Dave's Mountain Bike
Mania
Cycling in the East Midlands,
Derbyshire & Nottinghamshire and beyond!!
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Derbyshire High Peak Trail.
This page is about the Derbyshire High Peak Trail and
Tissington Trail in Derbyshire. Approx 30 miles of off road cycle routes on the
former North Western Railway lines. Parts of the line was closed in the early
1960's, Middleton part of the line closed in 1963, and the last Trains ran in
spring 1967 and in 1971 work started to turn the former railway line into a 17½ mile cycle route thru the
Derbyshire peaks.
The High Peak Trail has 3 cycle hire centres, One is at
Middleton Top near Matlock, another at Ashbourne ( Tissington trail), and
lastly at Parsley Hay where the High Peak and Tissington Trails merge. The
Trail is varied but mostly fairly easy going apart from one section from the
High peak junction at Cromford and is all up hill on a rough incline track
with ruts galore passing thru Black Rocks carrying on up to Middleton Tops.
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This 1 in 8 gradient section is around 2½
miles long though it seems like an eternity to get to the top, even for the
more hardened mountain biker. The rest is full of spectacular views with
numerous picnic sites along the route, and even has long Tunnels to go
through. The two trails have been cycle routes for around 30 years or so give
or take a few years though they are well maintained.
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Ordnance Survey Grid References
Middleton Tops visitor centre & cycle hire grid reference SK 275 551
High Peak Junction (with Car park) SK 314 516
Parsley Hay cycle hire SK 147 636
Ashbourne cycle hire SK 175 469