Travelling the Limestone Way

Whether you are looking for a short afternoon ramble or a longer adventure involving overnight stays, there’s a Derbyshire footpath that’s right up your street. Peter Naldrett steps out onto our less well-known, long-distance footpath

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With Mam Tor looming in the background and Winnat’s Pass providing a jaw-dropping backdrop, Castleton is one of the best-loved villages in the Derbyshire Peak District.

Not only significant for its fine collection of walks, pubs and souvenir shops, Castleton is right on top of the geological border that defines the two distinctive areas of the Peak District.

To the north, Kinder Scout and Black Hill await those who set off on the famous Pennine Way and wind their way over gritstone hills towards the Yorkshire Dales and, for those who stick with it, Scotland.

Set off walking to the south from Castleton and you’ll step upon a much gentler landscape, one that has been famed for farming down the generations and has a much greener, brighter appearance than its more solemn, bleaker companion.

Because under the ground in Castleton, beneath the flickering fires in the homely pubs and the rows of gifts in the souvenir shops, something epic happens – the Dark Peak transforms into the White Peak.

The dark, coarse gritstone gives way to the light, smooth limestone, and in a quiet corner of the village a path begins a journey through some of the region’s highlights.

The Limestone Way may not have the celebrity and glamour of its older sister, the Pennine Way, but what it lacks in fame and length it makes up for in beauty and geological wonder.

Right from the outset, as it gains height through Cave Dale and passes beneath English Heritage’s Peveril Castle, you can appreciate being on a wonderful journey through some of Derbyshire’s natural and human history.

The Limestone Way runs for 46 miles – that’s 74km – from Castleton in Derbyshire, south across the Staffordshire border into Rocester.