Longshaw, Peak District
Distance 23km (14.3 miles) Climbing 440m (1,443ft) Time 1hr to 2hrs
Route summary A fairly easy, fast ride without much technical stuff, to allow you to experience and enjoy the wild, rugged moors and their great views without having to be a very experienced rider
Start/ inish Longshaw Estate car park (grid ref SK 267/800, postcode S11 7TZ) 1
Approach the Visitor Centre, bear left behind the building and head through the woods on the permissive bridleway track. Keep left at a fork, uphill, to the main road. Go left on this then right at the fork, onto the A625. Ignore the bridleway immediately on the right, continuing on the road instead, for 0.9km, then turn right on another bridleway across the moor.
2
At a T-junction keep ahead/left, downhill. When you reach a track that crosses the road, go right on it, back uphill. Keep ahead/left as a wide track joins from the right, to the B6054 by a walled gasworks. Cross the road and join a track on the other side of the wall, going right, parallel to the road. After 0.4km, turn left on a wide grassy track into the moor on the Eastern Moors trail.
3
Bear right at a fork and then right on a tarmac track. Just before a house, turn left onto the Barbrook Valley trail, along the valley. Rise past Barbrook Stone Circle, up to, and over, the A621 to the right (white gate). Proceed past Ramsley Reservoir, bear right to the tarmac and go right on it, down to the A621. Turn left on this to a crossroads and go right here, signed to ‘Curbar’, then shortly after take a left, o -road, through a gate on a byway. 4
At the junction you can go right to do an out-and-back to Eagle Stone, or bear left down the hill, before quickly turning right after a bench, to ride below Baslow Edge. Look for a smaller track o to the right after 0.5km, which you join and follow to a road. Go right on this, steeply uphill.
5
Before the top, turn left on a path crossing the road. Follow this bridleway around to the right after 1km. Continue up to the A625 and go right on it. Proceed for 0.9km, then go left through a gate and follow the bridleway back to the Visitor Centre to finish.
Note: Keep an eye out for some stone gateposts here. If you look through the hole in the gatepost on your left, you’ll see the guidestoop (a 300-year-old signpost).