The Pennine cycleway is an epic long-distance route up the spine of England, starting in Derby and finishing in Berwick-upon-Tweed some 350 miles later.
check out my route on Komoot - Day 1 https://www.komoot.com/tour/1767273115
This stage was a mix of quiet country lanes, trails, canal paths & old converted railway paths. But, it’s not for the faint hearted. The views are definitely worth it but with over 25,000 feet of climbing over the entire route it’s definitely a challenge. I question that elevation though as we did over 11,000 feet alone in the first 120 miles!
The founder of Sustrans, John Grimshaw called the Pennine Cycleway “the best National Cycle Network route of the lot, and you will quickly understand why. With stunning mountains, misty moors, tranquil lakes, geological wonders and heaps of historical monuments, you will find stunning spots around every corner".
We decided that we would break the route into stages and so took on stage one - 120 miles from Derby to Burnley. This stage of the route goes through the Peak District National Park and into West Yorkshire and then into Lancashire.
Day 1 - Joining the NCN68, as we leave Derby we are lulled into a false sense of security as we pass through miles of easy cycle paths and quiet country lanes & pretty villages to Ashbourne. Once you reach Ashbourne, you join the Tissington Trail, which is a delightful unpaved trail with a 1% gradient over the 13 miles to Parlsey Hay with bucolic views as you pass through the National Park. The sun was out and it was a definitely ice-cream stop at Hartington old train station.
From here, we then cycled along some amazingly quiet roads with spectacular views from Hurdlow, but this is where the climbing really started. Spent our first night in Buxton.
Day 2 - we continued along the NCN 68 out of Buxton, and continuing through the Peak District National Park before entering the southern Pennines.
The climbing really took off in force today, with several sharp steep climbs regularly, 10%, 12% 16+ %, on through Whaley Bridge and New Mills, before reaching some quiet country lanes, with views of Manchester in the distance, it was a surreal view. We soon joined the Trans-Pennine Trail at Glossop. This was a lovely off-road trail, running alongside a series of reservoirs through the valley, including the Valehouse, Torside and Woodhead reservoirs along the Longdendale Trail. It was lovely on the section of the trail and a bit of a respite from the climbing.
The respite didn’t last long though, as we then had to cross the A628, and go up some sharp steep steps onto the moors. It was really quite remote but very beautiful up there - a rugged type of beauty on the vast expanse of the moors. This was my favourite part of the ride today, not the suicidal crossings on the A68. I’m going to write to Sustrans and see if they can request to put a cyclist/horse rider crossing light in there.
We then had a very steep descent into Holmfirth, which is the setting for the longest running television series in the UK, ‘The last of the summer Wine’, even though I’ve never once seen an episode. Very pretty town though.
Day 3 - we headed out of Holmfirth. Of course, it was a long, very long, steep ascent. Today was the toughest of the days, with over 4,300 feet of elevation over basically the first 27 miles. Purple climbs galore on Garmin.
believe it or not this was the easy first section of the climb
Basically all these towns are in the valley, so you have a very fast steep descent down to them and then a very slow steep ascent out the other side. The first of these long climbs was out of Slaithwaite, before we continued on to Pole Moor, and along Scammoden reservoir, which runs along side the M62.
Scammoden bridge
We then accidentally discovered a great cyclist café on the side of the road, built out of an old stone former bus shelter. That was great find! The Outhouse in Norland.
We then travelled through Hebden Bridge briefly along the Rochdale canal before heading up to Hepstonstall, a very lovely village with a relatively long section of cobbles. From there we climbed to Blackshaw Head and on the Long Causeway & Stansfield Moor until our descent into Burnley. The weather had closed in by then which was a shame, as it restricted our views of this stunning moor.
The next day we left the Pennine Cycleway to cycle over to Preston for the train home.
Over these last 3 days, this was a tough 120 miles (152 miles from home to home), but a great sense of achievement and with undeniably spectacular sections. Pretty towns and villages, extraordinary vistas from the top of climbs, rugged moorland, some great trails, remote lanes and quiet country roads. Bring on Stage 2 - I need to brace myself.....
Comments