In the Peak District there are dozens of walking trails for all fitness levels and abilities. We’ve chosen the Monsal Trail for its spectacular views over Monsal Dale and a magnificent railway viaduct. As it’s built on the former Midland Railway route, the walking is mainly flat too.

1 BAKEWELL STATION
We’ve chosen to start at Bakewell station, as you’ll have covered a good six-and-a-half miles if you choose to do the whole walk as far as Miller’s Dale. Before you walk up to the station, have a walk round town, and take in the river with the town’s elegant stone bridge, and why not buy a Bakewell Pudding for later?
The station itself houses offices, but formerly had a grand glazed canopy, in typically ornate Midland Railway style. You can park right at the station, in the pay and display car park.

2 HASSOP STATION
Here, you’ll find an unusually-sited bookshop called Country Bookshop inside the former station buildings. It claims to stock more than one million titles. It sometimes has author signings and a large online business too (www.countrybookshop.co.uk).

3 MONSAL HEAD AND ITS VIADUCT
As the tunnel into which the railway ran is now closed, you have to hike up and over the headland to reach Monsal Head, but it’s very much worth it. The best views of the 80ft high viaduct are from high above on Monsal Head, where there is a small car park with a good café, pub and hotel. It’s quite a climb up to Monsal Head, but the views are magnificent. The viaduct, which is by far the most impressive feature on the Monsal Trail, carried the railway into the limestone cliffs on its way to Matlock and finally London. The line was important to the Midland Railway as it gave it an important main line from Manchester to London. To do this, the Midland had to burrow through peaks and bridge valleys, such as over the river Wye, before it could open the line in 1867. Even though the line closed in 1968, it was still an impressive enough structure to be considered of architectural and historical interest. The railway cuttings, while bitterly opposed at the time of their construction, are now designated sites of special scientific interest for their geological qualities. The scenery you see today is a result of water coursing through carboniferous limestone over æons. Limestone was formed over 300 million years, when this area was a warm tropical sea. If you look at the rocks, you can still see the shells and fossils of many ancient creatures.

4 CRESSBROOK MILL
A little way along from the viaduct lies the village of Cressbrook with its mill. This first opened in 1783, and was built by Sir Richard Arkwright. The original mill succumbed to a fire, but a replacement was built and was known as Old Mill. Later though, in 1812, work began on the large Georgian building you can see today. It used the river Wye to power two large water wheels and became known as Big Mill, before steam turbines were added in 1890. Today, the mill has been converted into luxury apartments, as manufacturing ended in 1965 and it remained derelict for a while.

5 LITTON MILL
In 1782, Litton Mill opened and its owner, Ellis Needham, quickly gained a reputation for severe treatment of the child labourers he employed. Many of the children who worked here died very young and are buried in Tideswell and Taddington churches, a long way from London and the other cities from which they were brought. They were buried far from the mills, to keep their tragedy out of the public eye. The Needham family were notorious for their treatment of these children, who had had to endure poor accommodation, long hours, beatings and general abuse.

6 LIME KILNS
Just before you enter Miller’s Dale Station, you’ll see a large edifice which looks like an irregular retaining wall for the railway. Not so – climb up to the top and you can see that they are actually lime kilns. In times past, farmers used to sweeten their soil with quicklime, and it was natural that the industry which made it was located next to the railway. Before production ended in 1944, the kilns had supplied both agriculture and industry. Limestone from the quarries near the railway was delivered by train, then burned in the kilns you see today.

7 MILLER'S DALE STATION
Though you can go on to Wyedale (another mile or so), this is journey’s end for our trip. Miller’s Dale station was an important one not so long ago, and its most impressive structures are the twin viaducts which approach it. The original station, which opened in 1863, had three platforms, two on the Manchester-London main line and another for the branch line to Buxton. An enlarged station was needed, however, as the Midland sought to upgrade its services, and in 1905, following the addition of the second viaduct, two more platforms were opened. The line carried both passengers and freight, mainly lime from the kilns and milk churns to London. A characteristic of the station was that it was one of the few in England to have a post office on the platform. Closure came in 1968 as part of British Railways’ rationalisation programme. The station is a good resting spot on the Monsal Trail, and its platforms are havens for flora including the pink shining cranesbill, yellow toadflax and spotted orchid. Other wild flowers include the lesser celandine, ox-eye daisy and the rare Jacob’s Ladder.