The Pennine 500 is a bikepacking route through the Pennines, a range of hills and passes along the backbone of the north of England.
The 500km circular adventure features 9,600 metres of climbing across three loops:
Southern: The Body
Central: The Head
Northern: The Crown
Pennine 500 is a ‘there and back again’ route on tracks and lanes within the folds of the Pennines from the Calder Valley to Vindolanda Roman Fort, over the Bowland Knotts with its impressive gravel track and up to High Cup Nick a stunning glaciated valley, past Greg’s Hut mountain bothy and the descent from Tan Hill Inn, under popular Victorian viaducts in the Yorkshire Dales such as Arten Gill and over rarely visited limestone singletrack at Great Asby Scar, along the wild River Swale and through Haworth, taking in hidden green lanes across the flanks of the Howgills and though forgotten places like Unthanks.
High Cup Nick
Salter Fell Road, Bowland Forest
Swaledale
Allen Valley, Northumberland
Nidderdale
Calder Valley, Spencer Lane, 1km from the start line
Event: Pennine 500
Date: 29th May - 1st June 2027
format: self-supported bikepacking rally
Event Hub: Mytholmroyd community centre
Group start: 8am
Stats: 500km / 9,600m
Image by Kreuzschnabel/Wikimedia Commons
Along the rocky ridge line of High Cup Nick, England’s finest U-shaped glaciated valley
Fast flowing greenway on a former railway from Lambley to Alston along the South Tyne
Unique singletrack across the limestone pavement at Great Asby Scar above Orton
Past Vindolanda Roman fort on Stansgate near Hadrian’s Wall
Flowing gravel track along the white waters of the River Swale
Greg’s Hut on Cross Fell, the highest moorland in England
Tracks across the heather on Rombalds Moor above Ilkley
The Old Salt Road in the Bowland Fells above Slaidburn
Packhorse tracks going north from Todmorden
The long descent from the Tan Hill Inn
High Cup Nick, North Pennines
Greg’s Hut, a Mountain Bothies Association shelter on Alston Cross in Cumbria
Flanks of the Howgills on tracks between Sedbergh and Orton
Lambley Viaduct
Hadrian’s Wall, Northumberland
The Salt Road, straddling the border between Lancashire and North Yorkshire
Haltwhistle Greenway, Northumberland
Arten Gill, Yorkshire Dales
Upper Nidderdale, North Yorkshire
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
Descent from the Tan Hill Inn
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 - paved but limited to use by farm vehicles
Lambley Viaduct - at 850 foot long this forms a key part of a 10km traffic free route south from Haltwhistle on the Northern section of the trail
Return leg on the Southern section of the trial through the Yorkshire Dales
Wild camping on the open moor above the in-bye and pasture land.
