Peak District horse-riding advocacy group Peak Horsepower are officially launching their new South Peak Loop on April 14th at Hulme End in Staffordshire. The 70-mile waymarked route, taking in some beautiful White Peak scenery, complements Peak Horsepower’s Kinder Loop in the northern Peak District and is, of course, open to cyclists too.
For those mountain bikers who served their apprenticeship on the rocky bridleways of the Dark Peak, or the pump-and-flow of trail centres, the South Peak Loop will offer little technical challenge and avoids a lot of the best mountain biking the South Peak has to offer.
That’s not the point of course, since this is principally created as a route for horse riders. There’s still something to offer mountain bikers though. Taking in bridleways, old railways and quiet country lanes, the South Peak Loop certainly covers plenty of stunning White Peak miles and would be a good one for the fit and enthusiastic cyclist to try in a day (there are some steep climbs!). Alternatively it would be a good 2 day tour of the South Peak and with this in mind there’s a list of accommodation on Peak Horsepower’s website. Bear in mind some of the trails it takes in – the Manifold, Tissington and Monsal trails in particular – will be busy on sunny weekends.
Peak District MTB will be there on April 14th when Sarah Fowler – Chief Executive of the Peak District National Park – officially opens the route. Maps of the route are available on Peak Horsepower’s website. Anyone fancy riding some of it with us on the opening day, please do get in touch.
