Above: Old Goyt’s Lane was the main route into the hamlet of Goyt’s Bridge before the valley was flooded.
Click for a pdf with stage-by-stage details of the route including photos and a map, as well as links to car parks and public transport. A walking app GPX file is also available.
Length: 2.9mls | Av. time: 1.45hrs | Ascent: 302ft
Start: Goyt’s Lane car park | Google Map
Walk description, map & GPX | Download
A 2.9-mile circular walk from Goyt’s Lane car park, beside the small reservoir that once fed the steam engines powering the winding gear on the nearby Bunsall Incline. It’s one of the easiest walks in the series, though the moorland section can get muddy.
If the car park is full, there’s a layby at the foot of the Bunsall Incline, and a larger car park at The Street, just over the dam between the twin reservoirs.
The route drops down Old Goyt’s Lane, also known as Sandy Lane – once the main route from Buxton into the hamlet of Goyt’s Bridge, before it vanished under the waters of Errwood Reservoir.
It’s fairly steep, so it must have been hard going for packhorses carrying goods across this bleak landscape. A well-placed bench at the bottom gives a wonderful view across the water.
Moorland and the old railway
A narrow path then meanders across open moorland, with small footbridges over the muddier sections, to reach the old Cromford & High Peak Railway beside the sealed entrance to the longest tunnel on the 33-mile line.
Opened in 1831, the railway connected canals at Cromford and Whaley Bridge. Its trackbed makes an easy, mile-long stroll back to the car park – popular with families, dog-walkers and the occasional jogger.
Click for a pdf with stage-by-stage details of the route including photos and a map, as well as links to car parks and public transport. A walking app GPX file is also available.
Route photos
Stages 1-6 of the route. Click any to enlarge and scroll through.
Relive video
Click to play and use the expand option to view in full-screen. More Goyt Valley Relives.
