A Taste of the
Peak District
Peak District, Derbyshire Ashbourne (Tissington Trail) bike hire centre, B&B, self catering holiday cottage accommodation, hotels, tourist attractions, walking, climbing, mountain biking history, towns, villages, geology, mining, local information, Derbyshire businesses and much more …
Mainly Traffic free cycling from Waterhouses to Hulme End (or vice-versa) along the Manifold Way.
General information ...
Cycling
in the Peak District: Off Road Trails and Quiet Lanes
The
Peak District (AA 40 Pub Walks & Cycle Rides)
The Manifold Way offers about 9 miles of almost traffic free cycling through the White Peak in Staffordshire. We prefer to cycle from Hulme End as that means that the finish is flat rather than slightly up hill (unless you do the trail in one direction only of course). The Manifold Way follows the route of the failed Leek and Manifold Light Railway. It is perhaps the earliest example of a former railway being converted to leisure use. It offers a good tarmac surface and so is suitable for occasional cyclists as well as for wheelchair access, however there are some patches where the tarmac is breaking up and becoming uneven.
The
Leek and Manifold Light Railway was an ambitious project conceived in 1896
by businessmen in Leek who were worried that the new Buxton to Ashbourne
railway
would take
away local trade. £70,000 and 8 years later the line opened (June 27th
1904). It was a narrow gauge (2' 6") which saved costs and took advantage
of the new Light Railways Act which was designed to encourage the building
of railways
in rural areas. The North Staffs Railway operated the line and built a connection
from the Macclesfield to Uttoxeter line and this one, meeting at Waterhouses.
It was constructed by the Railway Engineer Everard Calthrop who had gained
his experience in India. The two locomotives were actually designed for use
in India rather than the UK. The line had 10 stops, only 2 of which served
villages directly - the two termini, Hulme End being the HQ of the line.
The rest were just basic platforms with wooden shelters; to reach the nearest
villages
one needed
to mount steep
unpaved paths up the sides of the Manifold Valley to the plateau above. A
couple of these halts offered refreshments (Beeston Tor and Thor's Cave).
Calthrop included 'transporter' wagons amongst the rolling stock, wagons
that could be used to carry standard gauge rolling stock along the narrow
gauge track. This saved time and costs of transferring the main cargo of
the line - milk from Ecton Creamery. The line was completely unviable and
the track was removed in 1937 at which point it was given to Staffordshire
County Council who spent £6000 repairing fences, parapets and resurfacing
in order to create the 'National Pedestrian Path' now known as the Manifold
way. It also became popular with cyclists who were officially banned from
using it until 1981. It seems strange that 30 years earlier part of the route
was opened to cars - or maybe they were not as dangerous as cycles at that
time!
Starting at Hulme End, where you find a souvenir shop and toilets, the route leaves the car park on a well surfaced track, wide enough for two people (or cyclists) to pass side by side, so cyclists, please be aware of this and show consideration for other users. This widens out and brings you to the road section, at the entrance to the tunnel. Please remember that you are sharing this with motor vehicles, motor cyclists can be a real pain here as some of them seem to enjoy making multiple passes, throttles wide open, so apart from the danger of collision, there is the painfully loud roar of the engine. The last time I was there, a couple of motorcyclists decided that the noise was not loud enough for them whilst they were at normal speed and half way trough, they gunned their engines. The noise level naturally increased which badly scared and disorientated a small child with the family cycling just ahead of me. She struggled to stay on her bike and was so upset that she was left sobbing. The motorcyclists turned at the end and went back for a second go. After leaving the road, the route takes you past Ecton Creamery, where you can still see the raised loading platform. Looking up the hillside through the trees, at the top of the village you can just see an impressive copper roof. This belongs to the former Ecton Mine. It was the manager's house. As you leave the Creamery halt, look up to the hillside on the east and you can discern some of the remnants of the Ecton mine. This mine furnished the money used by the Duke of Devonshire who built the impressive buildings of the spa town of Buxton.
Further
along the trail, you will find a pleasant tea room at Wetton Mill. Carrying
on southwards, the next point of note is Thor's
Cave. Thor's cave has yielded artifacts that suggest it
was occupied from the neolithic to Romano-British times, finds include pottery,
amber and bronze items, worked antler tools and a polished stone axe. Many
of the other caves in the vicinity show similar evidence. The views are pretty
good from up there and, in my opinion, it is worth the steep climb but note
that it becomes slippery in wet weather. to reach it. It can be quite a popular
spot in the summer holidays and at
weekends.
At the caravan site, the route bends round to the west, to follow the course of the river Hamps to Waterhouses. From here, you can discern Beeston Tor, one of the traditional limestone climbing crags of the Peak District. The Hamps valley is a pleasant rural valley, wooded in places. When the line was built, the valley was devoid of trees and to any tourists travelling the line to visit Thor's Cave or Beeston Tor, would have seemed a wild place indeed. This part of the route has an uphill gradient, steady rather than steep. There is a farm offering teas part way along. Just as you approach Waterhouses, the route crosses the main rod between Leek and Macclesfield so some care is needed. A final short climb brings you to the Waterhouses terminus, where you can find toilets and shop plus a cycle hire centre. If you don't have your own bike, you will need to start from Waterhouses. In Waterhouses, you will find a couple of pubs, one close to the car park, the other near the top of the hill leaving the village, and a cafe/chippy. Turn right by the pub at the top of the hill to waterhouses and you will find the village of Waterfall a mile or so up that road, with the Red Lion, another option for food and drink.
Waterhouses accommodation
Cycle Hire Centres in the Peak District of Derbyshire (click on the name to find out more) ...
- Ashbourne (Tissington Trail)
- Derwent Dam (Ladybower Reservoir)
- Hayfield (Sett Valley Trail) - the cycle hire centre here has now been closed, we have included it for information just in case you are trying to find out about it.
- Middleton Top (High Peak Trail)
- Parsley Hay (High Peak and Tissington Trails)
- Waterhouses (Manifold Way)
Back to Main Derbyshire
Peak District Cycle Hire page
Disclaimer - The information on this page is believed to be correct and is given in good faith. It may have changed since our research. Use of the information on this page is at your risk, we cannot accept any liability for any problems or incidents arising. Any maps are based on the postcodes of the centres. We recommend that you confirm the location and other details before travelling.