The Snake Pass

[nickyboy]

Fears that the cyclists might be having too much fun, presumably...

Anyway, I got permission from the guy with the cones, so it's all official, like.

Absolutely agree that closing the road to motor traffic one Sunday a month would be an excellent idea.  There wasn't a shortage of walkers, either.

Hi Kim, I was the cyclist who rode alongside you for a km or so in the forested bit just before it ramps up. I managed 49mph down to Glossop so I'm sure you could have done 50 if so minded. Glad you enjoyed the ride.

[Kim]

Ah-ha!  The Snake seems to be the place for forumite spotting this week.   

Yes, I could certainly have gone faster if I'd taken a second run at it, knowing that the surface was consistently decent and where the obstructions were.  Didn't feel like hauling myself back up to the top to do so, though. 

The road's a lot wider than I remember it, which is I suppose down the the difference of bike vs car.

[frankly frankie]

I once pedalled frantically all the way down the Glossop side, using most of the road and keeping traffic at bay behind me - when I reached the bottom, I looked down and discovered that I'd omitted to select the Big Ring 

Two views of Snake:
         

[drossall]

I see that no-one was actually quoted as having fears for the cyclists. This seems to have been made up by a bored reporter with an axe to grind.

Bizarre, isn't it.

[drossall]

There was the "Adorior mountain time trial" that went from Glossop, over through Hayfield to Chapel, and then up to Mam Nick, over and down into Edale, then back from Bamford over the Snake. I never rode it as I am the wrong shape for hills (and they the wrong shape for me). However, I recall a friend reckoning, comparing an unofficial time at the top of the Snake with the timekeeper's time at the bottom, that he had been close to 60mph on the way down.

[Phil W]

It does seem the hills have changed. I'd ride from Stockport over to Hayfield, over to Glossop, over the Snake Pass, down to Bakewell, Buxton, then back via long hill joining the A6 at Whalley Bridge to Stockport. All done on a single speed bike made from a frame my dad retrieved from the dump one day.  The joys of rides as a pre and early teenager

[Oscar's dad]

Our ascent of The Snake and descent into Glossop in June was only one of two wet days we had on our Up North Tour.  The Snake Pass Hotel was a welcome coffee and cake stop.

Thankfully we stopped the night at the C&CC site at Crowden and made full use of their drying room!

[Peter]

OD, did they have the fire on in the little room in the Snake?  I had an absolutely drenched ascent not long after the TdeF went up Strines.  The fire was blazing away in the middle of summer.  They know their weather!

[Oscar's dad]

OD, did they have the fire on in the little room in the Snake?  I had an absolutely drenched ascent not long after the TdeF went up Strines.  The fire was blazing away in the middle of summer.  They know their weather!

I don't recall!  They were doing a deal on cake as they'd bought a load in for a coach party who'd cancelled at the last minute. Apparently the driver had taken a wrong turn, couldn't find anywhere to turn round so had gone somewhere else! 

[Peter]

Cake v Coal fire: it's a tough one!

[Oscar's dad]

Cake v Coal fire: it's a tough one!

We'd have preferred both!

[clarion]

Cake v Coal fire: it's a tough one!

Didn't it used to be a peat fire?  Has it changed?

[Oscar's dad]

Cake v Coal fire: it's a tough one!

Didn't it used to be a peat fire?  Has it changed?

What as in Peter of this parish    ?  Seems unduly mean 

[clarion]