Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Best Peak District Trails
Of the countless wonderful walking and
cycling routes in the Peak District, the
most evocative is the
Monsal Trail,
run-
ning for about 8 miles (about half can
be cycled) along the old Midland Rail-
way Line and passing the gorgeous
Monsal Falls. It starts at Blackwell Mill
Junction at Wyedale, about 3 miles
east of Buxton and ends at Coombs
Viaduct just over a mile south of
Bakewell. Then there's the linking
High
Peak and Tissington trails,
which com-
bined offer about 30 miles of walking,
cycling, and horse-riding tracks along
former train lines studded with relics of
the railway's past and interpretation
panels. For more on these and other
Peak District routes, including down-
loadable maps, and details of bike-
rental centers and refreshment stops
en route, see www.peakdistrict.gov.uk.
The Peak District National Park is
also the southern starting point for the
Pennine Way
(www.nationaltrail.co.uk),
Britain's oldest long-distance national
walking trail, which begins at Edale and
takes you 268 miles up to the Cheviot
Hills in Northumberland, via the York-
shire Dales National Park.
14
Derby Tourist Information Centre,
Assembly Rooms, Market Place (
&
01332/
255802;
www.visitderby.co.uk).
Matlock Tourist Information Centre,
Crown Square (
&
01629/583388;
www.visitpeakdistrict.com).
Upper Derwent Visitor Centre,
Fairholmes, Bamford (
&
01433/650953
).
GETTING AROUND
Getting around the National Park is for many people the
point of visiting (see “Best Peak District Trails,” below). The official
bike-rental
centers are at Ashbourne, Derwent, and Parsley Hay (see www.peakdistrict.gov.uk/
cycle). If you're not so hearty, use
local buses
(more frequent on Sun, especially in
summer); timetables are available at tourist information centers or from www.national
parks.gov.uk.
SPECIAL EVENTS
The
Buxton Festival
(
&
01298/70395;
www.buxtonfestival.
co.uk), a world-renowned feast of opera, music, and literature, is held during about 2
weeks each July.
Chatsworth House's
(p. 537) large-scale seasonal events include
an
International Horse Trials
in May and a
Country Fair
in September. Derby,
England's real ale capital, hosts the
CAMRA Summer Beer Festival
each July.
Well-dressing
(www.welldressing.com) involves decorating Derbyshire's fresh-
water springs with a mosaic of petals, berries, bark, leaves, and moss, with ceremo-
nies held in different villages and towns May to September. In the fall, Matlock Bath
hosts its Victorian-origin
IIluminations and Venetian Nights
event, with neon-lit
boats on the river and fireworks over the floodlit cliffs.
Exploring Derbyshire
BUXTON: GATEWAY TO THE NATIONAL PARK
This picturesque spa town, nestled between two areas of the National Park, merits
exploration in its own right. It can make a good base for discovering Derbyshire,
though its setting in a valley means it's often swathed in cloud for weeks at a time. Its
thermal waters were known to the Romans, whose settlement here was called Aquae
Arnemetiae, but afterward was largely forgotten until the reign of Elizabeth I, when
