This is my last walk on the Portway. After Winster, it overlaps with the Limestone Way past Robin Hood's Stride - I walked that part with Mom last summer - before veering off towards Alport. By then it is getting too far away for me. An hour each way is my limit, otherwise the ratio between driving and walking becomes unhappily high.
Winster takes 53 minutes. I park in the small car park opposite the Miners Standard (the pub doesn't bother with an apostrophe), where I am pleased to see that a grubby sign references the Portway.
I zigzag down the hill between houses built a long time before anyone thought that cars would need to get to them. On the main street, the Market House has a green Land Rover parked aesthetically next to it. The door says Open, so I climb the stairs and find myself in a bright, white-painted room with displays about the history of the village. At one point Winster boasted "two grocers, two dairies, two saddlers, three sets of petrol pumps...[many more establishments]... and a shop that sold everything from televisions to fresh fish". Now it has one small village shop and a part-time post office. Those cars have a lot to answer for.
The road has a pavement until I get to the school, after which I have to dodge traffic for a few minutes. Then a path descends across fields into a wooded valley with a stream. It's quite muddy despite being June; this wouldn't be a good walk in winter. Today it feels pleasantly remote.
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| school |
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| deer prints |
After a while I come to a tall chimney which is part of some kind of factory. It's shielded by trees so I don't get a good look at it. This must be part of the reason why the village of Darley Bridge has a warning system for HGVs. "Wait here when lights flash," say the signs on all the approach roads, allowing large trucks to safely navigate the narrow access route.
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| chimney |
I don't see the eponymous bridge over the Derwent today. Instead I turn right, up the hill to the church of St Mary the Virgin. This is open - yay! The arch to the chancel looks Norman, but the church was built in 1845. It has enthusiastic flower arrangements and a cross-stitch list of ministers.
There are no benches in the graveyard. A wall is just the right height to sit on for lunch.
I continue up the hill and into Wensley Dale (not the one with the cheese). Soon I am high above the Derwent Valley. Some young cattle panic when they see me and stampede to the other end of their field. I cross quickly before they decide to stampede back again.
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| Wensley Dale |
On the map, the path diverts around a quarry, but the workings are grassy and deserted now, and I'm able to follow the original line, emerging at Tearsall Farm.
From here the walk proceeds in long straight lines across Bonsall Moor. Due south on Blakelow Lane. Southwest on Blakemere Lane. Then I am finally on the Portway and following it northwest back to Winster. Farmers are busy cutting and baling grass; at one point I count five tractors in view.
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| at least it isn't overgrown |
Just outside Winster, I join the Limestone Way again. This is a bit that Mom and I missed, as we detoured into the village. So I am puzzled by what looks like an immensely sturdy bus shelter ahead of me. It turns out to be a lead ore house, from Winster's lead mining days. Right on cue, there's the Miners Standard again. I've done it. Farewell to the Portway.
Portway - Grange Mill to Winster
8.7 miles / 14 km 15 June 2026
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