although I did not know this bike8 route before, the south-western leg seems to follow the route we did last year to get from North wales to Skipton pretty closely. The main difference is that we went deeper into the peak district to Bakewell from Buxton and than back to Glossop via Ladybower reservoir. I certainly did not have very high expectation of the route, especially the section cutting between Manchester and Leeds. But it turned out to be a really nice route. I'd happily take the same route again.