If I told you my route today crossed several major highways, wandered around abandoned quarries, and passed a hotel and a dismantled railway, you would probably think I was still in the ex-industrial suburbs of Nottingham.
If I told you that I visited seventeenth-century almshouses and a ruined castle, spotted field mice and frisky lambs, and soaked up the sight of bluebells, you might picture somewhere more bucolic.
Even though all the things in the first sentence are true, the second one gives you a much better idea of how the walk felt. It's amazing how much will fit into one small piece of Derbyshire countryside.
I parked in Little Eaton, which was convenient to get to. It's between Morley and Holbrook, so I started by heading towards Morley. This valley's north-south road has been upgraded several times: I parked on the oldest of roads, crossed the newer one, then went under the A38, which superseded them both. Hopefully that speedy dual carriageway will not itself need to be rebuilt.
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| old road |
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| newer road |
The path I was on was paved with stones. Those monks again? I wondered - then realised I was walking towards Breadsall Priory. This particular section is not marked as a Monks Way, but perhaps it was.
A steady climb through the beautiful woods of Horsley Carr brought me to the edge of Breadsall Priory golf course. A rustle in the undergrowth made me stop and look, and there, perched neatly on a mound of moss, was a little creature with bright black eyes, soft brown fur, and a slender tail. A mouse! I think it was a field mouse. Which is the same as a wood mouse, but different to a harvest mouse.
I crossed a couple of fields of ewes and lambs. Breadsall Priory appeared in a dip to my right. It's now a hotel; there never were more than a few monks there, and they were evicted in 1536. The Darwin family - as in the grandparents and great-grandparents of Charles Darwin - owned the house for a while.
Moor Road's verge was a spring floral display. Morley almshouses had a car inconveniently parked outside, which is why I could only take a photo of one half. The other half was very similar.
Soon after that I came across a small horseshoe-shaped pond which curved around a hump of earth. This lump is called The Mound, but no one knows how old it is or why it is there.
The spire of St Matthew's was now visible. I passed the church and Morley Hall, and came out opposite the Three Horseshoes pub, once, not surprisingly, the village smithy.
By Morleymoor Farm was a field of frisky young cattle. They were interested in me, but fortunately kept their distance until I got to the other side, at which point several of them came over to see who I was.
The Portway tended to follow ridges of high land. This was evident on the next section, where there were stunning views across the fields. Sadly they were interrupted by these "Say no to pylons" signs. A proposal for a new overhead power line is currently a live issue (sorry). Where I live, we have so many pylons already that a few more won't make any difference; round here there is obviously a strong anti-pylon lobby. Personally I think the banners are as unsightly as the pylons, though admittedly less permanent.
There was a detailed sign next to the road telling me that the Portway crossed Ryknield Street, a Roman road, near here. This was one of the quieter major highways that I came across. But, with a bit of imagination, the ground echoed to thousands of years of footsteps.
Some of those footsteps might have been heading to Horsley Castle, which is now a few lumps of stone hidden in a quarried woodland. You have to divert off the main track to see it.
The path threaded between a dog kennels and a chain link fence, and arrived abruptly at the A38 and a well. I had a short wander up the lane to see some of Coxbench, then returned to the well to eat my lunch. Both the well and one of the houses in Coxbench were dedicated to St Anthony. The reason for the connection has long since been forgotten.
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| St Anthony's Well |
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| Saint Anthony's Lodge |
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| Lunch view: A38 top left, well straight ahead |
A railway line which used to run north from Little Eaton is now being converted to a cycle path. The southern end is open; this section is still under construction. This is obviously an old station building - confirmed by the sign on the other side.
The stretch of road which leads up to Holbrook is one of the few parts of the Portway that still carries its name. I followed it until just before I reached the village, spotting Horsley church across the valley, and then turned left on a path through a sheep field. I went through woods and past friendly horses, and even spotted another mouse! I'm sure if I had investigated every scuffle that I heard, I would have seen several more.
At some point I dug in my rucksack for my hat and realised it wasn't there. The only possibility was that I'd left it on my picnic bench at lunchtime. Fortunately that was a short drive from where I'd parked, so I went to find it. Sure enough, there it was.
13 April 2026
9 miles / 15 km
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