Monsal Trail Cycle Route
The Monsal Trail is about 8.5 miles (13.7 km) in length and runs from Wye Dale in the north-west (about 3 miles (4.8 km) east of Buxton) to Coombs viaduct, a point about 1 mile (1.6 km) 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.
Cycle Routes
01629 816200
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Cycle Routes » Monsal Trail
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