Around 50-60 cyclists, including children, cycle hire users and cargo bike riders, enjoyed the traffic-free climb — one participant reported the “workers at the barrier were really nice and friendly”
An estimated 60-strong group of cyclists took part in Saturday’s Snake Pass protest, dubbed the Snake Trespass.
After the A57, one of the area’s busiest roads, connecting Manchester and Sheffield via Glossop, was shut for urgent maintenance due to landslides caused by storms Eunice and Franklin, the scenic Peak District climb was described as a cyclists’ paradise.
Despite calls from FDJ-Groupama pro rider Jake Stewart to reconsider the ‘Trespass’, a group of around 50-60 riders amassed in Glossop before riding the route to the top, unchallenged by workers.
Amongst the group were families, a cargo bike rider, and a cyclist using a Beryl hire bike. Walkers were also spotted enjoying the empty roads and scenic views.
On Friday, national cycling charity Cycling UK appeared set to challenge the council’s decision to close the road to cyclists and walkers, before saying the route is not closed to cyclists:
Cycling UK is writing to Derbyshire County Council regarding the reasons for closing parts of the A57 Snake Pass to cyclists. Pending their response, there has however been confusion regarding which stretch of the pass cyclists are unable to access.
For clarity, the emergency temporary road closure made on 22 February, which lasts until 22 March, only permits closure on the section of the map attached. There is however an alternative off-road route connecting the two farms and bypassing the stretch of the road subject to the closure order.
Cyclists are not banned from the entirety of the Snake Pass and can bridge the gap over the closed section of road if they are willing and able to take an off-road diversion.
Snake Pass map (Image Credit: Farrelly Atkinson)
Great ride up #snakepass with about 50 or 60 others. Lovely blue sky and some sunshine. The workers at the barrier were really nice and friendly pic.twitter.com/1XSNilrKxW
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Dan was the road.cc news editor from 2022-2026. He joined in 2020 having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Dan mainly wrote news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.
Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, you’ll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he’ll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he’s a bit strange like that.
11 Comments
11 thoughts on “Snake Pass protest: Cyclists reclaim car-free route”
There were some pictures on
There were some pictures on Twitter of someone in cycling kit, claiming to be of Jake Stewart and stating he’d been pushed off his bike and had some messy cuts and grazes.
Anyone else seen it? Assuming genuine, is this before or his call for us all to be nice to drivers?
Looks like folk have had a nice afternoon out in the Snake today. We should do it more often.
Yes, this happened yesterday in New Mills, right where I live. We’re gathering CCTV evidence – we know the number plate and car model, but there’s no footage of the actual assault yet.
Jake has tweeted about it asking for any footage to be sent to him.
The “closed” section is just after the Shirebrook roundabout in Glossop to just before the turnoff to Derwent Valley. The actual road damage is in the really scenic bit where the road runs closest to the Snake River.
@Borisface Not entirely sure why some alleged good times set in the last century validate the silliness and ignorance of your rejection on the grounds of materials and weight of a bike that the reviewer (who, if you look at his bio above, has rather a lot of experience himself, not only of riding bikes but of engineering too) describes as "absolute perfection in every aspect". Thanks for the unrequested permission but I'm not actually looking to spend 6k on a bike at the moment; if I was, on the basis of this review and the photographs I'd certainly be putting this on my shortlist and looking for a test ride. But then in this area at least I have an open mind, you see.
@Freddy56 as the article says, Jo boycotted our race because he thought we’d used AI to design our flyer. I’m with him 100% but he got the facts wrong. People don’t like AI slop. It’s lazy and generic. But you’re right - these grassroots events run off volunteering. I wave flags, design kit and artwork, ferry things to our lockup etc - perhaps Jo could be the change he wants to see. He could volunteer to the London and SE CX league that he races in to help them out with artwork - he created Mint Sauce!
Currently riding home powered by this for the last 6 months after someone stole my SeeSence beam, LOVE it. super durable and batter life gets me home on full beam for 55 minutes
Comments and an article by people who organise NOTHING!
Promoting an event is mostly by volunteers and an AI poster done at midnight after sorting the British cycling insurance, the toilets, the Marshalls, the council and a landowner is so draining. The effort is massive for usually a small team. Grab a flag and help rather than moaning about a generated image...o look the image is eye catching so it must work .
6 times division champion, 1st cat road man, semi-pro for 3 years. Sub 21 min 10 and sub 55 min 25 on a steel road bike. Forty five years riding. Forgotten more about riding bikes than most on here will ever know. If you want to pay £6k for an aluminium road by all means go ahead.
@Borisface Probably for the best, if you're as ignorant about bikes and materials as your comment suggests you wouldn't appreciate it anyway. Go and buy something on the UCI weight limit made out of the latest space age super carbon and wobble around on it looking daft and feeling uncomfortable and to hell with aesthetics, practicality and real-world use cases, at least you'll have the right numbers ("6.85 kg, awesome!") and words ("Yeah, it's UHM 12k carbon, actually") for the cafe. Enjoy!
Why not use winter to explore other interests and thus use it to your advantage?
It could easily turn out as a win-win: you recover from cycling-related injuries and fatigue, get to miss your favourite pastime and rekindle your love for it or who knows, maybe even discover a new one!
Oh, did I mention that changing your movement patterns is also quite awesome for the body, too?
@hotspanners I think Jo's issue is with slop. I didn't get the impression that this article makes you look rubbish as a club!
Hopefully CX league will take better steps next time and include input from the clubs.
Perhaps Jo will make it clear that it was generated by the league opposed to individual clubs.
11 thoughts on “Snake Pass protest: Cyclists reclaim car-free route”
There were some pictures on
There were some pictures on Twitter of someone in cycling kit, claiming to be of Jake Stewart and stating he’d been pushed off his bike and had some messy cuts and grazes.
Anyone else seen it? Assuming genuine, is this before or his call for us all to be nice to drivers?
Looks like folk have had a nice afternoon out in the Snake today. We should do it more often.
Yes, this happened yesterday
Yes, this happened yesterday in New Mills, right where I live. We’re gathering CCTV evidence – we know the number plate and car model, but there’s no footage of the actual assault yet.
Jake has tweeted about it asking for any footage to be sent to him.
Quote:
Is that a typo, or are people really calling it that (with two double ‘s’es)?
Cos that doesn’t really work, does it?
Yess, it doess! ?
Yess, it doess! ?
(I’m guessing that emoji might look a bit wrong for some.)
I think if you were going for
I think if you were going for that it ought to be two triple ‘s’eses though.
I see it’s been amended now, so it looks like it was just a fat finger moment anyway.
Maybe the title should be
Maybe the title should be changed to clarify that the road isn’t closed (with a short detour)?
Could anyone provide a link
Could anyone provide a link to the map of the emergency road closure?
The “closed” section is just
The “closed” section is just after the Shirebrook roundabout in Glossop to just before the turnoff to Derwent Valley. The actual road damage is in the really scenic bit where the road runs closest to the Snake River.
https://mobile.twitter.com
https://mobile.twitter.com/WeAreCyclingUK/status/1502321385934401543
Thank you!
Thank you!
Well done, Trespassers!
Well done, Trespassers!