The Monsal Trail is a cycle and walking trail in the Derbyshire Peak District.

It follows a section of the former Manchester, Buxton, Matlock and Midlands Junction Railway, built by the Midland Railway in 1863 to link Manchester with London. The line closed in 1968 under the Beeching Axe, and remained unused for twelve years before being taken over by the Peak District National Park.

The Monsal Trail is about 8.5 miles in length and runs from Wye Dale in the north-west (about 3 miles east of Buxton) to Coombs viaduct, a point about a mile south-east of Bakewell, largely following the valley of the River Wye. The trail passes through such places as Blackwell Mill, Millers Dale, Cressbrook, Monsal Dale, Great Longstone, Hassop and Bakewell. In the case of Longstone and Hassop, although a station was provided, it was some distance from the village.

The Trail does not follow the trackbed at all times, for where tunnels have been closed for safety reasons, such as at Monsal Head and Cressbrook, the path is locally diverted. Apart from these diversions from the trackbed, the trail is virtually level, and can therefore even be used by wheelchair users. (At both Bakewell and Millers Dale there is level access onto the trail.)

Headstone Viaduct, at Monsal Head, is one of the more impressive structures on the line, although when it was built it was seen as destroying the beauty of the dale. John Ruskin, a poet and conservationist of the time, criticized the folly of building the railway :

“ The valley is gone - and now every fool in Buxton can be in Bakewell in half an hour and every fool at Bakewell in Buxton. ”

His words are displayed on the viaduct. However, when the railway closed and there was talk of demolishing the viaduct, there was considerable opposition. In 1970 a preservation order was placed on the structure.

Equally impressive, though less easily viewed, are the twin viaducts at Millers Dale, where a branch line ran to Buxton. The Trail runs across the older of the two.

The Peak Rail preservation group, who run a restored service from near Matlock to Rowsley on part of the trackbed between Bakewell and Matlock have a long-term intention to restore the link the whole way to Buxton. This would include the entire length of the Monsal Trail. A study of a full reopening and re-incorporation into the national network of the line was made by Derbyshire County Council in 2004. This concluded that such a plan was not economically feasible, however, it also stated that the trackbed should be protected from development.

Several miles to the south and south-west of this trail lie two other cycle/walking trails, which similarly utilize former railway trackbeds, namely the High Peak Trail and the Tissington Trail.

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