Monsal Head, Monsal Trail, Monsal Dale

We continue with our walks on and around the Monsal Trail with two shorter circular walks starting from Monsal Head Car Park.

The second walk, walk 4 from the booklet and described first for clarity, goes out via Little Longstone towards Grsat Longstone and then across many fields and stiles up to Rowland, before heading south via the outskirts of Hassop Park towards the Monsal Trail. Here, we walk west, passing the old Great Longstone railway station (closed in 1962) to walk through the Headstone Tunnel (535 yards long), before the steep ascent back up to Monsal Head Car Park.

The first walk, walk 5 from the booklet, also starts from Monsal Head, where there are excellent views of the Headstone Viaduct, one of the most famous parts of the Monsal Trail, and then takes us down to Monsal Dale beside the River Wye. We follow the Trail and then take a steep ascent via woodland to Brushfield Hough Farm. From here, there are good views as we walk along the upper Dale to pass the remains of former lead mine workings before descending to join the Monsal Trail and cross the top of Headstone Viaduct back to the tunnel and the steep ascent back up to Monsal Head again.

It's been about 9.5 miles in total in good walking weather; warm, but not hot.Read more