A Derwent Valley Round

Saturday 9th April 2022

Spring last year I caught a train to the town of Matlock, just outside the Peak District to do a walk around the valley just to the south of the town. My guide for this walk came from the Derbyshire County Council website where leaflets can be found on walks in the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site. The third leaflet describes four walks between Cromford and Matlock, but since they are each no more than three miles long I linked some of them together to create a fantastic walk through some stunning scenery and past some gorgeous woodland vegetation. On reaching the railway station in Matlock I started to climb out of the town initially on the route of the Limestone Way, but soon branched off to head south keeping the Derwent Valley to my left. It wasn’t long before I was enveloped by trees with a gorgeous covering of woodland flowers at my feet while limestone cliffs lined the hillside. Bluebells had already begun to appear and I enthusiastically took in the sight of this wonderful flower while trying to not ignore the celandines and wood anemones that were glowing at the peak of their season. A magical path led me through this delight above the noise of the vehicles on the A6 road at the bottom of the valley, but I had eyes only on the wildflowers that covered the woodland floor.

The path led me across the hillside below Shining Cliff and onto a lane that provides access to Masson Farm which the leaflet directed me to pass close by, but I wanted to stay on the edge of the valley so at a junction I turned left to head below the cable car for the Heights of Abraham. Soon I emerged onto the narrow, steep streets above Matlock Bath, which I negotiated until I came upon a path that climbed steeply up the hillside through banks covered in wood anemones and past old mine workings. At the top of the path I turned left to head slowly back down the hill through woodland covered in dog’s mercury and finally reached the road on the outskirts of Cromford. Although I was now back on the route of my guidebook, I ignored it again to continue heading south, however initially I headed west through a delightful valley that was only partly marred by the Via Gellia Road that runs through the middle of it. Eventually I started to climb steeply through Slinter Wood emerging on the edge of some quarry workings. A path took me around the hillside and through fields that were part of a nature reserve and provided me with a beautiful display of wildflowers, especially celandines, and stunning views down into the valley, but all too soon I came upon the entrance to a large Quarry.

My objective was to visit Black Rocks, but first I had to walk alongside the B5036 road until I reached a wood on the left that provided me with a direct route up to the car park for Black Rocks with the High Peak Trail running past it. I walked along this old railway line in 2017, but failed to visit the actual Black Rock. Two years later I did a walk inspired by the second leaflet available from the Derbyshire County Council website and visited the summit that overlooks the Black Rock but again I failed to visit the actual weathered outcrop. Therefore, I now eagerly made my way up the steep, stony slope where the huge rock dominated my view under clear blue skies. I was mesmerised and kicking myself for not having properly visited Black Rocks earlier. Slowly, I climbed the hillside below the outcrop, in awe of the view up to the rock, and then after walking past and around it, I climbed onto the top of the rock to admire the stunning views. Cromford and the Derwent Valley looked amazing, but the open quarries to the left rather spoilt the view, so I tried to focus on the valley and ignore the scars. Eventually I tore myself away from the views and continued the climb behind up the hillside until eventually I reached the edge of Cromford Moor where I had walked in 2019, though in overcast weather.

After eating my lunch I slowly made my way down the hillside eventually dropping onto the High Peak Trail and steeply down to reach Highpeak Junction where the old railway connected with the canal and existing railway. Now I crossed the valley, over the River Derwent, and up into Bow Wood whose floor was not as colourful as I had found on the western bank of the valley earlier in the walk. On reaching Hearthstone Lane I followed this old track back onto the route of the council leaflet through less interesting, more open terrain, with Riber Castle now slowly beginning to dominate the view ahead of me. As the skies overhead began to thicken I stuck to my guidebook, walking along Hearthstone Lane before branching off towards the picturesque village of Riber and then steeply down the hill, below the castle, and through the village of Starkholmes. Dark clouds were now overhead and Matlock Bath was ahead of me, but to my right were the steep slopes of High Tor whose ascent I could not resist despite the heavy rain that began to fall just as I started. The rain was short-lived and by the time I reached the top the sun had come out although everywhere was now wet from the drenching.

From the precipitous cliffs at the top of High Tor I had stunning views across the Derwent Valley, although the bottom of the valley was hidden far below. With my mind on the time of the next train, I quickly made my way down the hill, around Pic Tor, which I would have loved to have visited, but I didn’t have the time, and through Hall Leys Park back to the railway station. This was an amazing walk that stayed in my memory for many months afterwards. The weather for most of the day was brilliant but the highlight of the walk, without doubt, was the woodland flowers in the woodland on the western bank of the valley. These short-lived displays each year are always eagerly appreciated and I love to see them year after year. The woodland in the Derwent Valley was fabulous and I am sure they will be drawing me back this spring.

A walk around Warwick

Monday 2nd January 2023

While staying near Stratford-upon-Avon I thought I’d visit Warwick, which is a town that on my walk the previous Saturday, two days before, I had originally planned to include but worsening weather had convinced me to stay in Leamington Spa, so I was keen to explore the medieval county town of Warwickshire. I left the Stratford-upon-Avon Youth Hostel early in the morning and as the sun began to rise over the Cotswolds I walked into Stratford and caught a bus to Warwick taking advantage of the new bus fare cap of £2. In Warwick I got off the bus beside the entrance to the castle and walked past St Nicholas’ Park to Castle Bridge where I had tremendous views down the river and towards Warwick Castle. I was going to use a guidebook for walking around Warwick that I had gathered from the discoveringbritain.org website which describes this as ‘the finest view in England’, though I would dispute that as there are not enough natural elements for my taste. Nevertheless, I took loads of pictures before eventually continuing down the road and turned right into the narrow medieval road of Bridge End. As the name suggests there used to be a bridge at the end of this road where timber-framed buildings loomed over the street and gives you an idea what a medieval street would have been like. Returning to the bridge I stopped again to take in the view of the castle down the river before moving on past the Castle Gateway and into Mill Street.

This street led me past more medieval timber-framed buildings to the end of the street, on the other side of the old bridge and below the castle walls whose towers soared impressively above me. After returning back along Mill Street I passed through the Castle Gateway and up the grand drive that has been cut through the local sandstone which has given it a haunting and sheltered atmosphere. At the locked gates to the castle I turned up to the main entrance, but I had no intention of going in as that would have swallowed up the whole day and I wanted to do some walking. My guidebook took me onto Castle Lane and then Castle Street following the castle walls round until finally I turned right along Leycester Place to reveal the Westgate and the splendidly medieval Lord Leycester Hospital. It was fascinating seeing the medieval gate with the roadway cut through the natural stone and the old hospital that was actually a home for retired servicemen, which was a grand building, but is currently closed for renovation. My guidebook took me up and down the steep road several times to admire the buildings until finally I passed through the Westgate and after a thwarted attempt to visit the Victorian gardens of Hill Close I made my way back up the hill and to the market place.

I was now in newer parts of Warwick where a great fire in 1694 had destroyed much of the medieval town and had resulted in a many new buildings now built to a much higher standard. Firstly I attempted to enter the Market Hall, now the county museum, but this was also closed, which I was finding for many buildings on this walk, not because it was a bank holiday, but simply because they routinely close on Mondays. The guidebook now took me through wide streets with typical Georgian houses before taking me past a narrower street with typical Victorian townhouses such as you find in many industrial cities throughout England. Of more interest to me was when I was taken into Priory Park that after the dissolution of the monasteries became a Tudor country house only to be finally demolished, taken to America and re-erected in Richmond, Virginia. This has left behind a lovely park of woodland and steep ground that encouraged me to disobey my guidebook and explore the park, down the steep slopes and back up to enjoy walking through the trees. Finally I left the park and passed by St Mary’s Church on my way through the town centre.

The town of Warwick was originally built on top of a hill so I often had to climb up and down hills such as at the Westgate and now as I descended past the Eastgate to the end of the guidebook. This was an entertaining walk even though it was cold which had kept me in hat, scarf and gloves all morning. By lunchtime the sunshine had finally warmed the day so I made my way to St Nicholas’ Park and started to follow the Rivers and Canal Walks leaflet that I had obtained from the visitwarwick.co.uk website and I had intended on doing on the previous Saturday. This took me beside the River Avon and once I left the park on muddy paths past the railway line until eventually I reached the Grand Union Canal where I climbed up to the aqueduct and started to walk beside the canal. This was a pleasant walk in the sunshine around Warwick until eventually on the western edge of the town I climbed away from the canal and crossed the railway line into Diamond Jubilee Wood. The directions didn’t have me linger in the wood, but I changed that by keeping to the edge of the railway before turning south across a racecourse, which fortunately wasn’t in use, but then I entered a golf course. However, the route that I had picked didn’t cross any of the fairways so I was able to safely pass through and back out across the racecourse. On re-entering the town I immediately headed for the bus station but when I got there I discovered that the next bus was not for another hour.

The good weather and interesting town walk made this a very enjoyable day but now I had an hour to fill so I wandered back to the castle entrance where I saw loads of people walking down a lovely tree-lined path so I decided to follow them. This was an interesting walk through the trees so I was disappointed when I eventually reached the end and all I found was a large field full of cars. Where else would people be going but the car park?! Undaunted I retraced my steps along the path, just outside the castle gardens, back to the main entrance and after admiring the sunken driveway again I meandered back through the medieval town of Warwick once again and waited for a bus to take me back to Stratford.