Hope Cross (aka The Beast of Hope Cross, The Beast) is a bridleway near Hope, Edale & Ladybower in the Peak District, UK. This page is intended to provide information for mountain biking on the track.

Rating: Technical / Speed / Fun: | |
Height Descent / Distance: 100m / 1.2km

Surface: Gritstone/Dirt. Very rocky, loose, embedded, and bedrock. A stream in places. Very technical. 2m wide track.

Location: SK 162 880 - Monkeyspoon OS Tracks Map - Google Aerial Map
From the Bridleway crossroads at Hope Cross (the crossroads, rather than stone sign post of the same name nearby), running north across and then down the hill to the river at Haggwater Bridge.

Hope Cross, also known as The Beast of Hope Cross or The Beast, is very rocky and technical, and the loose rocks make things unpredictable, it takes energy and skill to keep moving but when you can make a full run without cock-ups or putting a foot out it’s very rewarding. Beginners will struggle to ride some parts of it.

From Hope Cross there is a gentle slow down the bridleway, the first 100m is smooth gullied dirt, after the first gateway there are some small loose and embedded rocks, followed by another 100m of smooth gullied dirt. A slight right bend reveals rocks, and plenty of ’em, there are a lot of embedded rocks that make the track uneven and also lots of loose rocks of varying size. After about 50m of this there’s an outcrop of bed rock, with large loose stones on it followed by a final onslaught of loose speed sapping boulders to the small gate.
You are now at the top of the main straight, which is about 100m long, it slopes more steeply from here, with steps of bedrock and loose rocks on the top half and lots of loose rocks on the lower half of the straight. The best line is to stick to the left until after the large bedrock drop then cross to the right and stay tight to the bank. At the end of this section you come to nice 90° smooth corner, there few rocks on the wide line, but straight after the corner you hit a boulder garden. There are a fair number of large embedded curved boulders, where there aren’t boulders there are lots of loose rocks. As the loose rocks thin out a small stream joins the track and flows all over the path, then there’s a small section of jagged embedded rock that crosses the track. You then approach the second main corner, this a left-hander with bedrock that slopes and drops in the middle of the corner, generally the fastest line is to stay high and wide. The next straight has smaller, more spread out loose rocks, before flat rock and next corner, which is a similar angle to the last but more curved and turns right with an awkward bedrock drop. The next straight is the worst for large loose rocks, the right-hand line offers blocks of bedrock with small drops and avoids some loose rock, but you get forced back to the left. At the end of this steeper straight you to a gate or a sharp left corner, though the gate takes you back down the side of the Ladybower to the dam, going left takes you up to Hagg Tor. Continuing left the track is bumpy due to small embedded stones, it then flattens out with some up and down and muddy sections, curving right and ending at the bridge.

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