Dr Doom Smashes a Chain

Or

The Tissington Trail From Parsley Hey

Why the obscure title you ask yourself, well the truth is that my erstwhile riding partner now has a new title, Dr Doom. It could equally have been private Frazier from Dads Army, but I took my inspiration from Marvel Comics

It was his pick and I was informed that the weather was going to be fine so I of course agreed. Well did he (as usual) get that one wrong.
The Tissington Trail is part of the Pennine Cycleway and from Parsley Hey Also joins the High Peak Trail which leads down to Matlock while the Tissington Trail wanders down to Ashbourne.
Parsley Hey is on the Buxton to Ashbourne road (A515) and has ample parking. There is cycle hire and a cafe at Parsley Hey which makes a good place to start. The tea at the cafe is very passable and always welcome, the hot food is unfortunately microwaved though, all in not bad, but at least the view from the seating is really good.

The Trail fades into the near distance

The trail itself winds away from Parsley Hey through an old railway cutting and is to say the least quite spectacular, the surface is multi use and so you could do this on your road bike if you chose to, not what I would do but hey each to there own.
The next tea stop is the old signal box, which is also an entry point for horses, the box is not always open and suffers from being too close to Parsley hey if you are on the bike.

Old Drovers Trail

There is no way you can lose your way as the stack is impossible to lose as it twist and turns its way to Tissington which is the next tea stop along the way. Unfortunately this one is a big let down, if you are spending over £3.00 the you should expect to get more than a teabag in a paper cup and a burnt sausage roll. If you want a cup of tea at Tissington this is one to miss, what you should do is get off the trail at the car park and go just around the corner to the tea room at Tissington Hall, completely the opposite here good tea, and good food in a really nice setting and in good weather lovely to sit outside ( only if Dr Doom says "looks like rain").

Cafe at Tissington

The trail carries on down to Ashbourne, with a small tea stop just before the end, which suffers from its proximity to Ashbourne. and again is probably only a last resort. " looks like the weather will hold off" another much overused weather forecast, and guess, yes it started to rain about three seconds later. After we sheltered from the rain we set off back towards Parsley Hey

Oops, Dr Doom Strikes

"Easy going this" Just before his chain snapped. So you can see why the name just had to change.

Panorama off the Trail

Seriously though, the Tissington Trail is one of the most family friendly trails there is, and if that's not enough there are plenty of trails that all lead off which are more suitable for mountain biking.
For walkers the trail leads to some of the best Dales in the Peak District.
Go Visit
And for good weather wait until Doom says it looks as though it might rain.