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Looking for a few pointers on this one. I've not done Jacob's ladder before and thinking of heading over that way, I've picked up a gpx route which climbs up from Edale, via hollins cross onto rushup edge then onwards towards bettfield farm.
Questions are, is it worth diverting down Chapel gate and climbing back up over rushup again? is rushup worth the extra effort over the road these days (obviously there was a lot of complaint about the treatment of that section)? If I want to add a bit on and I've the legs, would I be better off missing rushup entirely, heading to cave dale then back up pindale and rejoining the route at sk09208250 ish?
Questions are, is it worth diverting down Chapel gate and climbing back up over rushup again? is rushup worth the extra effort over the road these days (obviously there was a lot of complaint about the treatment of that section)? If I want to add a bit on and I’ve the legs, would I be better off missing rushup entirely, heading to cave dale then back up pindale and rejoining the route at sk09208250 ish?
It's all quite subjective. I wouldn't personally bother with a descent of Chapel Gate on the Edale side. It was quite severely resurfaced a few years back and changed from quasi-alpine rock garden to mild-mannered hardpack and even if it were brilliant, the climb back up to Mam Nick on the road or off road is pretty soul destroying for different reasons.
I don't think I'd do the Cavedale / Pindale loop either. If you want to extend the loop, I'd maybe do it on the Hayfield side instead. You could loop over the campsite descent below Elle Bank then up on Middle Moor via 20 trees, across the Shooting Cabin, up the permissive footpath to the junction with Monk's Road then along that, over Lantern Pike and even Chinley Churn via choice of routes, then back to Hayfield and Jacobs. Or you could loop up Moorlands and drop down via Far Phoside. Or...
Ta, will take a look at the Hayfield end. Probably makes more sense actually as I've done very little over that way, flip side is I'm as like top end up plugging along dull farm track as anything fun since I've no idea where I'm going.
I'll take a look at your suggestion.
Got a link to your GPX? I;ll knock up something based on that with a Hayfield extesnion for you
The campsite descent's a cracking good downhill. At the bottom, turn right over the obvious footbridge over the river. Clean the climb up to the Sportsman, turn left down the road then head right up the bridleway - follow over Middle Moor, rocky, rubbly, fast with a tricky stream crossing at the bottom of some steps. Then at the bottom - junction with road - don't ride up the road, which is horrible thanks to the combination of traffic / width / uphillness, go right up the rubbly footpath and follow it up to the junction with the Monk's Road.
From there, along Monk's then follow the Pennine Bridleway back down to the Sett Valley Trail - comes out by a nice caff - then you can either head back to Hayfield, or, if you're that way inclined, you could climb up the quarry road up to New Allotments, head over Chinley Churn from there and drop back down into Hayfield by a choice of routes. Or keep some height by dropping down to Peep of Day then cutting across to the bridleway extension of Highgate Road, Coldwell Clough again then up to Jacob's.
It's also worth considering bypassing the first bit of the climb towards Edale Cross out of the bottom of Coldwell Clough by picking up the bridleway that starts around Kinder Reservoir and climbs up on grassy stuff below Kinder Low before cutting across to the main track. The bottom of the main climb was resurfaced with fist-sized rubble by the National Trust a few years back and is still quite unpleasant going up or down.
Anyway... it's all good, have fun 🙂
Grand thank you Badly Wired Dog, I'll plot that up.
It's this one I've find NBT http://flattyres-mtb.co.uk/route-guides/peak-district-mtb-routes/hayfield-jacobs-ladder/
I did that exact route last week, from Hayfield, but rode there and back from home, making it 40 miles - boy was I knackered and sore.
Loads of climbing from Hayfield, just make sure you turn right just after the campsite onto Edale Road and carry on. Had to push quite a lot due to the boulders on the climb - i.m sure the council has just dumped a pile of fist sized rocks down in places - impossible to ride up. Took the bridleway route down where it splits so didn't do the Jacobs steps. Mam Tor 'paved' area was busy with walkers, then across to the Rushup and Chapel Gate descent. Followed the bridleway and had another push up parts to South Head, before descending to hayfield. Very few folk out on foot on the rest of the route.
I was out a total six hours. The route is tough, and even more adding another 23 miles to it.
The route is tough, and even more adding another 23 miles to it.
Yeah I've done a few of those, it's amazing how hard two tame loops can be when you put them together.
The Edale site of Jacobs/Kinder is steep - I'll admit I took the option to jump off the bike quite a bit, certainly before the 'split' - I was a long way from home by then and didn't fancy an off.
Hopefully minimal jumpage from me but I'm definitely more discreet than valorous these days.
Just need to find somewhere near edale to park...
The classic free-parking round there is about half a mile or so along the Barber Booth road on the lefthand side. It can fill up fast on summer weekends and it means a bit of road work back to Edale:
http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=410427&Y=384932&A=Y&Z=120
It's marked as Barber Booth car park on Google maps:
Perfik ta nbt.
Grand thank you BadlyWiredDog - I'll see what my membership gets me at the nt car park first I think but I'd hope to be parking early enough to avoid the bun fights.
The Hayfield end of Peak District is always quieter imo.
BWD - Isn't the rubbly path to Monks road from Middle Moor a bit dodgy? Due to angry farmer issues, or has he long gone?
Meant to reply back sooner.
Ended up just doing the main loop on Sunday owing to unforseen stuff eating into the day. We had a good ride out and will be back to do the other end as well at some point I'm sure.
The shove up hollins cross did seem unnecessary mind given the ridge line ride wasn't much to get excited about, it did look like it was a real shame that section is footpath though...
Cheers for the pointers all.
BWD – Isn’t the rubbly path to Monks road from Middle Moor a bit dodgy? Due to angry farmer issues, or has he long gone?
Yes, it has that reputation, but I've never had a problem there myself bar a slightly grumpy fell-runner. It's a permissive footpath btw.
I look at it like this: it stops you having to climb up to the Monk's Road junction on a particularly dodgy bit of road which isn't wide enough for two cars and a bike, though car drivers have trouble working this out.
No idea if the grumpy farmer is still around, but I've never encountered him and I've ridden it a bunch of times.
Once at Hollins there's a nice bombing descent into Castleton leaving you the Broken Road to climb to get back to Rushup.
Personally I enjoy the climb up to Hollins as it's always a challenge and keeps you on your toes.
I always think it's a real shame that there isn't something nice off Lantern Pike at the Hayfield end making Shooting Cabin a better loop.
Personally I enjoy the climb up to Hollins as it’s always a challenge and keeps you on your toes.
If you're pedaling up the fp that we took you're a better man than me!
The good climb is this on Strava:
https://www.strava.com/segments/1239813?filter=overall
The only fp I can think of is the one to the summit of Mam Tor which I don't bother with.
We shoved up the fp circled in green, think it should have been either of the bw in red though and just marked up wrong on the gpx.
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awww *****, sorry about that. I owe you a pint. Should have been the one on the left in that pic you posted. Bloody GPSies playing up and me not being careful enough. Apologies
Yep all your fault 😉
The up side is that, should I end up that way on a quiet evening that path would be a lovely, ahem, walk down.