Kell, Bell, and Bikes

Sunday was Ferda girls, our pooches and Ferda Flare! Sometimes riding with your furry friends (I’m talking about dogs here) means a little more planning than usual for something that you and your loyal companion can enjoy together. Not too many people, ground not too hardpacked, not too much road, all of that with some good views! Oh and finally, not too far, my little buddy has only got little legs! This in mind, and a new summer Flare Stage jersey to show off I was itching to get out on my Rocket.
Sunday morning we sat in Cafe Adventure for breakfast (I mean where better place to begin right?) and planned our ride for the day.Komoot is pretty handy to use when it comes to planning a day out on the bike. It’s very straight forward to switch your map to a cycle routes only and plan your distance from your start point to finish, adding in some sweet highlights along the way. We chose a 10 mile ride, tiny bit of quiet road with some highlighted classic Hope climbs and descents finishing with a cheeky walk to a viewpoint up Winhill. Belly’s full, navigation on and we were off.
 Bell and Skye leading the way on the climb and Komoot’s navigation in my pocket chatting away when its time to change direction. It’s so useful when you get to a crossroads to see if you’re still on the right track, how far you’ve gone and how much further to go. After a pleasant climb from Edale Road to the top of the Beast we were all ready for some descent, and what better way to start than on The Beast. Highlighted on the Komoot app by yours truly The Beast is a ‘ classic Peak descent and a must visit if you like rock! Very spicy, technical and super rocky descent with a mixture of loose, embedded, and bedrock. It was mostly dry today, but it does have little streams running through in places. I’d rate it very technical, and maybe not for a beginner, super fun though. It’s a nice wide track at about 2m.’ (thanks me). 
Just before you reach the bottom of The Beast there is a cut off to the right through the gate which takes you on a further descent down to the reservoir edge. It’s the polar opposite to the beast, smooth single track with some rocky features, very fast and flowly, very fun and the dogs love it, so does Nikki. 
The SBClimb was next, I’m not sure why we chose it, because its pretty horrific and a long steep slog, definitely a lung buster of a climb and a challenge to not get off and push- FYI, I didn’t push. Theres no willing or time to want to stop here for a photo, before or during,  but once you reach the top be sure to stop for a wild group photo in celebration that its over. Once we reached the resting zone we were greeted with a load more riders enjoying the sunshine. We showed them the route we were taking and were advised not to take it! Something to do with grumpy farmers and safety pins, not wanting to take the risk, we easily redirected ourselves on Komoot and from here, the only way was up (still, whhattt) baby. But up into my FAV woodland. It’s goddamn majestical and with the dogs riding along gave us an excuse to hang about and play in the trees for a bit.
We wonder why our rides take so long!After some much need rest, chance for the dogs to have a drink, we got back on our bikes, dogs in tow and headed up and out of the woods on the lovely single track. Only to our surprise ANOTHER great place to stop and take a photo, say cheese Bell!
We then pedalled along the wide rutted bridleway towards Win Hill. It was a lovely day and we thought it would be rude not to have a wonder up to the trig point and take in the beautiful view. It was a busy Sunday afternoon, and plenty of people were out enjoying the peaks, so pushing our bikes respecting the right of way was a must, and a chance to have a good natter up the footpath to the top was with the dogs running about was lovely.
Another team photo, a great location to create a highlight and a quick snack before we then headed back down to the bridleway. With the temperature at a high and good 8 miles in a steady ride back down to Edale road was needed for the dogs.  
Highly recommend this tour for you and your trail dogs, Bell and Skye had a great time. But be aware there are sheep about so be sure to pop your pooches on a lead when pedalling past them. You can find my route here. 
My new Flare stage jersey from their 2018 collection was cracking, offering durability and style, I absolutely love the print. I definitely put it to the test in the summer weather we had on this ride and found it really breathable as well as a Super great fit, mine is a size 10 which is true to size. You can get that here and go and check out their 2018 goodies here!