Glossop is great for accessible, technical moorland riding. The descent from Cock Hill is split into two parts - the first part consists of singletrack across moorland. The trail is natural but not particularly rugged, so it's fast and mostly non-technical. It's still good fun, though. The second part is between two field boundaries of drystone wall. There's a ditch with a singletrack path alongside. This part is slower and more technical, with some rocky section towards the bottom of the descent. It's still not hugely technical - it'll present a challenge to less seasoned rider, but it's still fun for the experienced among us. It's never so steep as to be sketchy- you never have to drop your saddle and pray for the right line.
This ride is accessible straight out of Glossop, but still feels like the proper, desolate moors in winter, at least. In summer, it's possible that crowds will spoil that illusion.
The map below shows only the descent, since I haven't identified a good route up yet, although the Strava global heatmap has a route that looks promising. If you can be bothered trying to decipher those blue lines.
We hike-a-biked through an old quarry. Some mild scrambling whilst hauling bikes was also required. Like I said, I've not found a particularly good route up. This one is picturesque, but there's gotta be an easier way.
The Gravel road to the top, which you Must Not Ride.
The wind was blowing. The hut offered little shelter, to be fair, it only had about one full wall.
The singletrack descent starts near the hut, and it's pretty obvious once you're on it. You can detour to the trig point atop Cock Hill.
It's not particularly technical, but it's got enough twists, and you can rip and run.
The second part of the trail between two drystone walls. The trail is often at an awkward camber, but it's mostly alright, some parts need you to carry a bit of speed to clear. I reckon it'll be prone to getting pretty soggy when the weather's bad.
It gets rocky down the bottom, but it's mostly solid. A couple of fun, chunkier sections, but never overly technical. Although there's a drop at the very end with a super awkward landing (yeah, I walked).
Another small quarry right before you get back into Glossop.
I like this descent, it can be done in a few hours, although getting to the top takes quite a while. It's a definite step down in difficulty from somewhere like Doctor's Gate, but it's still got a little bit of that rugged, rocky, natural trail. There are probably loads of little runs through the quarry, but the piles and piles of loose rock make many of the paths unridable. I'll update when I find a good way to the top.
Black Down is the highest hill in the mendips, with varied and challenging terrain. It has a combination of rugged single-track and (often) muddy downhill. The main downhill runs are predominantly located in the west face of the hill, within the forested area of 'Rowberrow Warren' while majority of the cross-country trails run from the Dolebury Warren to the north west, across the moorland of Black Down and then back around. You can also connect this with a ride to Cheddar Gorge or Velvet Bottom. If you don't mind the occasionally endless bog that Black Down becomes, these hills present some excellent riding, great views and a pint afterwards at the 'Old Inn' in Congresbury (The Congo, for us trendy people).
The downhill runs are located in the west face of the hill, in 'Rowberrow Warren'. They're somewhat hidden, but are worth hunting around to find. The entirety of this area has a tendency to become sodden, and the downhill runs are no exception, but are still ridable. Many of the runs also feature table-top jumps or drops, but none of the ones I've encountered are unavoidable if that's not for you. The 'Christmas tree trail' downhill is a great run, long and fun, although when initially entering the forest at the start of the trail, you're essentially blinded to the surprising darkness of the dense pine trees. This run seems to become progressively steeper towards the bottom of the hillside. One thing to watch out for is the bridle-path crossings, which occur regularly, and are (apparently) a major point of contention between riders and others (walkers and horse-riders) The Christmas tree trail has it's steepest, rockiest section at the very end, followed by a stream crossing.
Here's a video of the Christmas trail trail. The initial section is insanely dark, the trees are so tightly packed together. It soon opens up, but it's a fun trick to play on your buddy - don't them them how dark it's going to be before you go in.
My preferred cross-country route starts at the car park. You climb up the footpath, leading you though the hamlet and up 'Doleburry Warren' onto the pathway called the 'Limestone link'. Initially, it's made of firm stone and although steep, it's my preferred way to ascend. Once you get to a iron age fort, which retains obvious remnants of the walls. This area doesn't tend to get particularly sodden. Once you've breached the fort, the trail flattens out, and you can descend. After navigating some tracks, the long, slow and often sodden ascent of the moor starts.
The bluebells are out late.
There is a fairly steep climb south, along a wide track, which is potentially sodden.
The area is popular with horse-riders, walkers and cyclists.
The trail leading to the trig point is almost comically hollowed out, and you're not supposed to cycle there. I think this rule is largely ignored.
Once you reach the trig point (not shown), there are good descents, either take the trail leading north, or east. Both of these are good, rocky descents. If you head east, you'll reach the fence, and can start heading north for some more, less rugged, descending. This will reunite with the limestone link, which is a lovely bit of singletrack, although it's best to watch out for walkers. The photo below shows the tail end of the first descent from the trig point.
There are two stream crossings when heading back along the limestone link, which eventually reunites you with the main 'junction' area before reaching the moor. From here, you can descend a number of ways, or follow the fence-line south (there's a track running largely parallel). Following this track will eventually lead you to an entrance to Rowberrow Warren, where the sweet downhill trails are. They're worth searching out, especially the Christmas tree trail, which is great fun even if you're not into jumps, which the video above focuses heavily on.
Once you finish the Christmas tree trail., you can head North along the bridleway and back to the carpark. There's some extra singletrack running parallel with the track.
Black down is great but can be a lot of work, and as I've stated before, gets sodden for much of the year. I don't know the downhill trails particularly well, but I'm certain there are lot more secret downhill trails I've yet to find.
