YORKSHIRE BRIDGE AND LADYBOWER WALK
THE WALK
Yorkshire Bridge and Ladybower Reservoir Walk is a short but enriching walk, which introduces the visitor to Derbyshire’s ‘Lake District’ and whets the appetite for many more visits in the future. The northern section of the Upper Derwent Valley has three reservoirs, Ladybower, Derwent and Howden, surrounded by forest, farmland, and wild, glorious moorland scenery.
The walk takes you through Ladybower Wood, a Derbyshire Wildlife Trust Nature Reserve noted for its ancient woodland. As you leave the woods, the wide-ranging views over the reservoir and the surrounding countryside are superb.
At the western end of Ladybower’s dam wall, a former railway line, specially constructed to carry stone from the railway sidings at Bamford to Fairholmes. Ran during the construction of the Derwent and Howden dams. The final section of the walk takes you on a pleasant woodland walk with distant views through the trees of Ladybower.
LOOK OUT FOR
Route Point 1 – Ladybower Viaduct carries the road from the hamlet of Yorkshire Bridge and beyond to the A57. King George VI opened the reservoir in 1945. The occasion was commemorated by the building of a monument close to the dam wall. Following the recent renovation to Ladybower Dam, a permissive path across the dam wall opened.
Point 2 – Ladybower Wood is a Derbyshire Wildlife Trust Nature Reserve noted for its ancient oak woodland. However, there are also some silver birch and rowan trees in the wood. As you walk through the woods, glimpses of Ladybower Inn come into view. As you leave, spectacular views open up over Ladybower Reservoir and beyond.
Point 4 – Ashopton Viaduct carries the Snake Road to Glossop. When the village of Ashopton was demolished, the residents were rehoused a short distance away at Yorkshire Bridge. A few scattered farms and houses remain on the hillside.
Point 6 – Ladybower was built between 1935 and 1943 by the Derwent Valley Water Board to supplement the other two reservoirs in the valley, supplying the water needs of the East Midlands. Following a recent renovation of the dam, a permissive path has opened across the dam wall, which provides good views of the Ashopton Viaduct and beyond.
Point 7 –At the western end of the dam wall is a small sculpture that forms part of the Bamford Touchstones Sculpture Trail, established by the residents of Bamford to mark the millennium. The Touchstones illustrate Air, Water, Earth, and Fire on a five-mile walk around the edges of the village. A central Touchstone at Bamford combines all four elements, and a Celtic symbol is present on all the touchstones to signify the millennium.
Point 8 – The hamlet of Yorkshire Bridge, in the Upper Derwent Valley, lies in the shadow of the dam wall of the Ladybower Reservoir. It comprises neat, regimented rows of houses built to re-house the inhabitants of the former villages of Ashopton and Derwent. Both villages and the surrounding land were submerged when the reservoir was completed and filled with water. Yorkshire Bridge has its own pub of the same name, and the bridge spanning the River Derwent also bears the same name. Despite all the references to Yorkshire, you are still in Derbyshire; the boundary between the two counties is more than two miles away to the north east.
WALK DETAILS
Length: 4.5 miles.
Start: Heatherdene Car Park. It is best to arrive early at busy times as the car park fills quite quickly. There is very little available space elsewhere.
Location: Off the A6013 to the north of Bamford, this links at the northern end with the A57 Sheffield to Glossop Road and the southern end with the A6187 Hope Valley Road. Heatherdene car park is on the right-hand side of the A6013, when travelling in a northerly direction from Bamford, it lies between the Yorkshire Bridge Inn and the Ladybower Viaduct (SK203860).
Terrain: Good, easy to follow walking along good tracks and hard surfaces, with some short ascents and descents. The short section through Ladybower Wood can be rather muddy, but well-shod walkers should be able to ‘pick’ their way around the worst of it.
Refreshments: The Yorkshire Bridge Inn, located close to the Ladybower Dam, is a popular inn. Another good choice is the Ladybower Inn on the A57, overlooking the reservoir. A small kiosk at Fairholmes Visitor Centre sells hot and cold drinks and food. Picnic tables are available. There are toilets on site and a large pay-and-display car park.
THE ROUTE
1. Walk back to the car park entrance and turn right along the A6015 to cross Ladybower Viaduct. On reaching the junction with the A57, turn right. After about 300yards, cross the road and immediately after passing the Ladybower Inn, turn left up a bridleway.
2. Continue walking forward for 100 yards before turning sharp left at a track intersection. The track leads you gently up the hillside, with the inn below on your left and Ladybower Wood on the right.
3. Maintain the same direction for nearly a quarter of a mile, before going through a stile by a field gate that leads you onto a moorland path from where there are superb views. The path climbs steadily close to a wall for the first part of the walk across the moor. After leaving the wall behind you, continue along an obvious path that soon starts to descend.
4. Go through a stile and onto a farm track and turn left, passing Ding Bank Farm and Ashopton Wood Yard. On reaching the bottom of the bank, turn left along the reservoir service road and left again onto the A57 at the end of Ashopton Viaduct.
5. Walk back to the A6015, and turn right to cross the Ladybower Viaduct. Continue along the pavement past Ladybower Fisheries to reach the dam wall.
6. Here, you turn to the right to walk along the concessionary path across the dam wall.
7. On reaching the far side of the dam, turn left down a service road, where you will pass a Touchstone Sculpture. At the end of the service road, turn left over a bridge (Yorkshire Bridge) over the River Derwent. Immediately you are over the bridge, take the footpath on the left signed for ‘Heatherdene.’
8. Here you angle to the right, crossing a grass track and going through some bushes. Ignore all the paths off to the right and gradually ascend towards the top corner of the bracken-clad field. Just before reaching the corner, keep to the left at a fork in the path. The hamlet of Yorkshire Bridge is a short distance away on your right.
9. Go through a gate stile in front of you and cross a footbridge. Follow the path through an area of woodland. On reaching a ‘T’ junction of paths, turn right with the dam wall in front of you and walk up to the A6013. Turn left along the pavement and at the end of the railings, cross to the other side of the road.
10. Climb the steps and turn left along the path at the top, which leads you back to Heatherdene Car Park and the start of the walk.
YORKSHIRE BRIDGE AND LADYBOWER RESERVOIR
