3. Monsal Head > Monsal Dale

Length: 1.6mls | Av. time: 45m | Ascent: 246ft
Start: Monsal Head | Google Map
Walk description, map & GPX | Download

A 1.6-mile circular walk from Monsal Head – the shortest on the website, and ideal for a quick leg stretch. It drops down into Monsal Dale, passes under one of the arches of Headstone Viaduct and follows the River Wye before climbing back to the start.

The car park at Monsal Head is large and well signposted, and there are often free spaces along the narrow road to Little Longstone. After crossing the Wye at point 4 on the pdf map, a path on the right climbs to the Trail near the remains of Monsal Dale Station.

It doesn’t actually touch the Monsal Trail, although it goes both under and above it. The viaduct, a triumph of Victorian engineering, once carried steam trains on the line between London and Manchester (see a brief history of the line).

There are a few irregular steps on the narrow path down the slope, so it’s not ideal for pushchairs, and it can get muddy. It drops some 250 feet, so there’s a bit of a climb on the way back – but it’s not steep and is well worth the effort.

Above: An etching of the weir in Monsal Dale.

The weir

The route passes an attractive weir, which I always assumed was built to channel water to one of the many mills along the Wye. But according to Alan Roberts’ Bakewell & The Wye Valley Through Time, it was built as a landscape feature for visitors to Chatsworth.

It also improved conditions for the many anglers who once fished the river. The foundations beside it are from a later hydro-power turbine, which supplied electricity to the nearby hamlet of Brushfield.

Just downstream, by a small footbridge (point 8), is a popular spot for picnics, where children can safely paddle in the shallows. The path then climbs back through the trees, where the felling of diseased elms had opened up views of the viaduct when I recorded the walk.

Refreshments at Monsal Head are available at Hobbs Cafe and the Monsal Head Hotel, and the Packhorse Inn in nearby Little Longstone is well worth a visit. Monsal Head is on a regular bus route; the nearest railway stations are at Buxton, Matlock and Grindleford.

Click for a pdf with stage-by-stage details of the route including photos and a map, as well as links to car parks and public transport. A walking app GPX file is also available.