Bikepacking the Pennine Bridleway in Winter – Beautiful & Brutal

Our experience cycling the longest continuous off-road route in the UK: the Pennine Bridleway.

182 miles. 40,000 ft of altitude change. Mostly off-road, travelling through Derbyshire to the Peak District, through the Dales and into Cumbria.

Oh, and we left in the middle of winter.

We’d also never really done any off-road touring before…

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September 2021 we spent 40 days cycling to all 15 uk national parks a relentless 60 mile a day tarmac gripping and body smashing charity challenge we hit our fundraising target of 2 000 pounds don’t get me wrong it was a wild experience that took us to some of the most beautiful parts

Of the uk but it also taught us a few hard lessons number one ride too fast and the world zips past in the blur with no chance to take it all in number two stick to rose and you’ll often just scratch the surface of the natural surroundings number three

More from the knot the quickest route is not the most scenic one number four satelsaur is no joke but that’s a completely different story and so a few months down the line getting that adventure rich again we wanted something completely different we swapped our road rippers for mud monsters

And went from cycling the longest road route around the uk national parks to riding the uk’s longest continuous off-road route the pennine ride away and 185 mile epic with 40 000 feet of altitude change going from derbyshire through the peaks to the yorkshire dales and finally into cumbria it’s wiggly indirect and remote

Traveling along the hilly spine of the penins almost exclusively on off-road tracks rough bridal waves muddy single track and rocky lanes oh yeah oh and we’ve never really done any off-road touring before we also left in the middle of winter slap bang in the middle of two massive storms

Fitting the trip around work we had six days booked off in february and couldn’t move them around this just happened to land in between storm dudley and storm eunice with 60 mile-per-hour winds flooding and freezing temperatures all in all pretty damn character building cycling but our spirits were high up there

We go our late train gave us a few hours of punishment from gale winds and minus six degree temperatures before finding out in three words described today For two fresh-faced off-road cyclists it was a baptism of fire but nothing was dampening our spirits it felt bloody brilliant to just ride not bothered about distances or end destinations we just rode slowly and all over the place but with grins on our faces miles from roads we were right in the

Middle of sprawling landscapes and that’s just what we wanted we went from riding to pushing and then from pushing to sliding the mud was no joke With the wild conditions slick mud and short days by the end of our first full day we’d only cycled about 20 miles this is a really scientific method that you couldn’t use as long as you have grass you take a piece of grass and throw it

Up into the air and see which way it blows oh it’s blowing that way so we’re going to have here with this wall as shelter miraculous and shine the light josh’s airbed so you see all these little segments it’s all meant to be like this but the chambers inside have popped

So we are now in a sticky situation because it’s really cold i need a decent sleeping pad um and you ain’t got one he got one now we’re in the middle of nowhere we took a diversion to an outdoor shop and you won board hold one center home

But enough to climb when it’s passed and rejoin the trail and when you’re not in a rush detours stop feeling like setbacks this half day diversion became a good opportunity to eat some cake wash the bikes and take on one of the uk’s most famous climbs it kicked our arsenal

We’re back on the trail we’re the camping pad how much of this trip has been spent pushing before it was weather now it’s really hard but we’re nearly at the top waking up to a beautiful sunrise it’s easy to forget how quickly things can change up in the hills in the middle of

Winter it’s never a good sign when you have to start the day with waterproof trousers and we’re just going up stubby fingers and toes before even starting the day the winter conditions were grueling but you just feel stoked on by the landscape around you fills you with this raw

Energy that helps you power up climbs shrugging off the elements now on the heart of the peaks it’s these kind of hills we’d seen from a distance on road tours before and just felt gutted we can probably explore them now we’re riding straight through the middle and it felt so good second breakfast

Gone in literally five minutes hello yeah sun has come out it’s windy it’s a bit cold but beautiful we’ve made it to the top of the and now we’re gonna go hill the hill Getting to day five and the winter riding had really taken its toll the trail was grueling and smashed the bikes filthy uphills on wet cobbles and slick mud that clogged your neck and had your wheels spinning the wind cut through you the cold chilled you to your bones and it was a

Constant battle to keep warm but not too warm because if you sweat it’ll be game over when you stop cycling so it’s hard climbing so it’s cold it’s quite windy it’s been really wet some of the route is just like completely uncycleable fast anyway um it’s really grueling like it’s so hard but

It’s just so beautiful it’s incredible just spending um you know a week almost all off road away from uh away from cars into these amazing landscapes just being surrounded by just nature the whole time is you can’t beat it and i think if you work for something

It makes you appreciate it so much more the moody clouds made it so atmospheric and when the sun did break through it blew you away with not a soul in sight just you and the trail nature therapy at its finest it’s all enough to forget the agonizing wind

For a little bit at least we learned from our lessons and taking things slow but that also meant we’d reached our final evening and hadn’t really covered too much ground it is really cold and quite windy so it is is our final evening and it’s very cold

And we couldn’t find anywhere to camp for a while and now we’re tilted this way so we can feel the blood going to our heads um but we’re pitched against the wind so that’s a good thing um ba is gonna get to minus four so we’ve wrapped up in every layer we have

And um we’re still cold it’s still cold so here’s to you wherever you’re watching us from i hope you’re warmer than us fingers feel like stubs can’t see a thing but uh today is our last day and we are not near kirk b stephen um which is the final point

I think with the weather how it was um the like the gear malfunctions and taking diversions and josh that’s also like not wanting to smash it and enjoy the ride more um we’re not gonna finish it on this trip sure we’d frozen our butts off and been

Overcome by mud but there was just something about those remote landscapes and off-road trails that stuck with us we only had a few weeks left living in the north of england but didn’t feel like we could leave without seeing how the rest of the route panned out

And so we made it our mission to cross the finish line before we up sticks and left no matter what it took right so i am back on the pennine bridal way now uh march as you can probably see it is blue skies sunshine and it is really quite warm

Uh also sarah’s not with me um everything at the moment is so crazy because we been asked to move out of our house so we’re in the middle of like packing and like piecing dates together is not so easy so i’m going to do this section

And then me and sarah will finish off the rest My right eyebrow seems to let me down i’ve just constantly got a stream of sweat pouring this eye oh oh god this is so bumpy and uphill and i can’t see anything because of this bloody shunt that lotion ah this is gold There are so many gates Going solo teaming up they ride and over 90s taking our time to finish off the benign bridal way felt like the perfect send-off to such a magical part of the uk heavy rain then sunshine had turned the floor to a sticky slash but it didn’t last long

The skies were blue spring birds were in the air and we were lapping up our last ride through these hills above us we’ve got a tree full of starlings we’re singing loads the sun is shining we got these inquisitive guys And that means two happy cyclists And then it came to the final section and this is where we left off last time this time with a tent still blue skies still pretty windy the final leg to go i keep thinking how to explain what is the big draw to this um to the pennine rideaway because it’s it’s hard

It’s quite rocky uh there’s bits which for like anyone other than an extremely good cyclist is just uncyclable but it’s just there’s something really incredible about it and it’s sent me to these big open landscapes and being like far away from people like the little charm of like

Going through the pen islands in these northern towns but then also it’s just you’re not going anywhere fast and you’re definitely not going directly you’re taking these massive big detours um and the detours are pretty much just to keep you off-road and in these landscapes these like big open beautiful natural landscapes

It’s just the best kind of detour definitely some of the most incredible cycling i think we’ve ever done but this is absolutely amazing blowing us away around every corner it’s just like oh my god this is the best thing i’ve ever seen and then the next corner like

This is the best thing i’ve ever seen sometimes you just get to hurdles just can’t cross them what do we do come on guys play nice we mean you no harm oh god they’re not moving mercy so we were saying obviously our experience the first time first half of this

Uh trip was very very different and not the type two fun yeah uh not that we didn’t enjoy it but it’s a different kind of pleasure it’s kind of like a little bit sado masochistic kind of pleasure it’s about 30 miles left we’re going to get a train home tomorrow

All right so well i posted that we can just uh just cycle we don’t really need to look at the sat nav we don’t need to know how much further we’ve got to go how far we’ve done yeah So this is our last evening on the trail it is after months of preparation then weeks taken on the route this last day felt pretty magic trudy i’ll take you there it’s this last part i taken all the painful elements from the first half of the ride

And just thrown them out the window besides the wind the wind we had for the whole 182 miles and besides the hills the hills were painful the whole way too the climb up barbell fell was a real screamer but for the best things in life i’ve got

To work for them this last climb is an absolute killer but views are just amazing there’s literally no one that’s around for miles landscapes Drop down get We learned our lessons going slow had kept the grin on our faces through bitter conditions and let us properly soak up our surroundings taking detours had shown us beautiful parts of the uk that we’d never seen and ditching roads took us right through the heart of landscapes giving us a

Whole other perspective leaving us nor of the natural world we’d even avoided saddle saw this was definitely a tale of two halves but it was a chaotic mix of storms and then blue skies ruling climbs then blistering descents mishaps and memories that made the pemai bridal way right we’ll never forget

I like all good adventures it left us absolutely craven the next my one i won’t be running from the truth