Planning a trip to Youlgreave and want to explore the beautiful countryside? Here’s the best place to go walking in Youlgreave…
The vast limestone White Peak extends over the southern area of the Peak District. Most visitors head directly for the Hope Valley for access to the more popular High Peak — home to Kinder Scout, Win Hill, Mam Tor and Derwent Valley — but the White Peak offers a quieter and equally spectacular experience. A day spent walking in the White Peak can feel as though you have the place to yourself. This Youlgreave circular route is the most challenging of three local self-guided walks created for YHA’s Festival of Walking (all route descriptions and maps are available on our website.)
YHA Youlgreave, one of our much-valued partner hostels, is an atmospheric place to begin any walk. This former village Co-op store retains much of the original look of its past and is today home to an artisan bakery and café called the Fountain View Bakery. Load up on the bakery’s moreish pesto and feta pinwheels before beginning the walk by heading north through the village.
The fountain in the bakery’s name actually refers to a conduit that still supplies the village with clean water. It’s directly in front of the youth hostel. The Youlgrave Waterworks (yes, it takes a different spelling!) is still one of the few private water supply companies left in the UK, founded in 1827 by Hannah Bowman and her Women’s Friendly Society of Youlgrave. Recognising that the low summer waters in the Lathkill and Bradford Dales — both of which you’ll visit during this walk — was causing fevers, it prioritised clean water for the local population. The village has been supplied with the water ever since.
Once out of the village, you’ll head towards the dramatically named River Lathkill (although the etymology, rather disappointingly, is thought to translate in old Norse as ‘narrow valley with barn)’. It’s a pure and clear stretch of river known for its trout.
Back near Youlgreave, you’ll follow part of the Limestone Way, a 46-mile waymarked route through the White Peak. As you head south, the aspect of the landscape begins to change. Out of the valley, you’ll climb high onto moorland, Gratton Moor being the highest point along the walk and marked with two Bronze Age barrows. Although quiet now, this area saw plenty of drama in the English Civil War. As you rejoin the River Bradford at Middleton, you’ll see the remains of Middleton Castle, owned at the time by staunch royalist Sir Christopher Fulwood. Attacked by the Roundheads, Fulwood hid in a cave in Bradford Dale, where you now walk. He was found and shot, and his castle was ruined and never rebuilt. After exploring the remains, you’ll be ready for a coffee… and perhaps one of the cakes or flapjacks at the Fountain View Bakery.
Youlgreave circular walk route
Distance: 12 miles (19.3km) Ascent: 424m (1,391ft) Time: Allow 5h 45m to 9h 30m Start/Finish: OS Explorer (OL24) Peak District
- From the hostel, turn L and then R onto Moor Lane and R for the track to Back Lane. Turn R and immediately L to reach Meadow Place Grange. Keep to the path and mind the cows.
- Follow the path into Lathkill Dale, turn L to cross the footbridge, then R along the river. Cross the river at Conksbury Bridge, follow it past Alport, and turn L at the bridge onto Mawstone Lane.
- Take the path on the L to reach Cliff Lane. Turn R, follow the road around a L-hand bend and take the path on the R to Dale End.
- Turn L onto the road and enter Gratton Dale on R. Muddy sections can be avoided by taking higher parallel paths. Turn R to reach Long Dale, then after the steep uphill section turn R to join the road at Hope Farm.
- Go straight ahead and turn R onto a footpath which leads to Bradford Dale. Follow the footpath on R of the river to a bridge. Follow the road uphill and turn R back to the hostel.
To download this route and view the many other walking routes from YHA hostels visit our website.
This route has been created by YHA to provide inspiration and to aid planning and preparation of your walk. It doesn’t replace the need for an OS Map or the OS Maps App to navigate your walk safely. Digital maps are a guide and do not always reflect the conditions on the ground, ensure you are aware of your immediate surroundings.
© Crown copyright and database rights 2020 Ordnance Survey 1000+99+5. View full terms and conditions. | Route: Matt Overd & Robert Priday
