New tracks at Longshaw

Back in the 1980's some guys in Marin Country invented the Mountain Bike. It wasn't long before this phenomenon crossed the Atlantic (promoted by the Crane brothers who went up Mount Kilimanjaro on these newfangled beasties - Nick Crane of course now appears on TC programmes like Coast) To many of us who switched from road bikes it seemed we could go anywhere on these machines and put that philosophy into practice - I confess to having been one of those. Unfortunately this led to blanket bans on cycling in may of the most popular and scenic areas of the UK.

It's taken thirty or so years to reverse this situation. Mountain Biking has matured and most practitioners are responsible and don't go off the bridleways and byways they are permitted to use - and have done great work creating superb singletrack trails in less frequented places such as Wharncliffe Woods. The growth of motorised off-roading has proved to be far more of a threat to the countryside.

So it's great news that some of the areas that have been off-limits to cyclists for many years are now being opened up again. Longshaw has opened up two new trails  - From the House to the Grouse (that's going to stick as a name I feel) and from the House to Wooden Pole. House to Grouse entails walking along the very busy path from the cafe and visitor area before various footpaths branch off  - most visitors head to the lake  - and once you're passed through a couple of new gates you're off (previously the paths had kissing gates that were deliberately hard to get bikes through - the trail is wide enough to get a land rover along so there is no problem passing walkers although courtesy & consideration is required as ever. At the end of the trail a gate leads out to the main road and the Grouse is just about 50 yards down although it would be great to have a protected path so families could cycle safely down to the pub and back.

(Pictures taken late on a summer's evening)

The other trail branches off to the left from the main drive and climbs quite steeply before leveling off and is a steady climb to Wooden Pole, the junction of a couple of main roads. One criticism of these paths has to be that they are great but where are the connections with other off-road paths in the area? Hopefully these will come.   I'd like to highlight Grindleford Station to the A6187 above Kettle wood whihch would be a very useful route. There are other suggestions on the Getting to the Peak page, some of which have now been implemented. 

But this is a good start from the National Trust at Longshaw. The Eastern Moors partnership has put in a Mountain Bike Trail, the Hope Valley now has an off-road route alongside the main road as well as cycle lanes on the main road, NCN6 stretches as far as Castleton, taking the high roads across Bamford. Get out there and enjoy!