Cycling the Carsington Water circuit

Posted on May 14, 2012 by peakdist

One of the things I love about cycling (and walking) in the Peak District is the terrific variety of scenery and landscape – from routes across the rugged upland moors of the Dark Peak to the undulating and softer limestone trails of the White Peak. But for a wholly different type of ride head for Carsington Water, on the Peak’s southern fringe between Wirksworth and Ashbourne, where a mostly traffic-free circuit of a peaceful and leafy reservoir provides a gentle day out on two wheels.

Cycling along the eastern shore

Carsington Water may be a huge reservoir, opened as recently as 1992, but until you get to the dam at the southern end it doesn’t feel much like one. Fringed by low hills, rolling fields and pockets of attractive mixed woodland, it’s not just rich in wildlife but also great for recreation, with a mostly purpose-built walking/cycling trail that encompasses the reservoir, about 8 miles/13km long in total.

There are three main car parks from which to start your ride, although if you’re hiring bikes and need all the facilities you might base yourself the main Carsington Water visitor centre complex. However, a useful way to avoid the non-cycling crowds is to start/finish at Carsington village at the northern end of the route, where the Miner’s Arms pub has recently started up an enterprising cycle hire business, as well as offering decent pub grub and a pleasant beer garden.

Tony Goldstraw runs the Miners Arms cycle hire from the pub in Carsington village.

The cycle route around the reservoir is well waymarked and in a number of places the walking and cycle trails diverge, which is handy since there can sometimes be quite a few slow-moving pedestrians to negotiate – so best cycling manners, please! When I cycled the route a couple of weeks ago the birders were out in force, since the summer migrants were returning (lots of warblers, redstarts and blackcaps in the woods) and there was rumour that a passing osprey had been spotted at the specially constructed nesting platform on the south eastern shore. There’s always lots of wildfowl out on the water and plenty of places en route to stop for views.

The Carsington Water circuit is mostly flat and direct on its western side, with a few short inclines above its eastern shore, and although it got me puffing once or twice it’s not really too arduous. There are also electric bikes available for hire if you really want some assistance. But this isn’t an overly demanding route, nor one to hurry along – take your binoculars or a snack and enjoy it properly. At the northern end of the reservoir you can either stay water-side of the B5035 around the new linking route above the shore; or (as I did) cross over the main road for the quiet lane through charming Hopton and Carsington villages, past the distinctive ‘crinkle crankle’ wall of Hopton Hall’s garden (you’ll see why it’s called that). There’s also a short link to the High Peak Trail, plus of course the cycle hire and refreshments at the Miner’s Arms in Carsington village.

For a reservoir, and a relatively new one at that, Carsington Water is an attractive and accessible location offering a good quality and mostly easy-going ride that keeps away from busy vehicular traffic. It’s really good for families and ‘occasional’ cyclists; and if you stop for the views, the wildlife and the odd ice cream, the 8-mile outing easily fills a whole day out (or simply go around again!).

For more details go to our Carsington Water Circuit route page.  

Andrew

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Cycling the High Peak Trail

Posted on May 1, 2012 by peakdist

I’ve always liked riding the High Peak Trail. Traffic-free and well maintained, it’s not as busy as some of the other routes and there’s lots of variety. More than anything else, though, west of Wirksworth the route takes to the high, bare limestone plateau where there’s a terrific sense of airiness and distance – on top of some of the huge embankments you feel you’re almost flying!

Hopton Incline on the High Peak Trail, west of Wirksworth

I rode it a couple of weeks ago on a Saturday when, as the photos perhaps demonstrate, the sun (remember that thing?) periodically made a welcome appearance. The High Peak Trail follows the course of the former Cromford and High Peak Railway, and at its eastern end the story of the line is told in a fascinating display inside a former railway carriage by the old workshops at High Peak Junction (where there’s also a seasonal snack bar and toilets). From the Junction beside the Cromford Canal, at the foot of the Derwent valley, the trucks were hauled up a 1 in 8 incline (look for the crash pit for runaway wagons at the bottom of the slope). This, of course, makes for a rather demanding start, so you can either push your bike up the long slope or start at Black Rocks at the top. In fact, this time I began my ride at Middleton Top, a little further on, where Derbyshire County Council’s cycle hire centre (plus snack bar, gift shop and toilets) is housed in the old engine house complex.

Clive at Middleton Top cycle hire.

After Middleton Top the trail levels out, bar one further (but manageable 1 in 14) incline, after which you’re sailing off on a firm, traffic-free and scenic route often high above the pasture and with fabulous views south towards Ashbourne. There’s a short tunnel, picnic tables at the site of the occasional former station, plus signposted links to neighbouring villages like Brassington; but if you’re self contained and after a peaceful but stimulating ride through the White Peak this is a first class trail. Around Minninglow, in particular, it feels as if you’re in the middle of nowhere, with no human habitation bar the odd farm in sight.

Storm clouds above the High Peak Trail.

Once across the A5012 Newhaven-Cromford road (take care here – cars and motorbikes whizz along this stretch) you go past the brickworks at Friden, where a display and mural tells the story of how refractory brick making has been carried out at the site since 1892. After a long cutting you go under the A515 and swing round to join the Tissington Trail at Parsley Hay – where a welcome cuppa and cake was a fitting end to my ride. There’s also bike hire, a bike shop and toilets here, so that if you’re hiring bikes to explore the trail you can do so from either end. In terms of distances, from start to finish (High Peak Junction to Dowlow, three miles beyond Parsley Hay) the trail is 17.5 miles or 28km long; or from Middleton Top to Parsley Hay (cycle hub to cycle hub) it’s 11.5 miles or 18.5km. For further details including a map of the route see our High Peak Trail page.

Wide open landscapes and huge skies near Minninglow.

If you’re feeling fit and suitably intrepid you can then continue your ride on the Tissington Trail – without the need for cycling on any roads. But my advice is don’t hurry the High Peak Trail: it’s a full day out on its own and across the middle section, in particular, the wind-in-your-hair feeling (through the gaps in your helmet, of course) with the huge vistas and lack of people is reason enough to dally.

Andrew

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Making cycling part of every day life in the Peak

Posted on April 18, 2012 by peakdist

This week a team of ten cyclists carrying models of the Olympic torch will take part in a 100-mile relay cycling event in order to raise awareness of the Olympics and Paralympics among pupils in schools across Derbyshire. To that end they’ll be joined by local students from Bakewell, Ashbourne and Buxton, as well as a group of adults with learning difficulties who attend sessions at Bakewell’s Medway Centre. “We hope that by taking part in the relay people will be encouraged to make cycling part of their everyday life, with all the health benefits that brings,” said the Peak Park’s chief executive Jim Dixon. “The best legacy of the excitement around the Olympics would be for people, young and old, to cycle more as part of their lifestyle and for leisure.”

Smart idea! Link for cyclists from Bakewell town centre to the Monsal Trail.

I couldn’t agree more. After all, a bike is not just for the holidays. But how many Derbyshire schoolchildren actually cycle to school at the moment? Despite the bike racks, School Travel Plans and bike awareness days, the proportion of local students who cycle to school, or for general leisure and utilitarian journeys for that matter, is almost certainly very low. You could blame it on computer games; or us wrapping our children up in cotton wool; or even on the lung-busting Derbyshire hills (have you ever tried cycling up from town centre Bakewell to Lady Manner’s School?!); but perhaps more than anything else it’s roads and traffic.

Traffic-free cycleways like the Monsal Trail are so evidently popular with families, in particular, precisely because you won’t meet a quarry truck hurtling towards you or a motorcyclist roaring past your shoulder. We need to acknowledge this and build on the success – sustainable travel, exercise and health benefits, green tourism, accessible recreation, climate change agenda… cycling ticks ALL the boxes!

More signs like this (on the Manifold Track at Hulme End) would be welcome in the National Park.

The National Park, together with its partners like the Highway Authorities, needs to complete the backbone of cycle routes (connecting the Monsal and High Peak Trails with Buxton, for instance) and at the same time look to build on these traffic-free cycleways – where cyclists and pedestrians come first – and begin plotting safe connections with local towns and villages. I don’t mean cycle lanes on the A6, but routes expressly for non-motorised users. Perhaps upgraded bridleways and green lanes between villages, safe cycle routes in and out of our principal towns, maybe even the creation of some brand new cycle routes, all of them plotted in a joined-up and strategic way so that the routes make sense and link with places where people want and need to go, so that residents as well as visitors are encouraged to cycle. But, above all, they need to be car-less so that people have the confidence to go out on two wheels. In our car-dominated national park only then will cycling ever really become a lifestyle choice for more than the diehards.

Andrew

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Cycle the Manifold Valley

Posted on April 4, 2012 by peakdist

If you want a largely traffic-free cycle ride through a dramatic Peak District valley, most of the way alongside a lovely tree-lined river, then there’s an alternative to the busy Monsal Trail. It’s even got a short tunnel, as well as excellent cafes and cycle hire.

Cheerful cyclists near Wetton Mill

The Manifold Track (or trail) is located on the southern edge of the National Park, roughly mid way between Leek and Ashbourne. At 8.5 miles/13.6km long it runs along the flat and mostly wooded floor of the Manifold and Hamps valleys between Hulme End, two miles south west of Hartington, and Waterhouses on the A523. Entirely in Staffordshire, the route follows the track-bed of the Leek & Manifold Light Railway, a curious little line which closed in 1934.

Visitor Centre and Tea Junction at Hulme End

Last Sunday (before the snow!) I cycled the route for the first time this year, beginning at Hulme End with an obligatory coffee and snack at the Tea Junction (open Tues-Sun, April to Sept), a welcoming modern cafe for thirsty cyclists located on the site of the old engine shed and using two of the original roof arches in its construction.

The Manifold Track then heads south, weaving its way below the huge slopes of Ecton Hill beside the River Manifold. For two miles the route shares a public lane, including through Swainsley Tunnel which, although short and dimly lit, is not where you want to meet a vehicle coming the other way. Three miles on is the National Trust’s tearoom at Wetton Mill beyond which it’s bikes only along the narrow tarmac strip. In places it’s rather bumpy, thanks to some indifferent resurfacing work, but also because after the rails were lifted the tarmac was apparently laid straight on to the sleepers!

Peaceful valley cycling

Apart from Ecton and Wetton Mill there’s little habitation along the valley bottom, but the scenery is fantastic. You cycle through lovely mixed woodland, all very peaceful, while limestone outcrops tower above. One of these contains Thor’s Cave, which you can reach on foot up a steep path.

Beyond Weag’s Bridge the route veers south west to follow the Hamps river (which was completely dry when I rode beside it last weekend) to the trail’s conclusion at Waterhouses. Here you can hire bikes for a half or full day, including children’s bikes, trailers and tandems, from both Brown End Farm and Manifold Valley Cycle Hire based at the Old Station across the A523.

Manifold Valley Cycle Hire is located in the old station building at Waterhouses

The 17-mile/27km return route is just the right length for a leisurely day out on two wheels, flat and mostly traffic-free which will appeal to families and novice cyclists in particular. With good cycle hire at the southern end and toilets and cafes at strategic points, the Manifold Track is well worth exploring; or you can make it part of a more adventurous route around the lanes and bridleways of the south and south western Peak.

Terry and Sue at Brown End Farm at Waterhouses have been hiring out bikes for many years

The long-gone narrow gauge railway, the route of which the modern cycle way follows, served local farms and a dairy at Ecton, but never managed to make any sort of profit and lasted only 30 years. The visitor centre beside the Tea Junction at Hulme End has a good display about the line, including a replica model railway. It was famously derided as “a line starting nowhere and ending up at the same place.” After a great day’s bike ride on the Manifold Track I decided that, for today’s leisure cyclist at least, that’s a route description I really quite like.  

 Andrew

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Getting back in the saddle…

Posted on March 19, 2012 by peakdist
Unfortunately, last year I had an accident that resulted in reduced vision in my left eye. It has taken a while to get back on the bike and play on some single-track – roads and the nicely surfaced ex-rail trails are fine – but I was uncertain how I would fare off road with my depth perception a little wonky…
Some times you just have to get on with it – I had prevaricated long enough. So last Saturday Fred and I went for a ride. We selected a local circuit ’cause it was on our doorstep and was as good a ride as any to find out what would happen. I had in the back of my mind what the specialist had said – you have one good working eye – you can pretty much do everything you used to do, but remember, don’t let the good one get damaged or you’re in trouble. Well, those weren’t his exact words, but it was the gist of it. I can’t remember his exact words because my head still rang at the time after the clattering it received from a detached block of rock I was luckless/stupid to be beneath at the wrong time. End result: a damaged optical nerve and about 15% ish left eye vision. So, I have invested in a pair of glasses – I feel very self-conscious in them but at least I only have to worry about keeping one lens clean. The other thing about working mainly from one eye is that after about 2 metres or so the depth of vision with one eye is not too dis-similar to that of two eyes – eyes are not that far apart after all and we are not hammerhead sharks. Consequently, I had to stop my bad habit of watching exactly where my front wheel was rolling and instead concentrate a few metres out where my vision was better able to assess the size of a step I was about to drop over, the rut I should evade, or just get into as the alternatives were worse or the exposed, greasy roots I should avoid unless I wanted to add to my list of broken bits.
The end result was I did not fall off – which was nice – if a little surprising; maybe I was guilty of not trying hard enough… I did go slowly and I did have the odd (or six) ‘foot faults’, but overall I was pleased and not a little relieved to find that I could manage OK (ish) and that while I will not be the next downhill speed champion I will at least be out on the tracks again this summer. Result!
Route wise, we took in some of the bridle paths in Rowsley Moor Wood (just east of the A6 Bakwell to Rowsley road) and cracking, if short, descents through Manners Wood before taking in Haddon fields (west of the A6) and the somewhat terrifying (to my mind) descent through the old quarry on the way back to Youlgrave. Just a few hours – but a few hours well spent building the confidence and just enjoying being ‘back in the saddle’. The route we took is not actually on the PDC website but these two take in bits and could be food for thought if you are in the area (route 1 or route 2). Additionally, I should really point out that while our ride used some great tracks they do have a fair amount of walkers / dogs on them, especially at weekends, so some care and attention is needed or you might scratch your paintwork… ;-)
Mark
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Roll out the Peak District cycle trails

Posted on February 6, 2012 by peakdist

The news that last month the 50,000th cyclist was recorded on the Monsal Trail since it was extended through the tunnels last year comes as no big surprise. The car park at Hassop has regularly been crowded and cyclists have been whizzing in and out of the tunnels to Miller’s Dale and Blackwell Mill for the last eight months. In this era of economic austerity and local authority cutbacks it’s gratifying to see such a positive development – one that encourages people to get out of their cars and enjoy exercise and safe cycling, while also benefiting local businesses and the wider Peak District environment.

The next step is to extend the Monsal Trail eastwards to Rowsley and west to reach Buxton, which it should have done last year when the tunnels were re-opened and which I understand the National Park Authority are still keen on achieving. Peak Cycle Links are already striving to make the Buxton connection to the High Peak and Tissington Trails, at which point the route will stretch south to Ashbourne and across the high limestone plateau all the way to Cromford. A cycleway up the Derwent Valley via Matlock to Rowsley, already in Derbyshire County Council’s distant sights, will then complete this wonderful cycling circuit.

Even on a freezing January weekend the Monsal Trail was busy.

It can’t come too soon, either. All those people – especially families, novice and nervous cyclists – who have discovered the fun in riding traffic-free along a scenic former railway line are eager for more. Returning cyclists to the Monsal Trail don’t want to stop at Bakewell or Blackwell Mill but are keen to explore further; and the sheer pressure of numbers on the route also needs relieving. Elsewhere on our web site we’ve outlined some cycling routes off the Monsal Trail that take in country lanes and bridleways, but for a completely traffic-free day, where navigation takes second fiddle to the stunning views and sheer exhilaration of sailing through the landscape, then roll out those cycle trails!

And it’s not just about catering for tourists, either. Making cycling easier, safer and more accessible benefits everyone, irrespective of whether they’re visiting the Peak District for a holiday or if they live locally. The real value of developing a traffic-free cycling network through upland Derbyshire might be in fact be the opening up of local cycling gateways to the residents of Buxton, Darley Dale and Matlock. The next challenge after that will be to link these trails via safe cycling routes to the more remote rural communities of the National Park. (Those of us who live in the villages like traffic-free cycling, too!) 

Getting the hang of things on the Tissington Trail.

Of course, the Monsal Trail is not the only established cycleway in the Peak District. In the next few months we’re going to be showcasing some of the other trails via this blog and on our main website, including the Manifold Trail, Middlewood Way and Trans Pennine Trail. There’s far more to cycling in the Peak District than the Monsal Trail, of course, but 50,000 cycling journeys along an 8.5-mile strip of land in just eight months tells its own story. More of the same, please.

Monsal Trail stats

  •  An automatic cycle counter recorded the 50,000th cyclist on 31st December 2011
  • An average of 226 bicycles per day have used the trail since last May
  • 17,160 cyclists have been recorded travelling west towards Blackwell Mill and 32,855 south east towards Bakewell since May
  • Hassop Station cycle hire has had 10,000 hirings since opening last March
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Safety first – and that means cyclists first – in the Peak

Posted on January 3, 2012 by peakdist

The issue of safety has cropped up recently in connection with cycling in the Peak District, but in two very different ways.

Derbyshire Police issued a cheery seasonal message a couple of days before Christmas warning that people risked getting their new bikes nicked if they didn’t secure them properly. Sgt Steve Edwards said: “Don’t make it easy for a potential thief to make off with your bike. A cycle can be an easy target, especially if it is left insecure, so it’s also worth investing in items such as substantial locks, alarms or movement sensors.”

I’m not sure if movement sensors is a little bit over the top, but they also had some specific cycle safety tips which included the following common sense advice:

  •  When buying a bike, budget for security. You will need one or more locks and somewhere secure at home to keep your bike.
  • Take out adequate insurance, either by extending your home contents insurance or through a separate policy. Cycling organisations and bike shops may offer specialist cover.
  • Record and register your bike. Take a clear colour photo and note down any unique features, so that you can report it accurately if it is stolen. Register your bicycle model, make and frame number with a third party such as www.bikeregister.com.

Amid the usual reminders about securing your bike properly at all times was an entreaty to lock it to an immovable object – although in these strange days when drain covers, signposts, war memorials and the like are themselves the targets for thieves, wouldn’t it be bizarre if they nicked the metal signpost but left the expensive bike chained to it?!

Apparently eight bicycles were stolen in the Matlock, Bakewell and Ashbourne areas during October, November and December. I know that’s eight bikes too many, but it’s important to get a sense of perspective (how many vehicles were stolen from those areas in that time, I wonder?) and not see danger lurking round every corner. As always it’s about weighing up the risks – like so much in our day to day lives – and taking sensible precautions.

Much the same could be said for riding a bicycle generally, of course. You can make a conscious decision not to wear a helmet, spring a red light, under-take slow moving traffic, cycle on pavements, and so on – each a calculated risk with its attendant dangers. And this leads me to the second angle on safety that appeared in the news before Christmas. The Ordnance Survey announced (via its blog) that the Peak District was the best place for “traffic-free cycling in Great Britain”. It headed a list of four locations which also included Edinburgh, New Forest, Brecon Beacons and (a little strangely) London – the full text is at blog.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/tag/peak-district/

It’s a testimony to the very public success of the extended Monsal Trail, but also the other traffic-free routes in the Peak District like the Tissington, High Peak, Manifold and Trans Pennine Trails. There are some clear, powerful and very obvious messages we can draw from this: that the Peak District is a wonderful place to explore by bike and given the opportunity a good number of visitors will opt for healthy and sustainable travel; people want to (and should have the chance to) enjoy a safe and scenic cycle ride; that in our car-dominated/obsessed culture we have to make space for cycling for all; and that too many of our roads are now simply too busy and too dangerous for your average cyclist.

Last weekend we took our four-and-a-half year old daughter out on her new bike (complete with stabilisers – do you remember yours?!). We spent the morning on the Manifold Trail and the afternoon on the Tissington Trail and it was great fun, if rather cold going at a small person’s pace. But apart from a local park or maybe an exceptionally flat bridleway, there are few other truly traffic-free options available – even in this National Park. It’s time we put safety up there with all the other headline stuff that makes cycling so important in the Peak District – sustainable travel, healthy exercise, green tourism, and so on. It’s time to make more space for traffic-free cycling.

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Monsal Trail matters

Posted on December 19, 2011 by peakdist

One of the inspirations for www.peakdistrictcycleways.co.uk was the opening up of the Monsal Trail tunnels as part of the Pedal Peak District initiative. It gave leisure cycling in the Peak District a much needed boost, especially for those cyclists likes families or young people for whom the National Park’s busy road network is simply too busy and its bridleway network too truncated or challenging.

Since its opening in May 2011 there have been so many positives: over 48,000 people have been recorded riding the trail and the Ordnance Survey recently ranked the Peak District as the number one place for safe, traffic free cycling. It also helped the launch of the Electric Bike Network in the Peak District; new businesses were encouraged, most notably cycle hire at Hassop Station and Blackwell Mill; and overall it promoted the Peak District as a place where you could come and enjoy a healthy, safe and sustainable form of recreation. Plus, of course, it’s a thrilling ride, especially through the tunnels and across the viaducts.

The current and rather abrupt end of the Monsal Trail, near Bakewell

Mind you, there were a few downsides: some non-cyclists grumbled at having to share the trail with bikes and everyone was rightly encouraged to show respect; while car parking became an issue at several access points to the trail. Most of all, though, there was some frustration that the newly-extended route was only 8.5 miles long. The original plan was to take the Monsal Trail all the way to Buxton, linking with a key Peak District town (and, eventually, the High Peak Trail from Parsley Hay). For various reasons, principally planning and conservation issues, it seems, that plan hasn’t yet been realised, but it must remain a long term goal.

However, better news the other end! A local charity called Peak Cycle Links was set up in 2010 to promote, deliver and manage popular cycling and walking routes in the Peak District, including routes in and out of Buxton to connect with the Monsal and High Peak Trails. After negotiations with Haddon Estate they have recently submitted a planning application to create a cycling/walking route from Bakewell to Rowsley – effectively to extend the Monsal Trail south eastwards for a further three miles past Haddon Hall along the disused railway line and via further tunnels.

The former Bakewell Station

This prospect of the traffic-free trail connecting with the Derwent Valley at Rowsley is fantastic news, not least because Peak Cycle Links are also beavering away at developing an off-road cycle route between Matlock to Rowsley. But it will also provide an alternative for those hard-pressed cyclists who currently brave the A6 between Rowsley and Bakewell; and it will also mean that – like the High Peak Trail and Tissington Trails further south – cycling visitors can actually access the National Park safely and enjoyably by bike, rather than driving in to cycle. And let’s not lose sight of the fact that residents (like the author of this blog) will also be able to use the route for local journeys – working or shopping in Bakewell and Matlock, for instance.

Bakewell from the eastern end of the Monsal Trail

The planning application is due to be determined in January 2012 and the public can comment on the proposals until 30 December 2011. To see the application, including maps and photos of the proposed routes, go to http://www.peakdistrict.gov.uk/planning and type in application number NP/DDD/1111/1125 or just put in ‘Rowsley’. If you are a keen cyclist or simply support the development of traffic-free cycling in the Peak District please make your views known!

For more details about Peak Cycle Links go to www.peakcyclelinks.org.uk

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Cycle fast, cycle slow – your life might depend on it

Posted on September 26, 2011 by peakdist

What are we to make of surveys and statistics? Take, for instance, the Copenhagen City Heart Study that was reported this summer and which appears to suggest that if you cycle in short, fast bursts you may live up to five years longer than if you cycle at a much more gentle pace. The 20-year study surveyed 5,000 healthy people who cycled every day and found that men who cycled quickly survived 5.3 years longer than those who cycled much more slowly. Dr Peter Schnohr was the lead research at Bispebjerg University Hospital, and was quoted as saying: “This study suggests that a greater part of the daily physical activity in leisure time should be vigorous, based on the individual’s own perception of intensity.”

But is taking a breather really so good for you?

Now, I don’t know about you, but sometimes I do indeed get in the saddle to give myself a decent workout and de-stress after sitting too long in a meeting or behind a computer. But other times I enjoy dawdling, especially on the country back lanes of the Peak District – and I’m quite happy to dismount and gaze at the view. But now I know that every time I gently freewheel and trundle back to my village without panting my life expectancy might be ticking away. Cripes!

But, hey, let’s get a sense of perspective, Dr Schnohr. An earlier and well regarded study by the British Medical Association concluded that by cycling just 20 miles a week you reduce your risk of coronary heart disease by 50%, compared to non-cyclists who take no exercise. In fact, the health benefits of cycling outweigh any risks by a factor of 20:1. It is therefore statistically more dangerous to be sedentary. As I remind my 16-year-old daughter whenever I can, lying on the settee watching TV eating crisps is a far more risky pastime than riding a bicycle along a road ever will be.

Healthy family fun on the trail

But, of course, it depends a little on which road. The other day I passed a family with young children cycling along the A6 between Rowsley and Bakewell. It didn’t look like fun and I fervently hope that the Monsal Trail extends to the Derwent Valley as soon as possible so visiting and local cyclists can avoid this busy trans-Peak thoroughfare.

Mind you, get away from the main roads and cycling in the Peak District comes into its own. The bridleways, lanes and trails of the National Park provide a fabulous network, a sure way to not just get physically fit but also improve your mental well-being and relax. Sometimes I can almost feel those cheerful little endorphins whizzing around my bloodstream after a good ride. And when I choose to cycle a little slower I’ll bear in mind a report by the National Forum for Coronary Heart Disease Prevention, which said that regular cyclists enjoy a fitness level that’s equivalent to being 10 years younger. So although I might not live an extra five years by cycling fast, I’m actually ten years younger than I thought anyway. Hooray for statistics!

Andrew

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Obeying the cycling rules of the road

Posted on September 22, 2011 by peakdist

I have to say that it’s many years since I last dipped into the Highways Code. It’s not my usual bedtime or holiday reading, but idly following some website cycling links the other day I arrived at www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTransport/Highwaycode (like you do) and paused to refresh my memory. And under Rules for Cyclists (59-82) several points caught my eye:

You should:

  • keep both hands on the handlebars except when signalling or changing gear
  • keep both feet on the pedals
  • never ride more than two abreast, and ride in single file on narrow or busy roads and when riding round bends
  • do not carry anything which will affect your balance or may get tangled up with your wheels or chain
  • be considerate of other road users… let them know you are there when necessary, for example, by ringing your bell if you have one. It is recommended that a bell be fitted
  • take extra care near road humps, narrowings and other traffic calming features
  • you must not ride when under the influence of drink or drugs, including medicine
  • when parking your cycle find a conspicuous location where it can be seen by passers-by
  • do not ride across equestrian crossings, as they are for horse riders only. Do not ride across a pelican, puffin or zebra crossing. Dismount and wheel your cycle across.

So there we have it.

Mountain bikers – keep your hands and feet primly on board at all times, don’t have fun over speed humps, dismount serenely when crossing the road and tinkle your little bell frequently.

Road cyclists – don’t even think about riding two abreast and chatting, don’t pack any snap in case it unbalances you, and leave your £2K bike somewhere that every impulsive thief can see it.

And go easy on the shandy at lunchtime, please. You have been warned.

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