Manifold Way

[Kim]

I managed to incorporate this into my ride home from the Peak District yesterday.  It's a weird one, hugging the valley floor for an experience almost but not quite entirely unlike the High Peak or Tissington trails.  Surprisingly good surface and lack of overgrowth.  Gradient that you could mistake for rolling resistance (or lack thereof).  Various pretty bits.  And a tunnel.
 
Unsurprisingly quiet, given how it links Nowhere Central to Nowhere Parkway...

[chrisbainbridge]

I quite like the manifold trail. A bit of respite in between what always seem very hilly bits. I know what you mean about not going anywhere.

[Wowbagger]

Waddayamean? When we did it there was a pub at one end and an ice cream van at the other…

[Peter]

It is/was incorporated in several of John Perrin's brilliant Audax rides from Broken Cross.  It's much narrower than the other trails mentioned and was once a narrow gauge railway serving farms and collecting milk.  Did you see the cave, Kim?  There was certainly a cafe with an excellent cat at one end.  I'm glad the surface is ok - it used to be a bit tree-rooty, I think, with the odd hole.  The limestone cliffs make it like a little Switzerland at the Wetton Mill end.

(Of course, I could be "mis-remembering" all this!)

[Wowbagger]

Peter is right.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leek_and_Manifold_Valley_Light_Railway

He probably remembers travelling along it.

[Paul H]

It is a great trail, I've used it a few times for out and back camping weekends, there's a choice of campsites at Hulme End, or some off site options if arriving late.  The easy route back to Derby is across to Hartington and pick up the Tissington Trail, though going a bit further North is more rewarding.

[Peter]

Peter is right.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leek_and_Manifold_Valley_Light_Railway

He probably remembers travelling along it.

Ha - almost! 

[JonBuoy]

It is/was incorporated in several of John Perrin's brilliant Audax rides from Broken Cross.

(Of course, I could be "mis-remembering" all this!)

I have done John's Knockerdown audax a couple of times - it used the Manifold Trail but started from Hulme End.  It also returned to Hulme End for a civilised lunch (with added Peter) but now I think about it broke the no-repeat-roads rule    It did visit Macc but avoided Broken Cross.

[Peter]

Not sure, Jon, but was the "no repeat roads" rule actually only applicable to travelling the same ride more than once in the SAME direction?  (Knockerdown was a terrific ride and I think I did the inaugural one, then in subsequent years rode and helped on its little brother Lutudarum.)

[JonBuoy]

Yes - same route, same direction is not normally allowed.  On closer inspection - on the 2015 version I rode the Manifold Trail from Ecton Bridge to Hulme End at the end of the ride but had used the road option at the end of the morning loop.  In 2018 I used the trail both times in my eagerness to get to my lunch appointment at the Van of Delights.  You can have my 2 points back 

The civilised lunch stop at the Van of Delights in 2018:



Ian Ryall's version of the route in 2019 removed my temptation to cheat by starting in Matlock Bath and only doing one pass up the Trail.  In my mind the 2019 ride is known as Knockherdown after my riding partner had a high speed off on greasy roads while descending towards Macc 

[Peter]

A picture replete with memories, Jon.  I do hope your companion was ok.  On another of John's rides (Venetian Nights) we dropped into Macc. down the Cat and Fiddle descent.  I remember one year, having my first Audax ride on a second-hand Harry Hall (I'd just had my Scott stolen) - it was pitch black and my front lamp kept dropping round the handle-bars.  Then a brake failed.  I was coming down with one hand holding the lamp and the other squeezing the working brake for dear life.  I still don't know how I'd reached that state, as I was usually pretty well prepared!  It was terrifying.  Looking back, I guess I was too tired to think straight.

[JonBuoy]

She was a bit beaten up but fortunately the bike was OK so she had no real excuse not to complete the ride    I did my best to describe the stunning views that we couldn't see for the rain and mist.
The description of your finish on the Venetian Nights sounds very Bob Bialek-ish.

[ElyDave]

A picture replete with memories, Jon.  I do hope your companion was ok.  On another of John's rides (Venetian Nights) we dropped into Macc. down the Cat and Fiddle descent.  I remember one year, having my first Audax ride on a second-hand Harry Hall (I'd just had my Scott stolen) - it was pitch black and my front lamp kept dropping round the handle-bars.  Then a brake failed.  I was coming down with one hand holding the lamp and the other squeezing the working brake for dear life.  I still don't know how I'd reached that state, as I was usually pretty well prepared!  It was terrifying.  Looking back, I guess I was too tired to think straight.

My first overnight ride, the self-molished dyno-light bracket decide to work itself loose and illuminate my feet (recumbent). The only thing I didn't have in my kit was a screwdriver to turn the bolt whilst I held the nut still. I had the spanner, and luckily found a scoutmaster at the next stop

Its always the one thing you don't check