Cycling the Monsal Trail

We had a peaceful night in the carpark and woke to a little sunshine. It’s only a short drive today to the start of the Monsal Trail just outside Bakewell. Once we found the correct road - the satnav took us around the cattle market - we parked up and I unloaded the bikes whilst Emma made a packed lunch.

We set off on the trail which is an 8.5 mile route from Bakewell to Cheedale. This traffic-free cycle route follows the former Midlands railway which connected Manchester to London. Opened in 1863 the railway was heavily used for over 100 years. In 1968, after several years of decline, the railway eventually closed. Much of the route was opened for walkers in 1981, but the five tunnels along the route remained closed and had to be bypassed on footpaths. By 2011 work on the tunnels, which includes lighting throughout was complete and the entire route was then opened to the public.

We were under the impression that the trail was level but on the outbound leg we always seemed to be pushing uphill. We later discovered that it climbs around 50m - coming back was a lot easier and quicker!

We really enjoyed the ride - the tunnels which are over 400m long were quite an experience - particularly because they are curved meaning it’s quite dark in the middle! The views down into Monsal vale were impressive too because the railway clung onto the sides of the hills.

After a couple of hours (we don’t ride very fast!) we came to the far end and turned round. We stopped for lunch at the former Millers Dale station which at one time has six platforms. It only took us about an hour to get back to Kiki - this is when we realised that there was quite an incline along the route.

After loading the bikes back onto Kiki and having a coffee (we missed out earlier) we walked into Bakewell. We wandered around the town looking at the quaint old shops before heading back to Kiki for our evening meal. As it got dark we battened down the hatches and settled in for the night.