb up Froggatt is great though maybe even better as a descent - one of those that really flatters your ability - fast and curvy without being so fast and curvy that you need any real skill !

chris_bass

Moonbiker wrote:

Dissapointed this wasn't about tarts

there was mention of a blonde so there is still time

londoncommuter

Moonbiker wrote:

Dissapointed this wasn't about tarts

Puddings please, not tarts. You'll get lynched in Bakewell asking for the wrong thing.

dstev55

DeVlaeminck wrote:

So much does depend on the length of ride, what kind of roads you want to do, do you want to tick off some well known climbs etc

An easyish one would be roll South down the A6 for 10 miles to Cromford, turn right at the lights and right again in Cromford on to the 5012 Via Gellia to Newhaven. Just before you reach the A515 take the right and follow that to Youlgreave. At Youlgreave take the left by the pub Conksbury Lane, take the right at the end sharp down and up and then follow that road back to Bakewell. That's probably 30 miles max - the A6 is quite nice to cycle on despite it being a mainish road and you get to roll through Matlock and Matlock Bath, the Via Gellia is a fairly gradual but very very long climb maybe not so well known outside the area as some listed but I really like it. You could do that ride in a couple of hours so might do for a shorter easier one depending on time available. To be fair though there are lots of options even for a short ride - you could take the road to Monyash from Bakewell then loop back round the area around Flagg or go out round Longstone or as mentioned the climb up Froggatt is great though maybe even better as a descent - one of those that really flatters your ability - fast and curvy without being so fast and curvy that you need any real skill !

Alternatively, half way up Via Gellia you could turn right at Grangemill and go down a cracking little descent heading back to Bakewell, some lovely fast sweeping bends.

tmg

Bakewell to Calver, straight over the lights, hang a right at next junction which takes you up froggat, nice climb
At the top hang a left which takes you down to fox house, next junction take a left and then follow that road all the way to Hathersage, nice fast descent into Hathersage, go through the village centre and at the bottom of the hill hang a LEFT onto station road, follow that road for about a mile, you will go over a bridge and then hang a right (signposted for Gliding Club) just before the pub on your left. Follow that climb through Abney, past the gliding club and then you will descend. At the next junction do a right, that will take you down to Great Hucklow, go straight through the village which will then take you to a place called Windmill. Turn left onto the b6049 towards Tideswell. You'll come to a junction, turn right and then left and drop down into tideswell and then stay on that same road down through Millers dale, stay on the B6049 and follow it up to Blackwell. At this point you could either just take the A6 back to Bakewell which is a nice staedy descent most of the way or alternatively at the end of the b6049 hang a right onto the A6 then at the next junction hang a LEFT onto the A5270, about 2 or 3 miles later hang a left into Chelmorton and follow marston lane as far as it goes past flagg and moneyash. At the end of this lane hang a left and its a fast descent back into the centre of bakewell

Nice ride taking in some of the climbs previosuly mentioned

andcp

tmg wrote:

......nice fast descent into Hathersage, go through the village centre and at the bottom of the hill hang a right onto station road,

I think you mean left on to Station Road

Apart from that, yes, that's a lovely route, some of favourites in there, highly recommended.

tmg

By that stage he wont know his left from his right, I clearly dont

Thanks for correcting, its definately a left!

Wardster00

I went over the climb at Abney today and it says that the road is closed. It is closed to cars as part of the road has collapsed (this is past the gliding club, just before the descent into Great Hucklow) but you can get round it on a bike. You may need to get off to get through the barriers that they have put up, but it's easy to walk round them.

tmg

That road near the gliding club has been "closed" for a while now, have always been able to get around the barriers as walkers and horse riders are still using it, been a while since I rode it and surprised its not been fixed yet!

andcp

Not sure it ever will be 100% again. Like the Eyam road, it appears to be built on on unstable Base...

neeb

Don't do what I did the only time I went to Bakewell and buy two large Bakewell puddings, stick them in the boot of the car and then forget about them for 2 months during a particularly hot summer...

tmg

That may of improved the taste of them, horrible things. Mr Kipling definately improved things with his Bakewell Tart!!