The first weekend of 2003 was a snowy one for the Peak District. And we had the great idea of riding/pushing through what was to feel like most of it. For weekend warriors who hadn’t been out much in the last month, the traditional pre-ride emails were perhaps lacking a degree of restraint:

“If it’s suitably cold and dry (ie frozen) anything in peaks would be fun, was even thinking of Silly Loop – I must still be drunk. Just rung Mez, apparently the snake pass is closed due to snow at the moment so he laughed at the Silly Loop ride idea.”

“Strangely enough I thought about doing Silly Loop too. Fancy it? Meet 12:00 Sunday, with lights?”

And so it was organised not just to include snow, cold and huge amounts of pushing, but also so the most technical section of the route would be tackled in darkness…

The morning sun shone over the Peaks, which looked delicious with their dusting of icing sugar. From the warmth of my car I looked out over the moors, watching for the bits of the trail I’d be riding along in what was to be about eight hours time.

See that notch in the horizon above my head? That’s where we were headed for…

The two of us started in Hadfield, which is pretty much the only sensible thing we’d planned. The short road climb over to Old Glossop had us smiling with stupid grins at the scenery and thoughts of what was to come. The route starts proper with a huge great climb up Doctor’s Gate to the top of Snake Pass, and it was good to get this mostly unrideable climb out of the way early on in daylight, before cramp, cold, hypothermia and rigor mortis had a chance to set in.

We scrambled over the top to be greeted by a twisty section of bridleway through the Derbyshire tundra, and headed off down the Snake Pass for a few miles to Rowlee Farm.

Phil heads off into the Derbyshire tundra

The climb up to Lockerbrook Farm was back onto more familiar trails, and thoughts of bacon and sausage butties at Fairholmes visitor centre kept us moving. As did thoughts of the fantastic descent to the edge of Derwent reservoir. You know, the one that starts off as being quite inviting and fun, and with every corner it gets steeper and the rocks get pointier! We bumped into some old pals at the caff, and I relished the opportunity to casually mention how we were less than half way round our loop – when they’d just finished theirs. Epic!

We took our time at the obligatory Fairholmes butty, cake and tea stop, and moved on just as the daylight wimped out and left us to it. We began heading north along the east side of Derwent and Howden reservoirs, and watched the hills steepen and close in, giving an idea of what was to come.

Sun and snow – lovely

At the head of the reservoir there’s a lovely piece of narrow singletrack which is gentle preparation for the climb that leads you up to the top of Margery Hill. The 8mm Cut Gate path from the head of Howden reservoir to the head of Langsett reservoir is a fantastic piece of trail, and is as technical, relentless, fun, remote, scenic and fun as anything I’ve ridden in the Peak District. Add in snow, ice, sub-zero temperatures, thick fog and what would have been complete darkness if it wasn’t for the eerie glow of the snow… And it was still fun!

The usual boggy patches had mostly frozen over and made the going easier than we expected, but it was still the technical challenge that encourages you to go faster and faster and faster, until you either crash, or bottle it. Unfortunately crashing wasn’t really an option when there was a fair chunk of mileage left to do, but the temptation to hammer it was too strong to completely ignore.

Can you see what it is yet?

The final leg begins at the northern end of Cut Gate, and follows the
bridleways parallel to the A628 back to Hadfield. Some of these are relentless, all of these last longer than you’d think, and weren’t much fun for Phil when cramp started eating away at his leg. Thanks to the mystery bloke in the Renault Megane with the cycle rack, who stopped and offered us a lift – but we weren’t going to wimp out at the last hurdle.

If you’re thinking of following this route watch out for the sneaky left turn that drops you from Long Side, down a sweet little rollercoaster of a descent to the A628, and to the head of the disused railway that forms part of the Trans-Pennine Trail. This disused railway is a safe place for your lights to run out of batteries, and took us back to Hadfield, the cars, our respective homes and eventually, a bath.

Gary looks forward to defrosting his facial muscles back at the car

The 37 mile Silly Loop is the kind of ride that we wouldn’t normally attempt in normal weather, but proved a fantastic way to start 2003. The year looks like it’s gonna be a good one!