Matche three

Verified Slow Way

Verified by 100.00% of reviewers

I liked this walk from Chesterfield to Matlock on a warm sunny day. Very mixed terrain, cattle, horses, narrow squeeze stiles and hills but some great views and generally good country walking. The plot is generally fair but with one serious exception. No services on route but some good picnic spots if the weather is fine as it was for me. No serious mud. I did meet the dogs.

Leaving Chesterfield I always enjoy Queens Park and the bridge over the busy road but only today did I note the sculpture by Barbara Hepworth, most of her work is in the Tate Gallery. The climb at Boythorpe could be avoided by taking a more easterly route out of Queens Park. Kingsclere Walk through Birdholme was very pleasant.

Exiting the urban area it's achallenge to find the less used definitive line of the footpath, the other walked paths are well defined but wrong, so keep a close eye on the plot although it's not spot on here.

There is a bench at the nature reserve near Sutbbing Court. A ford on the Other Route with Public Access (ORPA) has a footbridge but there was evidence that even this had been flooded. The sheds of the large poultry farm were quiet and deserted on the outside and the path on this side was far better than the route around the back.

My download of the track from Spitewinter was off route so care is needed with consultation of an OS map, perhaps a Matcre-4 is needed to correct this. The path however is great heading to Alicehead Farm. Dryhurst Farm was dry but lots of cattle in the field here.

The next section is along a very quiet road. The track after Hodge Lane Farm is fine but the footpath leaves this and gets rather complicated so again careful inspection of the plot is needed which is good at this location. There are two paths on the map to Jaggers Lane but only one is waymarked and this appears to be different to the map. It was easy in March but I have used this later in the year when the bracken has grown which makes it more difficult.

Heading south, the climbs are now over and it's a path across wide open fields to the corner of the wood then again easy but take care to follow the track as it heads south leaving the path along Cuckoostone Lane. Crossing the Bentley Brook it's another area where the walked path may not be as shown on the map.

The next track offers a seat overlooking Matlock Golf Club. It's possible to use the estate road and avoid the pavement alongside the main road before heading off towards The Bank. Once a San Francisco style cable car helped visitors ascend this steep road so it was good be be heading down, not up. The Newsroom offers a quiet break before arriving at this busy main tourist town.

When the weather is fine I feel a better meeting place would be on the east of the bridge rather than the backwater of the rail station.

I’ve given 3 stars as the route is relatively direct offering some lovely views, however there are some steep climbs and short portions that were a quagmire even though it had not rained for a number of days. I walked the route in March 2022 and it took me 4 ½ hours including snack breaks.

I started from Chesterfield at the church of Saint Mary and All Saints, with its famous crooked spire. It is mostly C14th although there is a font dating from before the Norman conquest; well worth a look inside before setting out. You leave the town centre via a footbridge over the busy A619 into the attractive Queen’s Park. There is then a steep climb to the Grangewood estate, spaciously laid out post-war council housing, but in desperate need of some tree planting on the acres of leftover grass.

You leave town next to a golf course, where I immediately got lost as there are many alternative paths. Staying to the east of the fairways I made it down to a very attractive clear flowing brook. In the field between the brook and Widdowson Spring Wood I disturbed a cloud of what I think were Fieldfares enjoying the spring foraging.

North of Stubbing Court you descend through another attractive piece of woodland and emerge into a valley filled with gorse bushes. Two woodpeckers could be heard busy hammering away and there was a view of the high plateau around Spitewinter in the distance.

The woodland west of Stubbing Court is full of rhododendron, and though invasive it must make the track look stunning in flowering season. From here you climb past a highly mechanised poultry farm, and then steeply up toward Spitewinter through a muddy field where I was greeted by four very boisterous dogs, who seemed relatively harmless once they’d checked me out. There are some great views of distant Chesterfield from here.

There is a short stretch beside the A632 in the evocatively named Spitewinter, all on pavement. The blackened stone of the buildings, and the 300m of elevation suggests this is a location where winter is something to be reckoned with.

The plateau beyond is divided into a series of stone walled pastures with some very narrow openings that are a tight squeeze, even for the most svelte of walkers. Passing through the muddy yard of Dryhurst farm you descend to Uppertown, more of a hamlet but big enough to contain a former schoolhouse and chapel. At the foot of the valley I took a ‘short cut’ from the Slow ways route taking a footpath south of Hodge Lane Farm rather than continuing on the metalled lane – the path involves a shallow ford and was becoming overgrown. It is sad to see a footpath disappearing, but I can understand why the northern route round the farm is preferable.

Passing through a garden edge at Shooters-Lea Farm a tight woodland path takes you to the wide open pastureland of Rushley Lodge dairy farm. A woodland plantation to the east has been almost clear felled and looks like it is being left to naturally regenerate. There is a steep descent to Bentley Brook, where a masonry slab bridges this beautiful woodland stream.

Skirting another golf course you reach the edge of Matlock where there is a very steep descent into the town centre past the HQ of Derbyshire County Council, housed in one of the former hydros built during the town’s hey day as a spa resort.

Walked it at the end of January from Matlock to Chesterfield. There are many stiles and narrow gates so would not attempt it with a buggy. It is quite a distance to get in, or out of both Matlock and Chesterfield but the X17 runs between both and can be picked up to do the final stretch in either direction.

Pros:
Mostly easy tracks and paths in good condition.
Only one small section of busy road and with a wide pavement.
Mostly well waymarked, no access issues.
Nice mix of moorland, farmland, woodland.
All the brooks encountered had footbridges in good condition.

Cons:
Passes rather a lot of farms, some of which leave the footpaths very muddy.
The Inn halfway along at Spitewinter has now shut so there are no longer facilities for food and drink along the route outside the start and end towns.

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