Getting to the start

We started our ride from a car park in the middle of Ashbourne, near the Leisure Centre. Immediately, we enter the 350-metre Ashbourne tunnel, a recent addition to the Tissington Trail, developed by Sustrans by way of reaching the trail directly from the town.

This leads us to the Tissington trail car park, which is the official trailhead. There are toilets, cafe, and bike hire facilities with various different styles available to rent.

There are a lot fewer walkers along this section and you begin to realise how far up you have climbed as you get nearer to the tops of the hills and the wind picks up. There are still plenty of sights to take your mind off the grind, like the splendid views of the edge of the Goyt valley in the distance, and the signal box at Hartington nearby!

At the end of the trail you can relax before the chocolate box picture of Hartington district as you enjoy a coffee and cake at Parsley Hay.

Tamar enjoyed the ride on the recumbent. She said, “Controlling the bike on the descent is just the same as on normal bikes, but on the uphill slopes I had to push my back into my seat when I pedal. It’s just so nice to ride on a trail with a good quality surface and have this beautiful, peaceful scenery right there as you sit back and pedal – something I didn’t always get when riding around Asia!”

From here you can either continue to Buxton via the High Peak Trail, which crosses the Tissington trail, or take a lovely descent back to Ashbourne.

Looking for more relaxed, traffic free rides such as those the railways offer? Check out our (growing) collection of lost railways rides here.