High Peak Trail Part 2

We set out early on Saturday morning and by the time we had parked the car at Arkwright's Mill at Cromford the drizzle had stopped and the sun was trying to peep through the grey sky. We wandered onto Wheatcroft's Wharf and had a cup of coffee at the cafe there before starting our walk along the canal towards the old station buildings at High Peak Junction. From here we set off on the High Peak Trail towards Black Rock. We were able to climb up into the old engine and look inside.

We made our way up the steep slope known as the sheep pasture incline. It really was a lot steeper than it looked and I had to stop a couple of times to catch my breath and let the joggers pass me by. I made the excuse that I was stopping to take photographs.

At the top was the old engine house similar to the one at Middleton Top but now just an empty shell. Hard to believe that this beautiful, tranquil walk used to be a railway transporting stone from the quarry and men to their places of work, it must have been noisy,dusty and dirty and in winter bleak and cold

We made our way to the exact point we had reached the week before and then retraced our steps back down the sheep pasture incline but left this path halfway along and took the footpath back to Cromford Village.

When we got back to Arkwright's Mill we had a warming bowl of chunky vegetable soup before heading back home.