Monsal Trail

The full route starts at either Bakewell just off Coombs Road or Blackwell Mill. The most accessible option is Bakewell because it’s the central town in the Peak District and easiest to get to by public transport. However, if you’re staying in the Hope Halley region or travelling from the north via Manchester or Buxton way, Blackwell Mill car park is the preferred starting point and has a nearby bike hire leading onto the trail. If you need a bike from Bakewell side, start at Hassop Station who hire them out. This guide shows you the trail end-to-end but for the sake of parking convenience, it’s common to start at Bakewell Station car park or Miller’s Dale car park.

From the roadside of Coombs Road, follow the signpost pointing to ‘monsal trail’ heading north and take the short but steepish path up for 30 seconds to reach the official start marked by a wooden board carved ‘end of trail’.

From this point, all you need to do is follow the trail until you get to the same ‘end of trail’ on the other side, so instead of directions we’re going to flag views and points of interest if you feel inspired to take one of the many great detours on foot. Don’t forget to bring a bike chain lock if you do.

Point of interest: Between the start and Bakewell Station there are picnic benches to eat on if you’ve packed lunch.

Shortly into the cycle, you’ll reach the exit to Hassop Station. This super cafe boasts the most space of any car park on the trail (Pay & Display). The premise is large enough to also fit a bookstore and bike rental. It deserves a spot as one of the best cafes in the Peak District for its delicious chef cooked lunches and outdoor seating with cover, running alongside the trail.

Point of interest: Walk exit ahead to Great Longstone (turn right)

Within a 10 minute cycle from Hassop Station, there’s an exit to Thornbridge hall and gardens in Ashford-in-the-water. The top of the building can be seen as you go past it but the estate is worth a gander in the summer. If you want somewhere to take a break, the immaculate flower arrangements and hedge cuttings offer much to enjoy. It’s also home to Quackers Cafe, the most scenic spot for lunch and the best option for kids with a playground and animal farmyard feeding area.

Point of interest: Walk exit ahead to Ashford (turn left)

Headstone tunnel is the first of 6 on the monsal trail. It also happens to be the longest at 490 metres. The ride up to the entrance is quite spectacular, once a tropical underwater haven for sea creatures 326+ million years ago. The cutting was the result of victorian engineering made in 1860. You can see the shafts at the side of the tunnel while going through where manual labourers dug each way.

As you exit headstone tunnel, you will approach the glorious monsal trail viaduct, sometimes called the ‘headstone viaduct’. It towers over monsal dale with the River Wye flowing underneath. If you truly want to appreciate the beauty and feat of engineering you’re riding over, turn off to the right signposted to Monsal Head just before you cross. The elevated viewpoint is nearly 300 metres up from the bottom of the dale with a hotel bar/pub, ice-cream, car park and benches to soak up one of the Peak District’s best views.

Point of interest: Walk exit ahead to Monsal Dale (turn left). Follow the river for 5 minutes to monsal weir to cool down in the water.

Cressbrook tunnel is the second monsal trail tunnel named after the area. Just before you enter, Cressbrook Mill sits in the distance to your right. The Georgian building is now home to apartments but the original mill was built in 1779 and made high quality cotton for the lacemaking industry in the 19th century.

Point of interest: Walk exit to Cressbrook (turn right)

You might get 30 seconds of sunlight between Cressbrook and Litton Tunnel if you’re lucky but the views in between are a highlight and many people stop for a moment to check out the monsal dale hillside they just went through. Going into Litton Tunnel marks a transition away from the wider Bakewell region and into the Buxton region.

Point of interest: Walk exit ahead to Litton Mill (turn right), and Ravenstor further along, which both lead to Tideswell Dale and onto Tideswell village.

As you come into Miller’s Dale, there’s a red and white building on the right, which is Miller’s Dale car park – a great place to park if you drive an EV. It has facilities including toilets, bike racks and a small cafe with outdoor seating. Miller’s Dale is a significant part of the monsal trail’s history. This car park was once the largest station on the midland Line, built in 1863 as a key junction connecting London and Manchester. It brought tourism, but more importantly, it was used for transporting limestone from surrounding quarries. Miller’s Dale is also home to the second main viaduct on the trail just before Chee Tor Tunnel.

The East Buxton Lime Kilns operated from 1880 to 1944, producing over 50 tonnes of quicklime a day to meet demand from the steel, chemical and agricultural industries. The kilns were loaded with alternating layers of limestone and coal, and workers — often a man and a boy — would draw out the caustic quicklime through openings called “eyes,” which was unpleasant and dangerous work. Today the kilns have been transformed into a wildlife haven managed as a nature reserve by Derbyshire Wildlife Trust. You can go inside or make your way to the top.

Point of interest: Walk exit ahead to Chee Dale (turn right), a popular walk under the viaduct to the stepping stones when water levels aren’t too high.

Chee Tor and Chee Tor No. 2 represent the fourth and fifth tunnels, separated by a 50 foot high bridge over the River Wye. The second part is much shorter and you can see the exit from the entrance. They earned their named sequel from the fact that the rail line had to go around the base of a 300 foot cliff, Chee Tor, which was incredible difficult and expensive to construct.

Rusher Cutting tunnel is the sixth and shortest of them all. You can also access Chee Dale from walk exits after you go through. The same rugged limestone cliffs found in the dale tower over you nearby. It’s a stark contrast to the flatter open fields and flowery countryside path of Bakewell. A nice dramatic conclusion to the cycle route and reminder of how far you’ve come.

Just before you reach the wooden ‘end of trail’ sign, there’s a gate and signpost turning off to the right where you can hire bikes at Blackwell Mill but check whether it’s open before you visit as it’s often closed. Parking in that area is also private. So, if you want to start from this side, there is a path turning off to the left at the end of the trail going to Wye Dale car park. Follow the access road to the left until you reach the small parking lot. There isn’t much space and no facilities so it may be full during peak times, particularly on warm weekends in the summer. If so, head to Miller’s Dale instead.

The monsal trail is a linear route so you’ll need to go back the other way. While this may feel less exciting than a circular route, it’s the best option. The scenery on the ride back is easier with a slight decline and different angles of the surrounding landscape. The nearby A6 main road to the south would take you back on a circular but it’s far from ideal and not suitable for children or inexperienced road cyclists.

Monsal Trail is great all-year round but timing for weather and wildlife create the perfect conditions for a scenic ride. Spring (April–June) is the finest time for wildflowers, with early purple orchids, wood anemones and bluebells at their peak in May. Summer (June–August) is best for butterflies — dark green fritillaries, common blues and speckled woods are all on the wing. Water voles are most visible April to September, while dippers and grey wagtails can be spotted year-round along the River Wye. Autumn brings rich woodland colour and good birdwatching as buzzards and kestrels hunt over the open quarry grasslands, while winter, though quieter, offers the chance to hear the dipper’s song carrying over the rushing river.

The Monsal Trail runs through one of the richest wildlife corridors in the Peak District. A string of nature reserves managed by the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust lines the route through the Wye Valley, each one a haven for plants, birds, butterflies and mammals that have quietly reclaimed the landscape since industry departed.

Monsal Dale — River Wildlife

The valley at Monsal Dale is a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest, and the River Wye running beneath the iconic Headstone Viaduct is where some of the trail’s most rewarding wildlife encounters happen. Look out for water voles along the riverbanks — the distinctive ‘plop’ as they enter the water is often your first clue. Visiting between April and September gives you the best chance of seeing them, as the bankside vegetation is shorter during these months and breeding season is underway. The dipper is another highlight here — a compact, chocolate-brown bird that bobs on rocks in the fast-flowing water and can literally walk along the riverbed. Along this stretch you are almost guaranteed to spot one. Dippers are year-round residents, though they are most active and vocal from late winter onwards as they begin nesting early. Brown and rainbow trout can also be spotted in the clear water, along with moorhens and the occasional mandarin duck.

Chee Dale Nature Reserve — Western End of the Trail

At the Buxton end of the trail, Chee Dale is one of the most dramatic sections of the entire route — a deep limestone gorge cut through by the River Wye. The reserve is an SSSI for both its wildlife and geology. The steep slopes are clothed in ash and hazel woodland, home to the Greater Spotted Woodpecker and the Chiffchaff, whose repetitive two-note song gives it its name. The gorge’s limestone crags support carboniferous grassland, and early purple orchids appear from April to June on the limestone grassland — one of the finest floral spectacles the White Peak has to offer. Look out too for the blue bell-shaped flowers of Jacob’s Ladder in May. The woodland floor carpets itself with wood anemones in early spring, and buzzards are a regular sight soaring overhead throughout the year.

Miller’s Dale Quarry

Just off the trail at Millers Dale station lies the quarry nature reserve — a former industrial site transformed into outstanding limestone grassland. The thin soils of the quarry floor support a remarkable range of wildflowers, including fragrant orchids, mountain pansies, spring sandwort and bird’s-foot trefoil. On a sunny summer’s day you’ll see butterflies such as the common blue, and the quarry face provides safe nest sites for jackdaws and sometimes a pair of kestrels. The dark green fritillary — a large, striking orange butterfly — is on the wing from June to early September and is a real Peak District speciality to look out for here. Swifts wheel overhead in summer, using the high buttresses of the old lime kilns for nesting. The woodland section of the reserve is richest in spring, when wood anemones bloom beneath the ash and wych elm canopy.

East Buxton Lime Kilns — Millers Dale

The old lime kilns beside the trail are now a wildlife hotel in their own right. White nest boxes mounted high on the buttresses attract swifts, which need height to take off and can fly non-stop for up to three years after fledging. The dark crevices in the kilns provide hibernation sites for several bat species including Natterer’s, Brown Long-eared and Daubenton’s bats — the latter often found near trees and rivers. Bats are best seen on warm evenings from spring through to autumn, emerging at dusk. The surrounding woodland of ash, hawthorn and hazel bursts with flowers such as forget-me-nots, wild strawberry and campion in spring and early summer.

Cressbrook — Cotton Mills and River Gorge

Upstream from Cressbrook Mill, the trail passes Water-cum-Jolly — a stunning river gorge with fine limestone cliffs that were hidden from public view between 1968 and 2011 when the tunnels were closed. Grey wagtails dart along the River Wye here throughout the year, and dippers are frequently seen on the rocks. The speckled wood butterfly is common in the dappled woodland along this section from April through to October.