It was a walk with a time limit today. The car park at Middleton Top offered 3 hours for £3.50, or all day for £7. I decided I could do 8 miles in 3 hours. Let's go! No time to sit and look at the view!
Along the railway line, then off to the right. I diverted from the official Portway route here, but any ancient path has been obliterated by quarrying, anyway. Onwards, past a considerable amount of building work at Moor Farm, and an overgrown cliff that used to be Hopton Quarries. I read the name off the map, but wouldn't realise its significance until later.
A tramline ran from the railway to the quarry, and a narrow bridge still remains. I went underneath it and through a farmyard, then up a steep field full of sheep.
I was pretty close to the wind turbines now. They really are formidable beasts. From afar they look delicate, but at this distance the huge blades scythe through the sky, tempting you to duck even though you are well out of range.
Bearing right, I tramped steadily along a gravel track. The jagged edges of Harboro' Rocks were just visible above the farm on my left hand side; to my right was a view over the Via Gellia valley.
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| looking left |
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| looking right |
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| looking at cows |
Longcliffe Quarries were coming up ahead. I last walked down this field in the mist, on the Limestone Way. Today there was a clear view of the quarry site. Dusty trucks rumbled past as I descended the slope to Grangemill. You really have to look at a satellite view (see map below) to appreciate the sheer scale of the operation.
I took a few minutes to look around Grangemill. With its arched windows, this building looked as if it should be a chapel, but was actually a former corn mill. That accounts for one half of the hamlet's name; the "grange" part indicates that the land was once owned by a monastery.
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| Grangemill |
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| Mill Farm |
As I was snapping this picture of friendly cows, a man came out of the house opposite. "Do you like my mural?" he asked. "Her indoors did that - I don't have the talent."
It was a stiff pull up Tophill Lane. When the slope eased, I turned off the track into fields full of buttercups, leaving the Portway, which headed north towards Winster.
I crossed the Limestone Way again and encountered a group of cows and calves. Talking reassuringly to them, I edged through, making a dash for the squeeze stile when they all made a move towards me. The calves were very cute - from the other side of the fence.
Now I was heading down a long wooded combe towards the Via Gellia, the road built by Philip Gell and named in faux-Roman style. The path was rough, dotted with rocks and sticks and occasionally vanishing underneath fallen trees. A gate toppled onto my leg when I opened it - ouch! But the woods were beautiful and the moss on the rocks was carpet-thick.
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| Beware Falling Gate |
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| Mega moss |
I reached the road at the bottom of the valley. At a layby, somebody had lovingly constructed a garden with a bench, flowers in blue-painted tyres, and an elaborate bird-feeding arrangement.
The path up the other side wasn't signposted. I picked the most likely-looking dent in the undergrowth and hoped it wouldn't peter out. Fortunately, it didn't. The bracken and nettles were closing in on me, though, and the rain had started. I slogged up the slope, getting hotter and damper and stickier, and was relieved when I reached the road. I was greeted by the odd sight of an ostrich in a shower cap.
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| looking down at the Via Gellia |
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| view down the valley |
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| ostrich in shower cap? |
In certain fields of expertise, Middleton-by-Wirksworth must be a familiar name. For example, if you have an interest in WW1 cemeteries, you might know that the local stoneworks produced 120 000 headstones for the Imperial War Graves Commission. I did not know this.
Or, if you were an architectural historian, you might know that Hopton Wood Stone, from the nearby quarries, was used in the Houses of Parliament, the Bank of England, Liverpool Cathedral and Sheffield City Hall, along with a whole host of other public and private buildings. I didn't know this either. That little overgrown quarry that I'd walked past earlier had a much bigger impact than I'd realised.
Today, the only clue to this hectic activity is an information board outside the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust headquarters.
There is also the fact that this small village apparently supported a Primitive Methodist chapel, a Wesleyan Methodist chapel, a Congregational chapel, and an Anglican church, which points to a larger population than currently exists.
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| Primitive |
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| Wesleyan |
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| Congregational |
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| Anglican |
Time was running short for me to get back to my car. I would have happily sheltered from the rain in the beautifully landscaped Millennium Gardens, but I needed to keep moving. However, when I spotted a sign saying "Welcome. This church is open," I had to stop for a few minutes. Never pass an unlocked church.
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| good shelter, too |
This lady made me do a double-take as I walked past. That's a very novel use for a phone box!
It wasn't long before I was back at the Cromford & High Peak railway path, climbing the hill back to Middleton Top. I arrived at the car park with four minutes to spare. Easy.
Portway Middleton Top to Grangemill
8 miles / 13 km 1 June 2026
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