Workday 31 March 2016

Our next workday will be on Thursday 31 March, to sign Route 68 in the Buxton area. Meet at the green Earl Sterndale at 09:45 for a 10:00 start. 

I am told that the new MUP over Staker Hill (see last blog post for pictures) is part of the new alignment of Route 68. From Earl Sterndale, we will therefore continue to the crossroads and along the road towards the Raceway. The new Staker Hill path turns off this road to the right, goes over the hill and then drops down to Harpur Hill, where it picks up the old alignment of Route 68 and continues into Buxton.

See you all there.

Next workday/ride: Thurs 28 April in the Hope Valley.

White Peak Loop - new Staker Hill MUP

As promised, here are some pictures I took earlier this month of the recently completed multi-user path from Harpur Hill near Buxton to the Earl Sterndale road. In order: the climb from Fiddle Street, Harpur Hill;  the track bed of the Cromford and High Peak Railway; ditto; the climb up Staker Hill; ditto; ditto; the descent to the Earl Sterndale to Buxton Raceway road. There are some wonderful views to be had from the path, which is finished in Toptrek. This is already a great asset to the area, and will form an important link in the White Peak Loop, joining Buxton to the High Peak Trail at Dowlow.

I am told that, since the pictures were taken on 11 March, this path has been signed by DCC as part of Route 68.

Sustainable Travel Forum - Edwinstowe Sat/Sun 19/20 March 2016

Date 

Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 March 2016, 9am - 9pm

Venue 

Sustainable Travel Forum, YHA Sherwood Forest, Edwinstowe, NG21 9RN

A programme of workshops and rides.

Follow these links:

http://www.sustrans.org.uk/events/sustainable-travel-forum-and-led-rides

https://www.facebook.com/events/788634167937911/

Sustrans led rides for the public

Our first led ride in 2016 will be on Sunday 17 April, a family and general interest ride on the Manifold Valley Trail. Meet at the Hulme End car park at from 10:45 for a prompt start at 11:00. Post code: SK17 0EZ. GR: 103593. En route we will be looking at the geology of the area, while enjoying views of the beautiful countryside! 
The next ride, along the Monsal Trail, will be on Sunday 3 July. More details to follow.

White Peak Trail - Matlock to Rowsley

Things are really happening now! There is work going on, on all four phases of the multi-user path between Matlock and Rowsley. The first picture is of the footpath alongside the Peak Rail line between Matlock and Old Road (Phase 1), which has been widened prior to having the base laid down. Picture No 2 shows tree felling which has taken place near Willow Way, Darley Dale on Phase 2, between the Whitworth Center and Churchtown. The next pic is of part of the stretch between Churchtown and Peak Rail's Rowsley South car park (Phase 3). This has been complete for a few months now and I have shown pictures of this section before. Images 4-6 are also of Phase 3, but show considerable development compared with earlier pics I have shown. In the first two of these, which are alongside the car park, the path is nearing completion, while the last shows the base having been laid in the wood behind Ashfield Roofing. The last 4 

pictures are of Phase 4 which passes between the recycling plant and Rowsley and the final surface has been laid. Unfortunately, there is a section in the middle, of perhaps some 200 to 300 metres, which is missing at present and is in need of draining and/or building up. Pics taken on 27 Feb and 8 March. 
Latest news: Phase 3 now has its final surface all the way from Churchtown to the entrance to Peak Rail's Rowsley South station car park; more work has been done to the base of the final section of Phase 3 through the woods; a sort of depot belonging (I think) to DDDC at Rowsley has been cleared, moving the trail very close to where the bridge over the A6 used to be in olden times; and the path at the southern end near Arc Leisure has been further widened and looks like it might receive a base of limestone chippings very soon! 

Advance notice of a ride on the new multi-user path June 2016

Firstly, a report on our last workday which was last Thursday (25 Feb). Catherine and David, and I rode Route 548 from Hartington to Minninglow in glorious sunshine. We repaired a number of old self-adhesive signs and added a few new self-adhesive and rigid ones, in an effort to make the route ever clearer. Nobody could ever get lost on our trails! We also found time to have a welcome cup of coffee in front of an open fire at Biggin Hall. 

A reminder that the next workday will be on Thursday 31 March, probably in Buxton. 

The multi-user path from Rowsley to Matlock is supposed to be finished by March this year, as the money that was successfully bid for in 2013 by DCC and other authorities has to be spent by then. I have recently had a look at progress on the path and can report that it is really looking good now, with a lot of tree clearance and the laying down of the base for whole new sections of trail. It will be brilliant when it's all finished! I am proposing a joint social ride (and maybe some signing) on our June workday - Thursday 30 June - together with the Derby Rangers group (and maybe others). I will put more details on the blog when we get nearer to the day. I will also put some pictures of the latest progress on the path in another post soon. 

February workday

Our next workday/ride will be on Thursday 25 February 2016. Meet outside the Beresford Tea Rooms, Hartington at 09:45 (or earlier if you want a tea) for a 10:00 start. The plan is to follow Route 548 from the Youth Hostel, through Biggin and on to the junction with the Tissington Trail. It makes sense to continue on Route 548 to its junction with the High Peak Trail, after which we can follow the HPT towards Cromford. Bring whatever you have in terms of basic Sustrans signage and patches 548, 549 (maybe), 68 (for the junction with the TT, if necessary) and 54. See you there!

I am hoping there will be significant progress on the new multi-user path between Matlock and Rowsley soon, so that we can do some new signing there. As the continuation of the Monsal Trail southwards, this MUP will be part of Route 680. Our signing should be welcomed here as DCC has been asking James Lowe recently about which numbers Sustrans are proposing for various new bits of the White Peak Loop. Moreover, I have seen "yuk!" notices posted on the part of the MUP which is already open!