Distance 9 miles (14.5km)
Classification Easy
Start Hulme End visitor centre, SK17
Finish Waterhouses old station car park
Duration 2 hours
Route NCN route 54
Map South Yorkshire & Peak District, AA guide Cycling in the Midlands, OS Explorer OL24, OS Landranger 119
Route notes
This child-friendly route in the White Peak manages to pack a decent amount of interest into a relatively short ride. Starting at Hulme End, it is a gentle amble through the picturesque valleys of the Hamps and Manifold rivers, via the hamlet of Ecton, passing beneath the famous Thor's Cave gaping over the trail from its position up in the limestone spur. This section, with its rocky outcrops and surrounding wooded slopes, is the most dramatic of the trail. It was the first railway path in Britain to be converted for public use after the Leek and Manifold Valley Light Railway shut in 1934 after a mere 30 years of service.
Terrain and gradients
Gentle gradients, good tarmac surface, mostly offroad. There is a two-mile section of road from Wetton Mill to the 100m-long Swainsley Tunnel, which is narrow but illuminated.
How to get there/away
By car or bike. There are no convenient rail connections and the buses (to Waterhouses) don't carry bikes.
What to see
Thor's Cave was occupied from the end of the Palaeolithic period to Roman times. It's a steep climb, but the views are worth it. Wetton Mill is an old corn mill on the Manifold that closed in 1857 and you can still see remnants of its operation: the limestone outhouses of the mill, the bridge built in 1805 by the 5th Duke of Devonshire and the dammed section of the river that was the millpond. There are great views from here and you can splash about in the river too. The Brown End Quarry nature reserve at Waterhouses is a former limestone quarry, now a site of special scientific interest. The vertical exposures were once part of the sea bed, with rocks 350 million years old.
Watering holes
At the start of your route you'll find the Tea Junctionnear the visitor centre, and there is also a cafe at Wetton Mill. If you're after something more substantial, Waterhouses has Ye Olde Crown Inn, or the Red Lion Inn a mile up the road serves traditional home cooking.
