Peakwalking .. the original online guide to walking in England's Peak District
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Peakwalking .. the original online guide to walking in England's Peak District
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A walk along field paths from Tissington, visiting the village of Parwich along the way before returning along the Tissington Trail, a converted railway.
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Walk Facts: |
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| Start | Car park on the Tissington Trail at the old Tissington Station site (SK 177 520), off the A515 between Ashbourne and Buxton (click for MAP) |
| Terrain | Field paths and converted railway trackbed. No particularly steep climbs. |
| Length | Ten miles |
| Time | Around three and a half hours |
| Food/Drink | Refreshment hut at Tissington station (the start/end point). |
| Toilets | Tissington station. |
To find the car park after entering Tissington from the A515, drive straight through the village - the entrance is on the right just past the duck pond.
Walk north along the Tissington Trail (the opposite end to the refreshment hut), passing underneath the road bridge. Continue for about half a mile until another bridge is approached, ignoring a footpath which crosses the trail along the way. Climb up to the bridge, using the path which leaves the trail on the left 50 metres before it. Cross the bridge and walk along the farm track for 100 metres until a signposted footpath leaves to the right.
Walk straight across the field to reach a stile (the first of many!) in the wall. Cross this and continue straight ahead, passing through a stile in a fence, to eventually reach a footbridge by a tree. Use this to cross Bletch Brook and then walk straight up the hill, passing an electricity pole. This is the only climb of the day which is anything like steep. At the top of the field, locate a stile alongside two large trees.
Walk through the next two fields, keeping the hedge on your left. After leaving the second field, the village of Parwich comes into view below. Locate a stile in the wall on the left of the next field with a finger-post alongside it. Go through this stile and walk straight ahead (ignoring the obvious, but incorrect, route to the right) to join the road in the village.
Turn left onto the road and follow it for just under half a mile, until a finger-post indicates a footpath leaving to the right, just at the top of a rise in the road (SK 181 546).
You now have to find your way through several fields on a path which is not always obvious as it's little-used. Using the map here will be a great help, so I've given grid references below.
To begin with, walk diagonally left across the field in the direction indicated by the arm of the finger-post. When the wall is reached head for the rightmost of two gateways, at the side of which is a stile. Go through this and head diagonally right to find another stile near the corner of the field just by some buildings (Middlehill Barn).
After passing through this, walk diagonally left across the next field to find a stile in the fence. Cross this and continue in the same direction for a short distance to yet another stile which gives access to the farm track (SK 176 550) leading to Middlehill Farm.
Cross the farm track to a stile in the wall opposite. Cross this field diagonally right to find a stile near the corner of the field to the left of a gateway. A waymark post can now be seen ahead. Walk to this and follow the direction indicated to reach a stile in the wall on the opposite side of the field, where there's another waymark post. Cross the next field diagonally left to a third waymark post which is alongside yet another stile (SK 172 554).
As you go through this one, you find yourself rather unexpectedly in shallow-sided Eaton Dale. You can breathe a sigh of relief at this point, as the difficult navigation is over and the rest of the walk is pretty straightforward.
Eaton dale is a nice little oasis in a desert of fields. It's an ideal place to eat that food you've taken with you, while leaning back against a convenient rock and listening to the skylarks. A super place to relax.
After relaxing and eating, walk up the dale and through a stile in a new wall. When I was there the stile was obstructed by an un-openable gate which had to be climbed, but this posed no difficulty. Past the stile walk slightly right, heading for the left-hand side of a small wood.
Pass through a gateway alongside the wood and walk straight ahead. Continue to walk straight on through a series of fields, passing through yet more stiles, until the main road is reached adjacent to the entrance to a caravan park. Cross the road and walk left for a short distance, joining a minor road which is crossed by a bridge carrying the Tissington Trail. Get onto the trail by a path up the embankment on the left hand side after the bridge.
You now follow the trail for about four miles, right back to the car park at Tissington, so no further directions are needed. The going is very easy and the views are good, which makes up for the uninteresting flatness of the walking! Look out for the vegetation alongside the trackbed, which contains many wild flowers. The only danger along here comes from a small minority of cyclists who treat the trail as a racetrack and walkers as slalom poles!
