"Corkscrew curves - laid out by a mad Archimedes", said a 19th century writer on the High Peak Railway, but he can't have climbed Sheep Pasture Incline. Arrow straight it leads to climbers' cliffs at Black Rocks and a working beam engine at Middleton Top, a magnificent piece of engineering. From Middleton a nicely graded old trackway leads gently down to the Via Gellia then, after a stop at Cromford for tea and cake, it is an easy canal side stroll back to the start.
LOCATION: 2 miles south of Matlock
START: High Peak Junction pay & display car park, signed "Crich" from A6 at Cromford, toilets
Grid ref: SK315561 Postcode: DE4 5AA
DISTANCE: 8.5 miles
GRADE: Moderate.
TIME: 5 hours
MAP: Explorer OL - White Peak Landranger 119
NOTE: Cromford Mill & National Stone Centre open daily
REFRESHMENTS: Middleton & Cromford
EN ROUTE: Cromford
This walk was originally published by
The Manchester Evening News