Peak District - Derwent Valley Heritage Way

For a long time now I've felt the need to walk the length of the River Derwent, simply because it has featured in many of my great childhood memories. I thought that I could call the walk "City to Source", I'd walk from Derby all the way up to Swaines Greave high in the Peak District. When I finally decided to give it a go I went online and did a little bit of research. I found that there was already a way marked route that did exactly what I wanted to do, the route in question is the Derwent Valley Heritage Way.



[caption id="attachment_1683" align="alignnone" width="600"] Derwent Valley Heritage Way - Map at Heatherdene[/caption]

The route stretches from Heatherdene on the banks of the Ladybower Reservoir in the Peak District, it goes via Bamford, Hathersage, Froggatt, Baslow, Chatsworth, Rowsley, Matlock, Matlock Bath, Cromford, Belper, Darley Abbey, Derby, Shardlow and ends Derwent Mouth where the River Derwent flows into the River Trent. The route itself is 55 miles long and it passes some spots of great historic interest. It can be takled in one go over a few days or it can be done in multiple sections whenever it takes your fancy.

listen to ‘Derwent Valley Heritage Way - Derwent Mouth’ on Audioboo

[caption id="attachment_1681" align="alignnone" width="600"] Derwent Valley Heritage Way - Masson Mill [/caption]

The section from Matlock Bath to Derby is of particular historic interest as it has been registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Here is a snippet of factual text (borrowed from Wikipedia :-)) to give you more information... "The Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site covers an area of 12.3 km2 (4.7 sq mi) and spans a 24 km (15 mi) stretch of the Derwent Valley, in Derbyshire, from Matlock Bath in the north to Derby city centre in the south. Within the site are mill complexes, settlements including workers' housing, weirs on the River Derwent, and the transport network that supported the mills in the valley. The site consists of the communities of Cromford, Belper, Milford, and Darley Abbey, and includes 838 listed buildings, made up of 16 Grade I, 42 Grade II*, and 780 Grade II. A further nine structures are Scheduled Ancient Monuments. The buildings are a mixture of mills, workers' housing, and structures associated with the mill communities. The Cromford Canal and Cromford and High Peak Railway, which aided the industrialisation of the area, are also part of the World Heritage Site."

[caption id="attachment_1685" align="alignnone" width="600"] Derwent Valley Heritage Way - Heatherdene Sign[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1684" align="alignnone" width="600"] Derwent Valley Heritage Way - Derwent Mouth Sign[/caption]

listen to ‘Derwent Valley Heritage Way - Electronic Failure’ on Audioboo

The guide to walking the way describes the route from North to South, I chose to begin my walk at Derwent Mouth and walk northward up stream. It was rather an eventful wander which saw me eventually having to switch my iPhone off due to the failure of my Power Monkeys Extreme Battery Charger. I was using my iPhone to track my walk and also to take pictures. I will be back again some day so I can plot out a more precise map of the journey... For now though I will leave you with a selection of images from my walk with a few archive shots thrown in.

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If you would like to give the Derwent Valley Heritage Way a go yourself then you can find out more by visiting http://www.nationalheritagecorridor.org.uk/. You can also download my route file from the Peak Routes GPX Archive

listen to ‘Derwent Valley Heritage Way - Near Borrowash’ on Audioboo