UKH

Hello all! 

I wondered if anyone has any routes / experience they could share of good MTB routes in the peak district which will involve not too much getting off to push up hill, and getting off to open gates?

We'll be on full-sussers and not worried about technical/steep descents and trails but if it's at all possible I'd just like to spend as much time on the bike as I can rather than hopping off every few minutes! Though I understand that to get those technical descents there must be some 'up' bits required!!

Thanks in advanced for anything the UKC hive mind can offer!

http://flattyres-mtb.co.uk/route-guides/peak-district-mtb-routes/bakewell-b...

i did this sometime ago and adapted the route in places for coffee stops etc...

i don't remember too many gates ....... but it was a while ago..

You do have to open and close a few gates on all the classic bridleway routes in the Peak, but its not that many. There's none on Cut Gate for example.

Get the Vertebrae guidebooks if you don't know where to start - their routes are great (and legal!).

That's the only one I could think of myself that wouldn't have gates.

I second this suggestion.

As mentioned by a couple of others, Cut Gate meets your description perfectly if done north to south. Every bit of it is rideable but tricky in places, and I don't think there's any gates.

It's also good south to north but IME will require a few dismounts and some pushing.

I actually came across this when I was looking earlier - looks like you have to go both ways as it's just a straight line not a loop so I think we might give this a go. 

The guide said about 20 miles, do you know how long it would take roughly? Are we talking like 4 hours or 8 hours? 

Many thanks all

Of it's been damp at all you'll be off and walking loads on Cut gate to negotiate the bog of doom. BMC and a few others are trying to get £75k together to fix the problem. 

Having ridden round the Peak for 15+ years I'm not sure I've ever thought the gates were any more of an inconvenience than anywhere else. 

Oh and personally I think CG is rubbish, it's 21 miles from Fairhomes to Langsett cafe and back, almost half of it is tarmac or fire road, the rest of the route has about three corners. 

Best stay away from Cutgate if the weather is at at all wet.

Have a look at these:

https://www.mbr.co.uk/routes/peak-district-wet-weather-routes-355681

The Cairn to Slippery Stones gives a great 5 mins of fast continuous descent. Well worth the effort.

The descents northwards are fun as well.

I should have said, as the others have, don't go near cut gate unless it's been properly drought dry or frozen solid.  Otherwise the bog of doom sucks.

Regarding routes, there are two other options instead of out and back....

Do a Doctors Gate/ Cut Gate clockwise loop.  BUT although this looks good on paper, it has serious drawbacks ( up Snake pass on the road, bits on the A628 road of death, portages on Doctors gate unless youre a trail god, long section of dull longenden trail). I enjoyed it as a long day out but objectively speaking none of the rest was anywhere near as good as Cut Gate.  Do a search for my username/Cut gate on singletrackworld for loads more info.

Thete is also a loop using trails and footpaths to the east of the reservoir to get back to Langsett. More details on that post on STW

I still haven't tried Doctor's Gate - but I've heard its really rough going - I don't even have any suspension so I suspect it would feel rather tough, but doing the tour de Bleaklow still sounds a nice idea. I've done the TPT over Longdendale on my cross bike as part of a big two day loop bikepacking, and I've done Cut Gate both ways on my MTB, but perhaps I should try to do the full loop in a day!

The first time I did Cut Gate it was a beautiful summer evening with no one around - I left Sheffield late afternoon and rode out through the woods to Wharncliffe and Deepcar, and up over Cut Gate. The descent down Cranberry Clough was just sublime doing it for the first time, and I arrived at Slippery Stones and had the perfect bivvy there after swimming to wash the sweat and dust off!

That sounds like a top ride, nice.

Got to keep it in perspective.... My missus did it whilst pregnant and thoroughly enjoyed it. Its got one very tricky section  and a few bits with consequences but it's still a good ride. I mentioned the difficulty specifically because the OP didn't want to have to dismount too much