Matlock

Why base here

Matlock is the county town of Derbyshire, a town of about 10,000 people according to the 2021 census, and it is a base for the gorge rather than for the hills. The River Derwent has cut its limestone valley through here, and two miles south the former spa of Matlock Bath sits in the narrowest part of it. Warm springs were found there in 1698 and the future Queen Victoria visited in 1832, which is how a village in a gorge came to be sold as a Little Switzerland; the Victorian hydros that followed climbed the hillside above Matlock itself. The three walks this site lists beyond High Tor are 11 to 15km away in a straight line, so this is not the base for a week of hill days. It is the base for somebody who wants a railway, a gorge and a cliff-top path, with the White Peak dales as day trips.

On foot versus by car

High Tor is the one outing here that needs no vehicle. It lies about 1km from Matlock in a straight line, and walks to it leave from Matlock Bath station, which the Derwent Valley Line group lists alongside a 3-mile route from the station back to Matlock. Everything else is a journey. The Monsal Trail starts at the old station in Bakewell, and Trent Barton’s 6.1 and the Transpeak both run from Matlock to Bakewell, according to the Derwent Valley Mills partnership, so it can be done by bus and a short walk. Lathkill Dale starts at Over Haddon, and Curbar Edge at Curbar Gap car park, the furthest of the three at about 15km; treat both as drives.

Practicalities

East Midlands Railway runs the Derwent Valley Line between Matlock and Nottingham via Derby, and Matlock Bath is 32 minutes from Derby by the line group’s figures. Matlock station opened in 1849, and Peak Rail’s heritage trains leave from the same station for Rowsley South through Matlock Riverside and Darley Dale. Cromford, two miles south, has its own station and Richard Arkwright’s mill of 1771, part of the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site that runs from Matlock Bath to Derby. The A6 passes through both towns. Matlock Bath is busy on summer Sundays, when Wikipedia records many hundreds of motorcyclists, and its autumn Venetian Nights bring illuminated boats and crowds in September and October.