Derbyshire County Council have announced that the Roych Clough and Coldwell Clough sections of what will become the Pennine Bridleway will be closed this week for up to three months for maintenance. The popular Peak District track runs between Hayfield and Rushup Edge and forms part of the classic Hayfield loop from Edale – a route that made its regular appearance in a magazine route guide only last week…

The track will be closed from the A625 at Rushup Edge and the junction with the lane to Beet Farm. The demands of the Pennine Bridleway mean that sections of the track need to be repaired and enhanced – some of it is in a pretty bad way. But it’s the steep and rocky nature of parts of the track that endear it to mountain bikers, and the unsympathetic “improvement” of other Pennine and Lake District tracks has led to concerns about the Roych.

But have no fear – as we reported last year, IMBA UK have been involved, looked at the trail with the county council and contractors and recommend ways to minimise erosion problems without destroying the character and fun of the trail.

And for a change all the user groups seem to be in agreement over the future of the track. “I’ve spoken with a 4×4 group and trail rider group who use the track,” says Pennine Bridleway Officer Jenny Southwell, “and they agree [with IMBA UK] that the bedrock steps should be preserved or enhanced.” This is part of the reason for the closure – some large boulders will need to be brought in by helicopter, something of a safety issue for passers-by.

Yes, three months is a long time. But there’re plenty of other great trails in the area, and not riding one of them for a bit for the sake of stopping it falling to pieces seems like an entirely fair trade-off. It’ll be very obvious that the trail’s closed – all the gates will be locked and signs posted. Needless to say, ignoring the signs is a very bad idea all round.

We’ll keep you updated of progress. In the meantime, it’s great to see all the user groups working with the powers that be and getting mutually acceptable results. Long may it continue…