Tissington Trail and Route Map

The Tissington Trail starts just outside the market town of Ashbourne from the Mapleton Lane car park which boasts a café and cycle hire.

The trail then follows the line of the old London and North Western Railway, which opened in 1899 and closed to freight in 1963. In 1971 it became one of the first railway paths in the country.

The gradient is gentle but it climbs steadily all the way. The trail passes through wooded cuttings and crosses Bentley Brook, heading north with open views of rolling farmland.

Soon the pointed and dramatic limestone hill of Thorpe Cloud rises on your left, marking the entrance to Dovedale and the stage then ends at the old Tissington station, which has a car park, toilets and a picnic area.

From there it's an optional short walk into Tissington, a picture-perfect estate village with a Jacobean hall, a Norman church, a duck pond and a tea room.

To continue the trail, you can now start following Stage 2.

Stage 2 takes the trail to the North of Tissington where it climbs gently onto higher, more open ground.

The wooded lowland gives way to the classic White Peak landscape of drystone walls, limestone pastures and big skies and the track runs on embankments and through shallow cuttings. On a clear day the views across the plateau stretch for miles.

The trail continues past Alsop en le Dale until you reach Crosslow Lane, where a path drops down to a lay-by on the main road. This is a useful access point, and a good place to finish or start this stage.

To continue the trail, you can now start following Stage 3.

From Alsop Moor the third stage of the trail heads through some examples of its most dramatic railway engineering.

The best example is the deep Coldeaton cutting, where the railway builders blasted a route through solid limestone. Its rock walls now carry ferns, mosses and wild flowers.

Between the cuttings, high embankments give wide views west towards the hidden valleys of the River Dove, and over the drystone-walled fields around Biggin.

The stage ends at the old Hartington station. Its restored LNWR signal box is still in place and is a favourite photo stop, and the site has a car park, toilets and a picnic area.

Hartington village itself is about a mile and a half away. It's one of the prettiest villages in the Peak District, with a duck pond, tea rooms and a cheese shop, and it's well worth the short detour down the lanes.

To continue the trail, you can now start following Stage 4.

The fourth and last stage of the Tissington Trail keeps climbing across the limestone plateau.

The landscape feels high and open on this stage, with long views over a patchwork of walled fields, farmsteads and small plantations.

The trail finally ends at Parsley Hay where the old Ashbourne line joined the Cromford and High Peak Railway, and the Tissington Trail meets the High Peak Trail.

Parsley Hay has a car park, toilets, a café, visitor information and cycle hire, so it's a natural place to finish.