Millerâs Dale and Wormhill
Distance: 5 miles (8km)
Time: 2 1/2 hours
Terrain: Moderate
Description:
Airy upland pastures on the limestone plateau contrast with the silvan beauty of two unspoiled dales on this walk. Monk's Dale is dry. Its river is beneath the limestone pavement but Miller's Dale has a base of impervious clay which holds the water of Derbyshire's River Wye, haunt of trout and river birds. Wormhill is a little over half way round this walk. It is the birthplace of James Brindley, builder of much of England's canal system. The quiet village makes an ideal stopping place either to explore or perhaps to buy a pot of tea. Miller's Dale station, once a busy junction where travellers to and from Buxton joined the main line to London, is now a useful car park and forms the northern end of the Monsal Trail.
Directions:
a From Millerâs Dale Station car park, walk down to the Tideswell road and turn left at the bridge. Walk with care under the double viaduct and follow the road as far as the turning opposite the Anglerâs Rest.
b Turn left up the side road for about 150yds (135m), Then go left on a stony track behind a group of farm buildings. Join the access lane to Monksdale Farm.
c Go through a gate on the right of the farmhouse and out onto a rough lane. Follow this towards the upland pastures.
d Follow the grassy walled lane up a steep hill at first and then across the gentle open hill top.
e Turn left, downhill along the road.
f Follow the road across the open section of Monkâs Dale for about 20yds (18m) and then turn left through a narrow stone stile 100yds (92m) beyond the valley path. Climb the grassy path until it joins a narrow walled track.
g Take the left fork and follow the track, later becoming a path across a series of narrow fields.
h Cross a stone stile and then walk diagonally across the long, narrow final field into Wormhill.
i Follow the road, to the left, downhill away from the village.
j At the bottom of the dip in the road, turn right at the signpost and go past a stone cottage, downhill through a rocky dell.
k Walk down the steep scrub-covered hillside as far as the river. Do not cross but turn at the footbridge and follow the riverbank downstream under the huge, old railway bridge.
l At the road bridge, turn left uphill, on the waymarked path to Millerâs Dale Station.
Places of Interest:
1 The twin viaducts once carried powerful steam locomotives hauling trains on a difficult section of the Midland Line along Monsal Dale. This line, from London St Pancras to Manchester Central, was originally planned to follow an easier route along the Derwent valley through Chatsworth Park to Hathersage. By 1849, when the line reached Rowsley near Matlock, the Duke of Devonshire sensed the threat to his beloved Chatsworth and refused the railway company the right of way across his property. The railway company was forced to follow a more difficult route which climbed through Bakewell and then along the steep craggy sides of Monsal Dale. The Midland Line closed in the 1960s and is now used as the Monsal Walking Trail between Bakewell and Millerâs Dale.
2 Monksdale Farm. In the 14th century, there was a small chapel on the site of the farm â hence the name 'Monk's Dale'.
3 Viewpoint. Look across the deep trough of Monk's Dale and Miller's Dale to Priestcliffe and the limestone uplands of Taddington Moor.
4 Monk's Dale Viewpoint. The special flora and fauna of this densely wooded, narrow rocky dale are protected as part of a nature reserve. Peter Dale to the right, a continuation of Monkâs Dale, is not as heavily wooded and more easily accessible.
5 Viewpoint. Monk's Dale is to the east, continuing northwards towards Peak Forest as a series of inter-connecting dry dales.
6 Wormhill. This quiet upland community will have changed very little since James Brindley, the canal engineer, was born here in 1716. Notice the ancient stocks to one side of the Brindley Memorial and spare a little time to look in on the 700 year old village church.
7 Viewpoint: Chee Dale Nature Reserve has ash woodland and limestone grassland. The steep sided valley of Chee Dale opposite can be seen.
8 Viewpoint. Narrow terraces above Blackwell Dale, to the right of the main dale, mark the site of ancient fields. On the left-hand hillside are the remains of an old limestone quarry. The kilns have been preserved and can be approached by a track beyond the Miller's Dale viaduct.
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