We head up to Hayfield in the Peak District. There are hills in every direction, and if local legend Nick Craig has his way we’re going to ride up and down all of them!
There are hills in every direction here, and if local legend Nick Craig has his way we’re going to have a stab at riding up and down all of them!
today we’re riding with a living (local) legend. Nick Craig is a multi-time crosscountry and cyclocross national champion who’s been gracing the pages of this magazine for well over two decades. I know I’ve got my work cut out keeping up with him aboard his Scott Genius, but he’s also a jolly nice chap, so I’m sure he’ll go easy on me. Kind of.
It’s the first time Russell and I have ridden with Nick since the tragic news that his son, Charlie, had gone to sleep one night and never woken up. Charlie had been following in his dad’s formidable tyre tracks, both as the under-16 national cyclocross series winner and a friendly, fun person. We’re worried about the ‘elephant in the room’ – should we say anything? But Nick soon dispels our worries, as we catch up over coffee, discuss the route and just go with the flow, talking about Charlie when he comes up in conversation.
Once we’ve kitted ourselves up, we roll away from the house and set off along the Sett Valley Trail. This is a gentle warm-up along a wide, flat cycle path. Well, it is for most people, including Russell and me. Not for Nick though, who disappears off into the undergrowth to ride up a steep bank and fly back down another a few metres further up the trail, before repeating the process. It’s like walking with a dog! I’m happy for him to do this though, in the hope that he’ll tire himself out. Sadly, tiring out a multiple-time
national champ like Nick doesn’t happen easily. We’ll have to find some much bigger, more significant hills for him to play on.
Wake up legs!
Luckily, there are such hills in every direction all around Hayfield, which is no doubt one of the reasons Nick lives here. Today’s route has a stab at riding up and down all of them. First up, we’re heading north, up a steep lane that properly wakes the legs up, before we skirt around the left-hand side of the hill and drop down a rocky descent that leads us into Rowarth. It’s a great little start to the ride – and we haven’t cheated and missed the main part of the hill out, we’re coming back to attack it from behind. The Little Mill Inn at Rowarth is a good pub, but we’re riding with Nick, who frowns on mid-ride meals, so we set our sights on Millie’s Tea Rooms at the end of the day and reluctantly ride past.
After a nice drop to a ford, we’re climbing once again, and this one continues for a while, up around Lantern Pike. The views are great, even on a slightly dull day like today, but the descent is what we’re really up here for, so we set off, bombing down the steep trail, back to the Sett Valley Trail once again. Another big climb out of the valley follows, which is definitely made no easier by Nick’s pace. Or by Russell noticing that the clouds have lifted and deciding that he’d like a picture of us coming back down the trail too. The hard surface to start with is fine but as we enter the grassy moorland near the top, the climb steepens. Nick’s racing instinct and natural ability to sense the suffering of his fellow riders kicks in at the same time, and he piles the pressure on as we crest the top for a photo.
Shortly before the top, we veer to the left, following the wall and trees as the trail starts to descend steeply. The recent wet weather has left the ground a bit soft and cut-up, but it’s still a hoot to ride and we plummet quickly into the wooded valley. It’s a lovely spot, so we decide to play around on the other trails here while Russell snaps away at us, splashing through streams, flying down the hills and then climbing back up to repeat the process. We continue down the narrow, technical trail to the left, over roots and rocks, to the farm, before climbing up to the road.
Rooting around
Crossing over the road, the trail leads us through some fields to a great little technical track underneath the trees, where roots burst from the ground like tentacles and seem to be in battle with the rocks. Nick and I are happy to ride this fun section again and again, trying different lines and techniques, until it’s actually Russell who’s the first to tire, of taking pictures. Finally, we push on, turning left down the last of the hill on some fun, rocky singletrack that eventually leads us back down to the valley bottom.
Rather than going all the way into town, we walk over the bridge and up the steps to emerge
THE VIEWS ARE GREAT, EVEN ON A SLIGHTLY DULL DAY LIKE TODAY, BUT THE DESCENT IS WHAT WE’ RE REALLY UP HERE FOR
by The Sportsman Inn – though again, sadly, we don’t go in. The climb back up and out of the valley would be fairly easy, but chasing Nick – and Russell’s e-bike – makes for a challenging pace.
We eventually bear off left to skirt around the western side of Kinder Scout, the moorland plateau that’s the highest point in the Peak District. It was also the focal point of the mass trespass back in 1932 that eventually led to the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, which allowed walkers access across common land and open country. It’s an impressive bit of geology, but we can’t get any closer because it’s only accessible on foot. Maybe, we think, it’s time for another mass trespass, this time on bikes… To be fair, access for mountain bikers is already improving in the Peaks, thanks to the sterling work of local advocacy groups, such as Peak District MTB and Mend Our Mountains, who are working to improve, repair and reopen trails.
Shooting stars
A nice section of rocky singletrack skirts around the side of the hill, before an eye-watering, fast, grassy descent sends us down the hillside, with damp grass, hidden rocks and corners trying to catch us out along the way. We still stop for a photo though, because Nick says Charlie had always thought it’d make a good shot just here, but they’d always been ragging it too fast to stop.
With the elusive shot now taken, we continue to the bottom, only to find ourselves heading straight back up again, this time on a narrow, cobbled path towards the reservoir. A tight lefthand turn takes us up a steep incline and onto a rough, rutted track – only to ride back down when Russell spots the perfect opportunity for a ‘pain cave’ shot of us with the reservoir behind.
Back out on the moor, a lone shooting cabin stands out, with its white walls forming a stark contrast to the brown heather and grasses of the rolling hillside. We decide to continue across the moor, crossing a footbridge onto a nice trail that gradually descends to the A624. It’s a great descent, but a horrible road, so Nick’s usual tactic is to turn tail and ride back up the hill. Which looks a little odd on paper but works well in practice.
Back at the shooting cabin, we hang a right to join a big, wide track known as Snake Path, which heads down the hillside. This is wide enough to allow for some racing and leaping off rocks, before it narrows to singletrack and crosses some grassy fields. We pass ‘Twenty Trees’ – I believe there are only 19, but we’re enjoying ourselves too much to count them, and eager to tackle the last technical drop back to Hayfield. We do stop near the bottom though, to pay homage to a cairn started in Charlie’s memory.
Nick reminisces about rides and bivvy trips with his son, and it’s obviously still hard for him with so many memories around every corner. But his job and passion is to ride – a passion Charlie shared, which is why there are so many reminders here of the fun times they had together. Nick is now helping other young riders to have the same kind of experiences, through the Ride for Charlie charity (www.rideforcharlie.com). I’m envious of Nick and Charlie’s adventures, and make a promise that I’m going to make more of my own riding memories with my family and friends.