Blog Post

Day 6 - 100-mile Challenge

Mick C • 11 April 2021

Carsington Water

Day 6 of the kids 100-mile biking challenge. After the joys of an easier ride around the Clumber Park LakeI strangely opted for a challenging ride around Carsington water. Probably not one to choose halfway through a 100-mile challenge.

Carsington Water is just up the road from Matlock and I mean up the road, a very steep road. Its about a 40 minute ride away for us. We always plan to get there early as the car park can fill up really quickly, just like the Monsal Trailat Hassop Station.

We pulled up in the van about half past nine. The massive car park was nearly empty bar a few cars. I can guarantee I won’t be when we get back. It wasn’t hot but it wasn’t cold and the best bit is it wasn’t raining. Perfect for the bike ride.

We unpacked the van, got our helmets and gloves on and jumped on the bikes heading straight to the entrance of the main building (where the café is). We weren’t going in, just passing the entrance to head north and start the loop of the reservoir. If North isn’t obvious, the best way to describe the direction is when you first entered the car park we biked to the left corner to start the loop and we returned back from the right corner near the playground.

The first mile was lovely. Not many people around and it is a fairly flat concrete path that turns into a hard packed trail. There are some nice views of the lake on the right if you peer through the trees and over the hedges. Eventually, just before you complete the first mile, you come to a sign indicating a steep slope that bikers should dismount. It is a steep slope but very rideable if you are used to feathering your breaks and riding steeper sections. However don’t go hurtling down as there are often people walking up and there is a sharp switch back at the bottom. One of the kids jumped off and the other slowly rode down. It’s funny as I have one that will try anything downhill but often walks uphill, and one that doesn’t like the speed so walks steep down hills but loves the challenge of going uphill so doesn’t give up.

At the bottom we reached the switch back and its key to change to a low gear as the next few hundred metres is the corresponding uphill. We rode all the way up and back onto the waters edge. As you swing left you get an amazing view of the whole lake. A great place for a photo.

It’s then flat and pretty straight for the next mile. I always go clockwise around the lake cause this side of the lake eases you into the ride before reaching the harder second half. Along this trail don’t miss the look out tower. A great place to stop have a drink and climb the tower to take in the view. We did exactly this.

The next focal point is the Sheepwash car park at the north end of the lake. You reach a large grassed area and the trail follows an arc around it with the car park on the left. The youngest likes this as there are random models of animals to spot. We headed past the car park and then it’s parallel to the road and the lake through mile two and for about half a mile. At this point it felt like we are biking away from the lake but we are actually reaching the very North East tip of the lake. The lake gets very swamp like before we switched back and headed South West to bike the more difficult East side of the lake.

The East Side of the lake is very well sign posted for bikers. When I’m with the kids I always take notice as there are some steep sections that are just outside the kids skill range and so need a bit of coaching. After the switchback we headed along hard packed trail running along side the lake. At the start of mile 3 it starts to get a little more lumpy with up and downs but still flat trail.

The track bends left to follow the lake and we hit one of our favourite sections, downhill on a quality forest trail. It is a section that the kids can let the brakes go as it’s straight, flat and not technical. It’s a great place to get film of your kids if you have an action camera. When it’s sunny it’s even better as the light floods through the trees creating a flicker. We cruised down the trail with big smiles on our faces.

The speed comes to an abrupt end as the trail takes a left onto a fifty metre sharp climb up to a gate. We attempted to climb it on our bikes but stumbled halfway so got off and walked the rest, through gate. The track took us through a field next. We felt quite high up as you look right to see the lake down below. There are a couple of benches so we had a well deserved stop.

After a snack and drink we exited the field to continue. Check the signs as its then downhill with another switch back that changed our direction from going east to going west. Some smaller kids might forget about brakes, mine enjoy this section. We were now halfway down the east side of the lake four and a half miles into the ride. From this point the south east side is very undulating with plenty of warning signs to follow but loads of fun.

After a mile and a half of fast, slow get off the bike, get back on the bike, fast, slow, we reached Millfield’s car park at the very south tip of the lake. Now six miles in and all the tricky sections done the kids were tired. The final mile should be easy as we changed direction around the car park to head back north. The trail takes to a flat straight track on a high ridge with great views of the lake to the right and a steep slope on the left over looking the road. The problem can be that it is so open here any slight wind feels like a gale, on top of that, it gets busy with walkers. Lucky for us it wasn’t too bad, a nice breeze and small numbers of walkers. We chatted and took in the views all the way through the last mile. The final few hundred metres is a wooded section on a thin track that crossed the road entrance to the sailing club. We appeared back into the car park right next to the playground. As expected to car park was nearly full.

Exhilarated and tired we packed the bike and kit into the van before having a walk around the visitors centre. Naturally we stopped at the cafe to refuel and walked to the mini castle before hitting the road home.

With 13.95 miles at Monsal trail, 11.38 miles to Rother Valley, 5.4 miles round Kingsmill reservoir, the Teversal trailride of 9.62 miles, Clumber Park ride of 10.83 miles and this one at 7.36 miles, that’s a great total of 58.54 miles in six rides. That’s a long way toward the goal.