Day Four, the final part of my walk in April 2022 up the Derwent Valley Heritage Way, was from Calver to Ladybower Reservoir.
It was a bit shorter than the other days, around 16 kilometres (just over 10 miles). However, I had to complete it and get back to Bamford Railway Station in time to get my train at 15:42.
I left Calver just before 9:00. Walking back to the River path from the Derwentwater Arms where I had been staying. Passing the old mill, first built between 1778 and 1783, and which worked thread until 1923. Now it is flats.
Soon I was walking along the path beside the River Derwent again, along a wooded dell heading for Froggatt.
Before reaching Froggatt there was some great nature reserve scenery as well as a series of impressive, centuries old, limestone bridges.
The last of these I had to cross to get over the River Derwent into Froggatt itself.
From Froggatt the route switched to an drovers road style track, which led out into fields.
Approaching Grindleford, the route ran through some impressively tangely woodland, with lots of brooks (or cloughs ars they’re known in the Pennines) running downhill to meet the Derwent below.
At Grindleford I realised that I was making incredibly good time. I was likely to reach Lady Bower before 13:00 meaning that I’d have a long time to wait before my train.
Needless to say I kept on at the same pace, crossing a large tract of pasture just north of Grindleford.
After the pasture it was back into river side woodland briefly, before returning to pasture on the approach to Hathersage. The railway line from Sheffield to Manchester runs just tens of metres from the path. A reminder of how accessible, open and connected the Peak District is.
From near Hathersage, the route crosses the River Derwent once more, before entering meadows again.
In the distance the Hope Valley and Edale, right at the heart of the Peak District, can be glimpsed.
A little further on and the River Derwent is crossed via a set of stepping stones.
Then the path weaves through a mixture of woodland and open fields. Hope Valley is visible before you at points.
Soon the time comes to leave the River Derwent’s side. More or less for the last time, until the very end of the walk.
The route crosses a recreation ground playing field, offering a great view of Bamford Edge.
The final path is pretty dull. A mostly monotonous grind, on an albiet almost entirely unstrenous, Bridleway up to Ladybower Reservoir.
Thanks to an enforced diversion, I’d actually walked a small section of this track before, when I walked from Sheffield to Manchester thanks to a closure on part of another route.
Approaching Ladybower Reservoir you cross a couple of impressive cloughs, flowing down to the River Derwent below.
Then the great turf embankment of the Ladybower Dam appears in front of you. Famously an RAF squadron in World War 2 practised bombing it ahead of the “Dam Busters” raids.
Then I made it. To the top of the walkway across Ladybower’s lower dam.
I had done it. To the north stretched Ladybower Reservoir, occupying what had once been the River Derwent’s upper reaches. To the south the (heavily controlled) flow of the Derwent hurries towards it congruence with the Trent nearly 60 miles south.
Being a stickler I of course, headed to the formal northern end of the route in a nondescript Severn Trent Water car park. Here I was rewarded with a faded, retro sign from the mid-2000s and a sturdy, albiet weathered, waymark in the route’s
Then from there, after a quick lunch at the Yorkshire Bridge Inn, it was down to Bamford Railway Station.
What was I thinking as I waited for the Sheffield train? Well having embarked on rhe walk I began with an interest in mill workers. However, I found myself thinking about the former residents of Derbyshire’s High Peak. Of course living in such a hilly area presents its challenges. Doubtless some of these factors encouraged residents in the 18th and 19th Century to follow the River Derwent. Migrate south to work in textile mills set up by the Arkwrights and Strutts. To enrich those families, whilst gaining the more predictable life of a factory worker as part of the bargain. However, we must also remember the impact of the arrival of municipal water companies and enclosing landlord’s in the 19th Century upon the people of the Upper Peak District. Sure they were always few. But today there would probably be more of them, if they had not been cleared off to make way for grouse and reservoirs. Worth remembering as context amidst the celebrations around the establishment of the National Park.