6 days, 84 miles, 51 pubs…

The Inn Way… to the Peak District charts a six-day circular walk through the heart of the Peak District, covering some 84 miles and passing 51 traditional country pubs along the way. Starting and finishing at Hayfield, the walk charts a course through the Peak District via the Overnight Stops of Hathersage, Baslow, Youlgrave, Tideswell and Castleton. This new long distance circular walking route takes in the very best of the Peak District from the wilds of Kinder Scout to the dramatic Eastern Edges, gentle pastoral landscape of Chatsworth, mystical landscape of Stanton Moor and the beautiful limestone dales of the White Peak.

Day 1: Hayfield to Hathersage – 17.5 miles.

In the footsteps of the Mass trespass, dramatic ravines, wild moorland and shattered edges, the source of the River Ashop, an historic coaching inn, marching along the Roman road, a moorland waymarker that offers hope, legionary ghosts, the Dark Peak’s finest viewpoint and a bridge across the counties.

Day 2: Hathersage to Baslow – 13 miles.

Little John’s grave, Jane Eyre and Mr Rochester, an outlaw’s hideout, the gritstone crest of a mighty wave, an Iron Age hillfort and Bronze Age circle, a shooting lodge fit for a king, incredible views from Peakland’s finest edge, a stone with something to prove and Wellington’s monument.

Day 3: Baslow to Youlgrave – 12 miles.

Chatsworth Park and Capability Brown, the Palace of the Peak, a hotchpotch of buildings, a mournful visit by JFK, the tale of two dukes, a marooned station, hillside villages and classic Peakland pubs, mystical moorlands, stone circles, a Druid’s temple, a hermit’s cave and a leaping outlaw.

Day 4: Youlgrave to Tideswell - 16 miles.

Seven dales in a day, a sparkling river, National Nature Reserves, flooded lead mines, ancient woodland, limestone caves and cliffs, Peakland’s most famous viewpoint, the valley of the gods, full steam ahead, dark satanic mills and a rather jolly end to the walk.

Day 5: Tideswell to Castleton – 14 miles.

Derbyshire’s last gibbet, a silly dale and a foolish village, a tale of self sacrifice, the finest Saxon preaching cross in Derbyshire, wonderful views from wild moorland, a hidden wooded clough, walking in the footsteps of Romans and the church of the foresters.

Day 6: Castleton to Hayfield – 11.5 miles.

Subterranean rivers, a castle perched upon high, the Shivering Mountain, a walk across the Great Ridge, superlative views, a classic walkers’ pub, walking through the ‘island valley’, in the footsteps of jaggers, climbing the stairway to heaven, a medieval wayside cross and a superb descent along an old packhorse trail.

‘The Inn Way…to the Peak District’ by Mark Reid
(pb InnWay Publications, £8:95, ISBN 978-1-902001-09-8)
“The Inn Way” is a Registered Trademark of Mark Reid.