The Tour De Peak District bikepacking adventure

Statistics
14TH – 15TH August
Distance: 183.5 miles
Elevation: 15,653 ft

'A tough circular route which celebrates Britain's first national park, the Peak District, with a lap around its perimeter'.

The tour goes through picturesque Derbyshire villages and rural upland views along packhorse trails, ancient toll roads, technical bridleways, cycle networks and quiet lanes; it has a bit of everything that the Peak District has to offer. It is recommended to be completed in around 3-5 days to the demanding elevation and terrain; however, due to my sadistic nature, I proposed a 2-day aim of completion with Samuel. This was one week after our Coast to Coast walking adventure, and Fortunately he accepted the challenge and wanted to experience more pain in the rain it seemed like most of July and august had been raining; or at least every time we had been cycling, walking or running)



This 180-mile circular cycling route started from my house then proceeded to the bustling Matlock. It then heads along grassy lanes past Oaker, Parson House, and More Hall and Langsett Reservoirs. There's a steep climb from Marsden that rises over Redbrook Reservoir before sweeping into Diggle and beyond along a disused railway track. A wooded riverside trail squirms on from Carrbrook, past Upper Swineshaw, and across Ogden Brook. The route follows Middlewood Way past Whaley Bridge and rises to Gun Moor.

I began the ride with an early puncture when Samuel and I were riding on the road toward the official start of the route of Matlock. This was alarming as the terrain was to become much more gnarly. Fortunately, I had no problems after the tubeless system magically sealed the puncture after I sprinted away to try and get it to seal fast before my tyre got full of water from the rain.

he first Climb up Beeley Moor

The sections that were most difficult in particular was the Pennine bridleway. It was unforgiving and even harder due to the rain made the flagstones and rocks slippy in places (I fell off in one part). The Pennine Bridleway always has been on my mind to complete; but, now I have been reassured that a mountain bike is required compared to the gravel bikes we had; our hands and arms were feeling the fatigue from the constant bouncing and shaking.

Pennine Bridleway

By the time we got off the Pennine Bridleway, we had arrived at Hayfield where I had planned to refuel; until this point, we barely past any habitation or shops, so it was much needed to get an evening meal in. After filling our faces, we continued with our adventure; my aim was to get over 100 miles and then find a suitable place to sleep for the night in our bivvy bag. We weren't having the best of luck as it became quite built up, so we continued to cycle through the evening and into the night on the Macclesfield canal; I even fell off for the second time of the ride as the terrain was incredibly slippy from the continuous rain we had all day and the past week (it wasn't the best-timed ride to do an off-road cycling adventure; even though it was summer, we hadn't experienced much sun for the whole of July or August )

After 112 miles and 10,000 feet of elevation, I checked my map and had to decide to find the nearest available place to sleep. If we continued for any longer, we would soon reach Macclesfield where there would be no chance to bivvy for the night. Thus, we had the comfortable spot under a bridge on a trail; it was Great to be sheltered from the weather despite being woken by dog walkers at 5:30 am. We may have looked homeless, but at least we had a night of being dry. We soon packed away our very wet gear from the day before, refused to wear overshoes again as they were smelly and rather heavy; it was just an unpleasant experience. And we began our second day of the wild and wet adventure.

We had most of the elevation under our belt the day before, but we still had some fierce climbs and powerful crosswinds ahead of us. We then reached the familiar territory of the Tissington trail near Ashbourne where we indulged into a proper substantial breakfast of a cheese and bacon panini, a cup of tea and then followed by a sausage roll (we were ravenous). The final section had no surprises it was just a long slog towards Parsley Hay then a blast along with the remainder of the high peak trail and Cromford canal.

To conclude, due to the weather, it was not my favourite ride, but in reasonable weather, it would be a lovely route to do. It is probably best to complete it in the advertised timescale to take in the scenery and enjoy it more, but if I was to do it again, I want to see if completion in one day of 183 tough miles is a possibility. It was more of a challenge than enjoyment and having the satisfaction that I have cycled around the perimeter of the Peak District made it a worthwhile adventure.