Peak District hill biking.

Over the past couple of days I've had a small holiday up in Manchester and the Peak District. I've been visiting Anne, Dave and their daughter Jennifer.

Dave and I went out mountain biking in the Peak District. We were quite lucky with the weather as it was partially cloudy and there wasn't any rain or wind.

We went to the Derwent Reservoir and the surrounding hills to go biking. Here's an image of the Ladybower Reservoir right next to the Derwent Reservoir.

The initial part of the ride was a gentle ride up and around the reservoir on wide gravel track.

We didn't see a soul for the first fifteen minutes, which was very peaceful. We did eventually see one fisherman in the distance and strangely enough a towel and pair of trainers beside the gravel path, but no one else in sight!

Here we are part way up the ascent and looking very happy, even though we were a little tired.

Once we started the proper ascent up one of the hills the bridle path started to get very narrow and also very steep up the side of the hill. It was just about impossible to ride the bikes up the hill so we had to walk most of the way up. It was enough of an effort walking up the hill, let alone having to carry our bikes up there as well!

The only animals we could see on the hill were the sheep and some grouse. Some of the sheep weren't that afraid of us and remained in place as we cycled by.

Once we neared the top of the hill we went over some flagstones that had been put down. They were a relief to cycle on on the way up and would prove to be really good fun to cycle over on the way down.

Here I am cycling towards the camera on the top of the hill. There was a fantastic bridle path along the top of the hill, which consisted of several dips and bumps and lots of large and small rocks to cycle over. It was great fun to cycle along the path bumping the bike over the numerous obstacles and almost falling off the bike several times. Needless to say that I had a massive smile on my face while cycling and really enjoyed it.

I was quite determined to try to cycle through every part of the path that I could to get he most out of it all.

Once we reached the other side of the top of the hill and started to descend we decided to turn back and head back down the way we came up. Continuing along the path would mean a very long cycle back to the car and we didn't have time for that.

Going down the flagstones proved to be a very good test of the suspension of our bikes. Fortunately for me I had a full suspension bike and I really needed it. Poor Dave whose fillings and arms must have been shaken to bits on his hard tail bike.

Once we started to descend the same path we came up things started to get a little hairy! I wasn't sure how far I would go down the narrow path before deciding that it would be safer to walk.

I surprised myself by going down the single track, which had a steep drop down the right and a steep climb on the left. I kept myself focused on the rocky path ahead and knew not to look right, down the hill, as I knew it would be a scary sight at the speed I was going. Dave managed to go much faster and even did a tail slide around a sharp corner.

As we got near the bottom of the hill the track got much too steep and rocky for us. Here you can see an example of what he had to deal with. If we went for this it wouldn't be a case of if we would fall off but more when and how badly!

We did see a mountain biker on the way up who was preparing to go down this part of the hill. He had a full-face mountain biking helmet on as well as some body armour. I wonder how he got on on the way down.

Also on the top of the hill we met three local lads who were out for a walk. They did look like they had just popped out for a walk around a town centre rather than a walk over the peak district. Totally unprepared, wearing the wrong clothes and not knowing where they were going really. I hope they managed to make it back without too much trouble.

Once we got to the bottom of the hill we took a short break beside a stone bridge where you could go for a dip in the river. There were swarms of midges by the river, which must have taken great delight in taking several bites out of both of us.

We then took a road path around the other side of the reservoir. It was a great end to a fantastic ride that day. We raced a little way around some of the climbs and just after one race a giant Hercules transport plane flew over our heads at a very low altitude. I put up one of my hands and yelled out to it in sheer joy!

It was a fantastic day and one that I really enjoyed. I didn't feel too tired after all the climbing and cycling and had so much energy I could have done it all again on the same day. Even better was that I didn't fall off my bike at any point and besides the midge bites I came away wound free!