The Peak District lies in the heart of England and according to guidebook author Hetty Kingston, the gravel riding there is "surprising, playful and sometimes challenging. But, above all, it's fun!" In her recently published guidebook to the area, she documents 15 gravel bike adventures with everything from a (relatively) gentle doorstep pootle to a 100km epic. Read on if you'd like to find out more.
Anyone who read the story we recently published about the Tor Divide backpacking event will have seen quite a few pictures of riders pushing their fully laden gravel rigs up (and sometimes down) some of the Peak District's infamous off-road trails. Some parts of the Peak District, particularly the northern 'Dark Peak', are characterised by steep-sided valleys, gritstone outcrops and plenty of "vert" as our mountain biking cousins describe it. It's perhaps not classic gravel bike terrain and heading there without some decent trail advice or local knowledge could see you having a pretty tough day out on the bike.
Fortunately, lots of the Peak District is absolutely perfect for gravel riding and with some expert guidance there is plenty of less gnarly riding to be found. The recently published Gravel Rides Peak District guidebook offers 15 routes across the region. Hetty Kingston the author, has split the book into three sections - Easy Routes, Straightforward Routes and Challenging Routes, plus one bonus 100km "epic' route. She describes the book as having "something for everyone, whether you're a regular rider or just getting to grips with gravel." As Hetty grew up in the area and still lives nearby, her local knowledge was invaluable in putting the routes together, but even she admits that narrowing down the selection of routes to include in the book was quite a challenge!
As with the other gravel guidebooks published by Vertebrate Publishing, each route features a written overview, an Ordnance Survey based route map, a route profile and detailed instructions. There is also a link to a free downloadable GPX file of the route. Hetty has also included tips for which routes can be combined or suggested shortcuts/tips (for example how to avoid river crossings). She's also introduced something that we're going to blatantly steal use as inspiration for Gravel Union's own rides, which is a 'cafe scale". She describes it as "spanning from 1 to 5. Routes with a rating of 1 have limited food options, while those with a 5 have more cafes than you can possibly visit in one ride." She continues that "it's not about the quality of the stops, but rather than accessibility and variety."
With fantastic photography, some interesting off-the-beaten-track routes and plenty of useful information, Hetty's guidebook looks great and it's inspired us to head down to the Peaks later in the year to try some of her routes out!
If you would like to get hold of a copy, they're priced at £15.95 and are available direct from the publisher and in all good book shops.