In a complete act of spontaneity we went up Woo Dale on our usual sunday morning ride today. The sun was shining and although it was a raw wind, the skies were lovely and blue. It was a great day to be out in the Derbyshire Dales. Having battled our way into the wind to the end of the Monsal Trail, the usual options of taking the rough track up to King Sterndale, or risking our lives on the busy A6 for a little bit longer and taking the road up to Cowdale, all seemed a bit familiar. So we opted for Woo Dale.
It is ages since I have been up there and had forgotten just what a lovely dale it is. The gradient is modest, and heavy going after a night of high rainfall. With a nicely structured path of Topeak it would make an absolutely fantastic route, with the sides of the valley gently wrapping around the track along the bottom. I still can't really understand quite why there is so much opposition from Natural England to it becoming part of the Sustrans network. There are other dales of a similar type in the Peak District where paths and bridleways run down them without too much apparent harm being done.
There are no active plans at the moment to revive the ambition to make a permanent link between the Wye Dale car park (Topley Pike) and Buxton. It is not a priority for Derbyshire County Council to backfill the position vacated by Claire O'Reilley and hence there is nobody to actively take forward plans to get a route finalised through Woo Dale and the funding to have it built.
Alternative temporary routes are far from ideal. The route up Woo Dale would be absolutely spectacular if travelled in either direction. We should not lose sight of how the creation of a permanent link would so significantly enhance the benefits of the White Peak Loop, and NCR 680 in particular. However, for now at least we can only hope that something will change to make it become a reality.
