Ambergate to Middleton Top

We'd driven up to Derbyshire from Milton Keynes this morning, returning to the Midshires Way after a gap of four months. Most of the journey was boring (up the M1 then around Derby), but the route became increasingly countrified and, by the time we got to the visitor centre/car park at Middleton Top (SK275552) we had also climbed considerably. Parking at Middleton Top costs £4.80 for stays of longer than 4 hours but, after our experience on our last visit to the area,, we'd come with a huge supply of cash and, after a drive of a couple of hours, it was convenient to be parking at a location with toilets and a cafe (though the cafe hadn't yet opened for the day). After leaving one car at Middleton Top, we drove by way of Cromford and the Derwent Valley to the layby we'd found at "The Birches" (SK346514) across the river from Ambergate. It doesn't cost anything to park here and there was space! We set off walking at about 10.15.

In deciding to start our walk at this point, we were very quickly up with our last leg, but on our own version of the Midshires Way rather than the official route. However, our route looked just as good as the official one, and it proved to be a most enjoyable walk. We set off on a track through The Birches (an area of woodland that is essentially an appendage to Shining Cliff Woods), initially running parallel to the river. Soon we were walking past the mostly disused industrial buildings of various ages, backing onto the river. This is what is shown on the Ordnance Survey map as Oak Hurst Mills, and right at the end there were two units in use: White Peak Distillery (who make Wire Works Whisky and Shining Cliff Gin) and the Wireworks Project. So what's the wireworks connection? It turns out that these buildings were formerly the Johnson and Nephew Wireworks.

We left the buildings behind and climbed through Shining Cliff Woods, initially with occasional glimpses down to the river. At a fork, we took the uphill option and climbed more steeply, on a path that got narrower and occasionally felt more like a stream than a path. We emerged from the woods and into the parkland of Alderwasley Park, with glorious views in all directions, including to Crich Stand, high up on the other side of the valley. The lighthouse-shaped construction built above a disused quarry is actually the monument of the Sherwood Foresters regiment. Meanwhile, the quarry now houses the Crich Tramway Village, which we visited many years ago.

We joined the Midshires Way (official route) and continued past a war memorial, a church and Alderwasley Hall, which is now houses an independent residential special school. Both the church and the school are pretty much hidden from sight. We joined a minor road and descended to Home Farm. From here a series of tracks and paths led across undulating countryside, still with attractive views to Crich Stand and now also with good views in front of us. We passed some cattle in a field, with a beautiful young calf then, later, we had to pass through a herd of cows with some rather older calves. Later still, I sat on a stile to change my socks and heard munching sounds the other side of the hedge. It was those cows again!

We passed close to Watergate Farm. At this point, the fact that I'm writing up this leg three weeks after we walked it (and a lot has happened in that three weeks!), combined with my hopeless memory, rather lets me down. There was quite a lot of activity around the farm, but was it a campsite or an equestrian centre? I don't know, and all that Googling on our return home has revealed is that the farm appears to be for sale. We skirted around the buildings and continued on an undulating path. We were just thinking it was lunch time when a couple who were sitting on a bench in front of Watfield Farm kindly told us they were about to move on, so we took over the bench. As we ate our lunch, a rather loud but friendly family with dogs came from the path we would be taking; they asked where we were going and were trying to reference everything to the caravan site (or was it a camp site?) where they were staying. Unfortunately, at this time, we had no idea where they were talking about.

Soon after leaving our picnic place, we entered the lovely little Fiat Wood, and passed another picnic bench! There was also a wooden "Midshires Way" nailed to a tree, presumably in response to people going the wrong way. We left the wood and descended to the B5035, then on to Intake Lane, which we followed for about a mile, passing the mystery camping and caravan site, Birchwood Farm. A dog-leg at the end, taking us around a field with cows and a curious row of baths, led into a delightful section through woodland, leading to the High Peak Trail.

The High Peak Trail, now a walking- and cycle-way, follows the route of the Cromford and High Peak Railway, which initially stretched from High Peak Junction (by the Cromford Canal) to the Peak Forest Canal at Whaley Bridge. If we had turned right, we'd have descended steeply to High Peak Junction. However, we turned left and continued to climb up the 1 in 8 Sheep Pasture Incline, eventually reaching the engine house that housed the stationary steam engine which once hauled the trains up the incline, one of a number of these inclines on the line. There were lovely views down to Cromford from here and the trail was busy with family groups and more serious cyclists, though the cyclists are advised to dismount before going down the inclines; that's a good measure of how steep they are. It must have been a rather peculiar sort of railway, with inclines separated by much flatter sections built on the canal principle of following contours. I suppose it was the only way to get over the Peak District and you have to remember that railways were rather different from what we think of today. Trains were initially hauled by horses in the flat sections, and when steam locomotives were introduced, the stationary engines hauled both the locomotives and the carriages up the inclines.

The trail continued for a mile or so, with more modest gradients, to Steeple Grange, where we passed over a bridge near a cemetery before passing the Steeple Grange Light Railway and the National Stone Centre. Then we reached the next incline, the Middleton Incline, which we climbed up to Middleton Top. Before getting back to the visitor centre, with its cafe and car park, we passed the Middleton Top Engine House, which is sometimes open to the public, but not today. The cafe provided us with delicious "Bluebells" ice cream, I'd particularly recommend the "strawberries and cream" flavour. It was still quite early, so we just had time for a quick visit to Hardwick Hall before heading to the Mansfield Premier Inn (which is no-where near Mansfield by the way; this suited us very well on this occasion, but do be careful).

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