Evening all,
In a couple of weeks I'll be sleeping in Ashbourne for a few days. After doing some research I was planning on having a blast around Cannock Chase (and Style Cop), however after it got a bit slated on the other post (braking bumps and Cannock gravel rather bad at the moment).
Is it still worth the trip or should I be looking elsewhere?
I chose Cannock primarily because of the ease of navigation.
Apologies if this is a double post, I submitted one yesterday but I don't think I assigned it to a forum (wherever that goes)
Was going to say White Peak but obviously no waymarked route so you'd have to follow a gps trace or a map. Verbier white peak book will have some good routes in it if you want to do that.
Black rocks is the place you need to be riding . Top class trails . Not marked on a map but can give you directions . We ride tuesday and thursday nights meet at 6 .
Have you a garmin or similar for following a gpx? How far are you willing to drive and how long a route do you want? Quiet lanes with some tech?
Ohhh a trail book might be a good shout...SWMBO's dad lives down there, so it would be a perfect excuse to visit and take the bike. I've done some digging and found a Jacobs Ladder route ( http://www.mountainbikerides.co.uk/routes/1-the-peak-district/15-jacobs-ladder.html ), any good?
Cheers for the offer, but I'll be there from Thursday afternoon to Monday, but I'll have to do birthday stuff on the Thursday unfortunately. Do you have any routes that are around 20 miles long with a 2-3k ft of climbing? Don't spend too much time on finding one though.
Thanks again for the replies.
I have a Garmin 910xt, apparently it does follow GPX routes but I've never used it, and apparently its a bit crap. About 20 miles with 2-3k of climbing would be ideal, but I could do more if its worth it. The techier the better really.
If you're willing to drive to Edale there are tons of routes you could pick from. Jacob's Ladder is great, do that.
Ahh sorry I forgot to reply about the drive time.
Just had a look and Edale is just less than an hour away from Ashbourne, which is ideal really.
Cheers for your advice...It's interesting that nobody has acknowledged Cannock as a viable destination
If you're up Edale way, have a look at the Hope Triple 8 route - a fun ride and ticks your distance/ascent boxes.
No point going to Cannock from Ashbourne, there is too much better riding to be had there...a bit of effort investigating routes then you're sorted. Cannock is convenient and simpler and a nice flowy trail, but not a patch on the stuff around there.
Cannock's OK - I've always driven home thinking I've had a good ride but I'd pick Edale-Hayfield (inc Jacobs Ladder) any day. There are loads of other good routes around Hope, Hayfield, Castleton too.
If you fancy something a bit closer to Ashbourne, how about The Roaches and/or Three Shires?
Cannocks great, it's a blast. I've been there a lot and rate it. If you have more than one day why not both?
If techier the better then you need to do a ladybower loop that includes 'The beast' but it'll be easier for you if you can make your garmin thing work
Morning everyone,
I've taken on board what you've advised and it looks like I'll be doing the Jacob's Ladder route...apparently its not just on here that it gets good reviews. I was expecting it to be a navigational nightmare but it doesn't appear to be too bad. Also if its a decent route I'll probably be buying a book for next time for the other suggested routes (however because I'm tight I'll probably just print the routes from the internet).
I have a full itinerary for my time down there, so unfortunately I can just do the one day proper riding (I will be riding other days, but just bimbling around Carsington Water with FianceeBob).
Also it looks like I'll be riding on Saturday, setting off on the morning from Edale, if anyone wishes to tag along feel free to give me a PM.
Just a polite reminder if someone missed/forgot my offer of a bike ride in the middle of nowhere with a random stranger off the internet
PM’d re tomorrow...
