Holidays are great but how about creating a similar feeling just in a weekend? Work is intense at the moment and so I felt I needed a real escape for the weekend.
When we bike packed round Scotland earlier this month I loved the simplicity of life. We just needed to get from A to B, eat, keep warm and sleep. Stripping back life to the basics focuses the mind in the present and helps you appreciate all the small things we often take for granted.
On Friday evening we decided we would cycle to the Peak District on Saturday, camp overnight and cycle back on Sunday.
I was so excited, somehow it felt naughty, I should be at home doing weekend jobs, doing some work. The guilt didn’t last long, I was just overwhelmed with excitement!
We decided 50-60 miles was a good distance when carrying our camping gear and doing a lot of trail riding. We found a great campsite in Monyash (Lathkill Dale Campsite) booked that and the Bulls Head pub for dinner and we started packing.
Having not long returned from our Scotland trip packing didn’t take long as we knew exactly what we needed. We were going to eat at the pub in the evening and found out there was a cafe next door for breakfast so decided not to take the stove – result – some weight saved!!
The route
We wanted to do as much riding on trails and very quiet roads, for most of the route we followed NCN 6 & 68. Just under 20 miles was traffic free, we rode about 4 miles on the Cloud Trail and then 15 miles on the Tissington trail. The rest of the route was on very minor roads – the kind with lots of gravel in the middle, we even ended up on a bridle path at one point, parts of which we had to walk! We did the same route out and back, I don’t normally like doing that but we really wanted to ride as much traffic free as possible.
x
Bertie's World 
Leave a Reply