Penine Cycleway and Manifold Trail 2018

July 28th - 29th 2018

I've done a fair bit of cycling in the Peaks, but mostly the central, eastern and southern areas, so the premise for this trip was to explore the north and western peak district a little more (whilst I still just about fit on my bike and could lug panniers).

In the midst of a lovely summer, a weekend was selected and trains duly booked. Then of course the weather decided to through a little bit of a wobbly - meaning the temperatures were much more cycling friend (ie below 30 degrees) but there were a few showers to keep us on our toes! This didn't spoil the trip though, with the gusty wind blowing any weather through and drying us off very speedily indeed.

The trains were also out to get us, and what should have been a simple journey up to Dodworth turned into an epic trip - for me involving driving to Derby to avoid a rail replacement bus, then ending up cycling to Dodworth from Barnsley thanks to a lack of trains. For Jenny and Dave a midnight arrival awaited them on the Friday. The end point was supposed to be my home, but again thanks to the trains I had to take an enjoyable detour to Tamworth to deposit Jenny and Dave on an actual train rather than a bus...

Day 1 - Dodworth to Hartington
54 miles, 4650 ft climbing

We had a somewhat leisurely breakfast thanks to our late arrivals the previous night, then left Dodworth to join the Penine Cycleway at Silkstone common. One disused railway led to another at Penistone, and we flew through the countryside, skirting the NE peak district national park. At Dunford Bridge our first lump awaited, made extremely tough by the strong headwind which had us almost standstill whilst pedalling at some points.


After a short cross country section to avoid the A628 (that Dave and I loved, Jenny, less so...) we found ourselves with glorious views along the side of Woodhead Reservoir. This was swiftly followed by Torside Reservoir, Rosewood Reservoir and Valehouse Reservoir, where, with an oggle at some sort of impressive substation thing(?) we reluctantly left the disused railway for the town of Woolley Bridge. Here the route became more undulating, and we pedalled our way through various towns like New Mills and Buxworth, towards the larger town of Buxton.

This section was vaguely familiar, as was the large incline out of Buxton. towards Sterndale. Here, in the past I have headed towards the Tissington and High Peak trails, but out for some extra adventure, I'd navigated us through some other inviting roads, which meant a few stunning but gutsy climbs awaited us right at the end of the day. One in particular was what I would call a "sustrans" surface - not detected by my careful streetmapping during route planning and not road bike suitable (Dave meanwhile was having a whale of a time on his cyclocross bike...). We had committed however, and after this climb and a couple more undulations, we gladly arrived in Hartington. The youth hostel that greeted us was extremely pretty, and we managed to get our bikes racked just before a downpour, which preceded an amazingly sunny evening. I made good use of it by watching the sun set with the sheep.

Day 2 - Hartington to Home (Sutton Coldfield)
60 miles, 2100 ft climbing

After the climbing of the previous day, I was glad to know that the general theme of today was downhill. We donned our jackets and after a quick down and up to Hulme End, joined the Manifold trail. This was a way out of the Peak District that I had not been on before, usually using the Tissington trail to Ashborne and heading south from there.

The manifold trail (perhaps unsurprisingly) followed the meanders of the River Manifold all the way out towards Calton. It was a beautiful trail, even in the drizzle, and the impressive cliffs either side offered some welcome shelter too.

Once out of the park, we cycled south towards Uttoxeter, then followed the river Dove past Sudbury Hall, picking up the National Forest and continuing south. At Barton Marina, we had a welcome cafe lunch, watching the sun just peep through again, and stowing the jackets for the rest of the ride.

This was now very familiar territory to me, and at Catton Hall we made the decision to go via Tamworth, taking in the pretty villages on the way. Having said goodbye to Jenny and Dave, I headed home solo, climbing up to hints with panniers for the first time, then following my usual route back home. There's something unique about finishing a long(ish) trip by cycling home. No waiting for trains or having to bundle the bikes into the car, just a shower, hot chocolate and in this instance a long nap for baby and me!