Day 1 of a little mini-tour in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. From the spa town of Buxton, I ride the famous Monsal Trail through stunning Peak District landscapes before heading towards Hathersage – home to the legendary grave of Little John from the Robin Hood folklore.
This is slower cycling, just enjoying the scenery and exploring the stories that live in the landscape … and that fired my imagination many years ago!
After visiting Hathersage, a tough climb ensues before dropping out of the Peak District National Park and heading towards Nottinghamshire, setting up the adventure for Day 2!
If you enjoy the video please like, comment and subscribe. It would be great to have your company on future rides!
#Cycling #MonsalTrail #PeakDistrict #RobinHood #Bikepacking #Derbyshire #UKCycling
23 Comments
The Monsall trail is lovely. I did a mini tour down there myself a couple of years back, but I cycled from home down via various canals and trails along the way. I’d really like to do it again at some point. The Peak Forest canal trail is a lovely route from Manchester to Buxton.
Great video and nice to see you in the tours again.
Super ride and vid for Day 1 Martin, looking forward to Day 2,
RIDE SAFE, 👍😎👍
you are out there and doing, man! well done to you
p.s. Michael Wood's book In Search of England has an excellent chapter on Robin Hood
Enjoyed that as usual Martin change of territory very nice trip. Yes we have all had a go at making Bow and Arrow s. Great stuff. Stay safe. Cheers. B. K.
I stayed at a campsite at the northern end of the Tissington trail and cycled that and the Monsal trail last May. Lovely and safe place to ride. 😊😊 looking forward to the next video 😊😊
Nice. Monsal Trail is one of our favourite walks when down there. I imagine the road bike was fine on the trail itself. It is a shared use path. Cyclists and everyone else don't really mix well when busy. I would think it was lovely this time of year.
And every time I hear your Bryton bleep i automatically look for mine…🤣
OMG. Following the stream was epic with all of the beautiful bridges and scenery. Loved the little John imagery and springiness. Enjoyed all of it but especially those parts. More please!
Great trip – one of our favourite places. Derbyshire has some great cycling trails. Looking forward to day 2!
The ride looked great. I'm lucky to live close enough to Hathersage to spend time walking in that area and am working on being fit enough to ride for a camping trip out there. I'll be interested to hear about Robinhood being from Yorkshire as that's a debate I have with my wife (from Notts) frequently!
Thankyou Martin, enjoyed very much. Beautiful scenery, nice bike too.
The Sheriff of Nottingham was actually the Sheriff of Nottingham and Derby. He was a real person and was not very popular. He was one of the people mentioned in the Magna Carta as being very unpopular(with the Barons that is). He was raising taxes and policing Prince John's hunting grounds which were in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, enforcing the Forest Laws.
Brilliant! I'm considering a few ideas this year and the Monsal Trail is on the list and I use 700c x 25 Schwalbe Marathon so that's very helpful information. Great video, as usual. Looking forward to Day 2!
In the Costner film there is a song sung by the merry men around the camp fire after a successful mission called "Wild Times". A kind of folk song written by Jeff Lynne of ELO fame no less.
Loved the first part of this video. You carry two big panniers for an overnighted? I try to be minimalist when on excursions.
Hi Martin, great to see you in Derbyshire where i have done many miles biking and some walking and camping aswell and never tire of it, glad you cycled the Monsal trail, good to see your interest in some history and where Mr. Hood frequented, I also have stood in front of Little John's gravestone, it must have been a nice change for you to cycle there and I look forward to your second video, thanks for sharing Martin 👍 👏👋
I don't suppose you have a route mapped do you especially the Buxton to Monsal then onto Hathersage? Great video!
Modern day cyclists are a bit like Robin Hoods Merry Men. We love to enjoy a good time whilst wearing tights.
Very good. I too have always wanted to ride the Monsal Trail in Derbyshire. There's a loop you can do the Monsal, Tissington and High Peak trails as well? Derbyshire is good hiking country as well. Such a nice area to be out and about. Wynatt's Pass as well.
I hate riding in traffic now so would avoid those busy hilly roads that you rode. In fact your ride through Dronfield looked particularly gnarly with what appeared to be rotten road surfaces. You can see and hear every time you ride over a road hole our crack. Because of the rotten roads everywhere now I more often ride my fat bike with 26×4" tyres at 6psi or if riding smoother roads which isn't that often my hybrid with Schwalbe Marathon Mondial 700x47C tyres at 60psi. I also seek out non motorised off road trails where ever possible. Been knocked off 4 times over the years now. Unfortunately there aren't that many trails in East Anglia so riding on the roads mostly single carriageway can be a hair raising experience. There's the Peddar's Way which goes up to the coast near Hunstanton.
Good historical content with Little John's resting place. Love the British sense of humour. Little John who was 7ft tall. Back then most men were probably only 5 feet tall and women even shorter.
Yes the Kevin Costner Robin Hood film was bollox.
The other figure of myth and ancient legend was King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table in Cornwall Tintagel. A bit of a long way to go for you. Cornwall is as hilly AF as well.
Lookin' forward to Pt 2.
Hi Martin,great video,I’m familiar with the Peak District & the Monsal trail,I live over in Robinson Hood country so I’m looking forward to see were you get to in Nottinghamshire,it’s a good area for cycling,I’m sure you’ll enjoy it,there’s to many areas over here to mention but have a good tour,looking forward to pt 2,all the best Colin P.👍
Lovely stuff with lots of early spring sunshine (at last!). I thought I spotted Millstone Edge as you wound your way out of Hathersage.
Looking forward to the Yorkshire revelation… 😁
Cracking trail at the start , it’s on my to do list 😂 yeah the Hollywood version was garbage , I much preferred the TV version.
Beautiful area to ride in , look forward to part 2 . Hotel that’s a bit posh ⛺️🚲👍
Only on a bike can you see so much away from the man roads. No cars, fewer people and big blue skies.
As always, a great vid to help kick start us all to get out and see what you’ve seen. ☀️😀