The Pennine 500 is a bikepacking route through the Pennines, a range of hills and passes along the backbone of the north of England.

Pennine 500 is a circular route on tracks and lanes within the folds of the Pennines from Hebden Bridge in the Calder Valley to Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland and back.

 
 
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Event: Pennine 500

Date: 29th May - 1st June 2027 (4 days)

format: self-supported bikepacking rally

Event Hub: Mytholmroyd community centre

trackers: Follow my challenge

Group start: 8am

Stats: 508kms / 9,830m

Route: 60% paved, 40% unpaved

entry opens: 4th September 2026

 
 

‘A new day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps a bit of magic waiting somewhere’. J.B. Priestley

High Cup Nick, Pennine 500 bikepacking route

High Cup Nick, North Pennines

High Cup Nick, Pennine 500 bikepacking route
Salter Fell Road, Bowland Forest, Pennine 500 route

Salter Fell Road, Bowland Forest

Swaledale, the jewel of the Yorkshire Dales as the Pennine 500 bikepacking route takes the bridleway along the River Swale

Swaledale

60% of the route is paved as we take quiet lanes like this one at Kingshead

Allen Valley, Northumberland

Nidderdale in the Yorkshire Dales where the Pennine 500 bikepacking route takes the bridleway on the high slope.

Nidderdale

Calder Valley, Spencer Lane, 1km from the start line

Crimsworth Dean, 4km to the finish line at Mytholmroyd

Pennine 500 on the flanks of the Howgills on tracks between Sedbergh and Orton.

Flanks of the Howgills on tracks between Sedbergh and Orton

Pennine 500 on the Salt Road, straddling the border between Lancashire and North Yorkshire

The Salt Road, straddling the border between Lancashire and North Yorkshire

Footbridge over Maize Beck below Mickle Fell

Vindolanda Roman Fort

Dent

Mike born on a farm in the Howgills, taking his two dogs to the beck for a swim

David runs North Pennine Cycles in Nenthead

High Greenside Farm

The route isn’t all rough stuff tracks but at last the roads are quiet.

Reservoir access road - paved but dead end so limited traffic

Gated road that takes us up to Hadrian’s Wall - paved but limited to use by farm vehicles

Wild camping on the open moor above the in-bye and pasture land.

7 principles of self supported bikepacking
 

INspirational bit

 

Ride as much or as little, as long or as short as you feel. But ride

Eddy Merckx

 

You either love spinning the pedals and watching scenery whiz by, or you don’t. And if you love it, not much can sour you on the idea of riding your bike.

Keith Mills

 

I have fled my country and gone to the heather.

Emily Bronte

Wuthering Heights (1847)

 

And the moors were always there and never without their promise.

J.B.Priestley

Bright Days (1944)

 

Water, that strong white stuff, can here be seen at its origins. It wells from the rock, and flows away. For unnumbered years it has welled from the rock and flowed away. It does nothing, absolutely nothing, but be itself.

Nan Shepherd

The Living Mountain (1977)