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(S/E) Exit the Callow Top Holiday Park past Reception, and turn left onto the Tissington Trail just before the old railway bridge. Follow the Trail for about 3 miles, passing through the Fenny Bentley cutting and crossing the A515 (Buxton Road).
(1) A short distance further on, leave the Trail via the car park entrance at Tissington.
(2) For a short loop round Tissington village, turn left out of the car park then right into Chapel Lane. At the junction with Flatts Lane, turn left. On reaching the main village street, turn left to pass Tissington Hall and the parish church. Turn left at the green to return to the Trail car park.
(For the 8-mile route, rejoin the Trail and return the way you came.) To continue on the longer return route, cross the bridge over the Trail and follow National Cycle Network route 54A for 11⁄2 miles to a ford (bypassed by a footbridge on the left). Beyond, go up the short metalled path on the right and cross the road to a gate.
(3) Follow route 54A (now off-road) down to a footbridge over the stream and then uphill to skirt a building and reach Mill Lane.
(4) Turn right and ride uphill into Bradbourne.
(5) Beyond the church, turn right (signposted to Carsington and Kniveton, and still on route 54A). Descend carefully and when the hedges open out, before you reach the valley bottom, take a gravelly bridleway on the right.
(6) Cross the stream and go through a gate, then ride or walk up the track on the other side. When the track levels off and meets a road (with a farm entrance on the left), turn right. At the end of this road, turn sharp left through a gate and up a narrow lane (easily overlooked) which climbs past a line of houses and then bends right and levels off before passing Standlow Farm.
(7) At a B-road, turn right then immediately left. Swing right at the top of the hill then take the right-hand fork (“Unsuitable for motor vehicles”).
(8) Beyond the summit of Madge Hill descend a long hill (loose surface) past the houses at Woodhead then follow the lane beyond.
(9) At a T-junction at the bottom, turn right across the stream and climb to another T-junction. Turn left (signposted “Ashbourne”) and ride down to cross a stream and up the other side, continuing until you meet the B5035 road.
(10) Turn left then, beyond a zebra crossing, turn left again (Cokayne Avenue, signposted “Town Centre”), past a school and park. At Madge’s Corner, turn left, then dismount at the traffic lights and cross the road. Walk through the car park and to the left of the Waitrose supermarket to emerge by the old bridge.
(11) Follow King Edward Street opposite, to the left of Lloyds Bank, passing the bus station, then turning right to meet Station Road.
(12) A few steps to your right, a gap in the railings opposite gives access to the Tissington Trail. Join the trail, remount and turn right to pass through the Ashbourne Tunnel (350m, lit). On emerging from the tunnel, pass the cycle hire centre and follow the Trail down the hill to Bentley Brook and up the other side.
(13) After the bridge over the Callow Top entrance drive, turn left through a gate in the fence, go down the steps and then turn right up the drive to return to Callow Top Holiday Park . (S/E)
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