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 is the road.cc news editor and 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 has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.
Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he’s not working 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.
@Smoggysteve "Most would happily ride on the roads and be treated with respect by drivers". But people aren't - and as far as I can see they won't be. Not until there is a lot less driving and it's slower around cyclists, and far more people driving have "skin in the game" eg. they sometimes cycle and their friends and family do also.
That's what leads to the model - which is perhaps most advanced in NL - where cycling, walking and driving are all seen as separate normal transport modes. Their needs, vulnerabilities and any dangers to others are considered. And *that* leads to "mix / share when possible, separate when necessary". But "possible" is "where your 10-year old would be safe to cycle unsupervised" - so very few motor vehicles, going slow!
And AFAICS everybody - even "existing cyclists" - is happy with the result. (I dunno about a few pro cyclists - but don't they tend to have training camps in different counties anyway?)
@quiff as an Edinburgh resident I can confidently say he's speaking without moving his lips in one sense:
- while as I noted in a separate comment there *is* now some real separated cycle infra, all the examples i can think of have *at least as much space* for pedestrians.
The rest of the "cycle infra" is essentially similar to the situation in the rest of the UK: eg. bus lanes*, cycle lanes and shared use paths (eg. "build" infra by sticking up a sign).
Edinburgh is one of the places with a moderately extensive network of former railways which have been converted to "shared use" paths (completely motor traffic few). However though shared they are not narrow by UK standards. And this is all effectively a "free extra" for all non- motorised users, not like the "sign a cycle path" where pedestrians do lose space.
I think this all comes from the "popular understanding" of cycling in which ultimately cyclists are the "other". They don't fit "motor vehicle" or "pedestrian" (including wheelchairs on the very rare occasions people think about that).
Thus "cyclists are cheating" in multiple ways! They shouldn't get their own space as "there aren't enough" of them. And "they can just use the road / path".
But being able to *choose* "on the road" or "on the footway" (shared use path) is clearly unfair - nobody else gets to do that!
BUT of course even if they did pick just one of road OR pedestrian space it's still not fair anyway because they're "too slow" for the road (don't pay "road tax" etc...) and "far too fast" for pedestrians...
* Though some existing cyclists may appreciate them when there are few buses, buses and bikes are a very poor mix for several reasons.
Whilst a shame for any employees, their bib shorts had the worst chamois pad I’d ever encountered, utter waste of my money. Even though they were Strava challenge discount purchases, still a waste of money.
@ktache Just go for the TNT Sports only package, £30.99 for a month. Alternatively have you considered experimenting with a VPN for a few pounds, allowing you to sign up for a free stream abroad, e.g. SBS Australia which streams the Tour live? If I didn't have a kind mate's login that's what I'd do!
So, it's now the month of July and I'm going to have to pay to watch the TdF, for one month only. On a tablet unfortunately, as I didn't manage to get a laptop to rig up to the TV, grrr. Just wondering, what package will I have to fork out for? Not wanting to pay for the wrong one...
Not that it sounds like a dealbreaker given the other faults you've identified, but that cable isn't really a "proprietary" cable, four pin magnetic cables like that are quite common on bone-conducting headphones and other devices (my inexpensive smartwatch uses one) and they can be had for £4.99 on UK Amazon.
There was never really anything to say about le col kit. Most of it was alright. Some of it was poorly designed/made. Trying to position yourself as a Rapha competitor whilst always offering 40% or more off doesn't scream premium though.
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!