The Monsall Trail gave me the idea of this holiday and was the main aim, it was also further than any previous day (although easier riding than on Wednesday). The drive over to Bakewell Station was more eventful than I’d have liked due to a deer running straight out in front of me. Fortunately I wasn’t driving too fast and braked but still caught it with a loud thump; by the speed it got up and shot away though it clearly wasn’t too badly injured and there was no sign of blood on the ‘van or road so there was little I could do.
There is a clear trick with the Monsall, go early! I was able to get parked easily enough at Bakewell Station and for the first hour or so it wasn’t too busy. It was only really from 10 o’clock onwards that it started to become like a motorway. The views from the trail are absolutely stunning, although you’re quite enclosed for most of the way.
Cycling through the tunnels was “interesting”; they are mostly lit but walkers in dark clothing don’t show up very well! I turned the bike’s built in lights on but I’m definitely going to improve on the front lamp, it would get you out of trouble in an emergency but that’s about it. Overall it was 18.6 miles in 1:38 riding time on the cycle computer (17.9 miles in 3:43 on the OS app with 3796ft of ascent, that’s clearly wrong, losing the satellite signal in the tunnels confused things).
I had coffee and cake at Millers Dale station (which was the largest station on the Midland Railway at one time), cue for a song to accompany the photo:
It was a shame that they took a very long time to serve the coffee, and it wasn’t that great. Two other gentlemen had a long wait as well, then all three arrived together so I’m suspicious mine had been sitting there as it wasn’t very hot.
A little way further on the trail effectively just stops at this gate as the quarry beyond is still operational. It's a shame they haven't found a way to continue it on to Buxton.
As I'm nearly at the end of the trip cue another song, The End of the Line but probably not the one you'll expect https://youtu.be/dSE4Fzx4yjo
No comments:
Post a Comment