Phila77:

Good facilities for the trail at either end at the car park at Langsett Barn or the upper Derwent visitor centre. The trail is very remote and exposed once your on the tops, so better check the weather before heading out. Cut gate is full of tricky climbs with rocky singletrack and flagstones but a lot of fun and its Well worth adding a loop of Langsett reservoir along the yorkshire water bridleway through the woods to the ruins of North America farm before the climb back along cut gate to the upper Derwent valley. Well worth waiting for a dry spell and a bit of sun to get the best out of the route.

The descent down to Langsett res is the best I've done in the peaks.

Can be a bit dodgy when weather is bad.

Wadam00:

Best ride in the peaks when it's dry on a summer evening. Get a early evening start and you can have the trail to yourself. Good options at either end to extend, best trails are on the ladybower side (lockerbroke, etc).

Long techy descents Can be riden either way and combined into an all day epic ride. Progressive - as you improve so does the trail. Coffee available at either end

Awful when wet Some Walkers can be a pain but a very small minority Gets busy on summer weekends

Tibbort:

I rode this route after reading about it in MBR. As usual the ride didn't quite live up to the write-up but it was a good day out nonetheless. I started from a car park by Ladybower reservoir and rode up past the other dams up to the moor. There was a fair section of bike carrying to gain altitude once on the bridlepath. Due to the out and back nature of the ride this gave an opportunity to examine what would be the final steep descent on the way back. I chose to take my light 100mm travel hardtail on this mission which was great for going up, but it really lacked what was needed to take on some of the technical descents. The rocky moonscape which dominates the summit can take some time getting through in both directions. If you can cope with lugging a heavier bike up there you'll really get the most out of the ride. Best ridden in drought.

Good descents Peaks Bridleways usually well signposted A feeling of remoteness

Sarcastic Walkers Can be heavy going carrying your bike around Wet even after 2 weeks of good weather