Helen Moat answers the call of the wild in Priestcliffe and Millers Dale nature reserves

The Wye Valley is scattered with nature reserves managed by Derbyshire Wildlife Trust: Chee Dale, Millers Dale, Priestcliffe Lees and Cramside Wood.

These nature reserves are crammed with wildflowers in spring and early summer, attracting birds and butterflies on their precipitous slopes, dale-top meadows and quarry clearings.

The Wildlife Trust do a sterling job managing the many habitats and footpaths that run through the reserves for ramblers to enjoy.

This walk takes in two of the Wye Valley nature reserves: Millers Dale and Priestcliffe Lees.

It’s a ramble filled with interest from dramatic geology and archaeology to woodland, dale, river and brook.

1. From Tideswell Dale Car Park, head south along the gravel footpath, veering left after the gate to climb up to a disused quarry.

The dark basalt quarry face tells a story: this is an area where volcanoes spewed lava and ash in the early Carboniferous Period.

Continue down the well-defined path, basalt lavas now replaced by even older limestone, formed when this part of the Peak District was submerged under a tropical sea.

Drop down steps to the valley floor again and turn left.

2. The path follows a brook through the Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), historically a habitat of ash and elm.

Great British Life: The ash chair, engraved with the words ‘Ash Requiem, 2021'The ash chair, engraved with the words ‘Ash Requiem, 2021' (Image: Helen Moat)

On the left you’ll see an ash chair, engraved with the words ‘Ash Requiem, 2021’. It’s a poignant sight.

In spring and summer this shady green dale is brightened with bloody cranesbill, cowslips, orchids and ox-eye daisies.

3. Where the path meets the road, turn left to walk into Litton Mill, a charming village with a dark history of abuse in the pleasantly converted mills.

Keep your eyes peeled for a pedestrian bridge on your right. Cross it, and climb up to the Monsal trail, turning right onto the dismantled railway.

Great British Life: Litton MillLitton Mill (Image: Gary Wallis)

Take the second public footpath on your left, signposted for Priestcliffe.

Derbyshire Wildlife Trust has placed an illustrated information board at the entrance of the nature reserve; as you climb steeply up through the woodland and out into fields, look out for the great tits, chaffinches and buzzards listed on the board along with speckled wood butterflies.

In early spring, wood anemones lighten the woodland floor, replaced by the pale blossoms of whitebeam trees in May.

Having passed a stone-built dwelling on top of the dale, follow the grassy farm track to the field gate.

No longer following the Wildlife Trust red nature trail (which veers right), go through the gate and continue on down the farm track, then Broadway Lane towards the hamlet of Priestcliffe.

4. At the angled junction, turn right, passing Lydgate Farm. Leave the farm track as it veers left and head straight down through fields into Millers Dale Nature Reserve.

Great British Life: A wild and windy day in PriestcliffeA wild and windy day in Priestcliffe (Image: Helen Moat)

The valley side is extremely steep but the deep-cut steps created by the Trust, along with the aid of a walking stick, makes the descent manageable.

This is a wild place, thickly wooded with exposed cliffs and moss-covered rocks.

5. The path emerges at the B6049. Cross the road and turn left onto a second road signed for Wormhill and the Monsal Trail Millers Dale Car Park.

On the bend of the road, take the steps on the left to climb to the Monsal Trail. Turning right, you will see the old railway station in front of you.

The Refreshment Room is a good place to stop for a break and wallow in railway nostalgia, the café furnishings in keeping with the old station, the LMS (London Midlands and Scottish Railway) posters illustrated with Britain’s most dramatic landscapes.

Refuelled, continue east along the Monsal Trail, passing the soaring stone walls of old lime kilns.

At a wooden signpost on the left, signposted for Priestcliffe and Millers Dale, turn left to drop down to the footbridge crossing the River Wye.

Great British Life: Millers DaleMillers Dale (Image: Helen Moat)

6. On the other side of the river, turn right onto the road, passing the Anglers Rest. The country lane closely follows the River Wye, this section of river busy with dippers, mallards and moorhens.

It’s a particularly lovely stretch of the walk. Limestone cliffs above the lane, the Wye burbling over rapids, the grassy banks and dale walls thick with vegetation.

Look out for the pathway on your left that takes you up Tideswell Dale again, retracing your route.

7. Ignore the steps leading up to the disused quarry this time and continue straight on up the valley.

Here you can choose between two well-maintained paths on either side of the brook; both lead to the carpark and your starting point.

COMPASS POINTS

Start point: OS Grid Ref: SK 153 741

Parking: Tideswell Dale Car Park, off the B6049 south of Tideswell

Map: OS Explorer Map OL24

Terrain: Easy walking in Tideswell Dale and in the Wye valley but a tricky ascent and descent in the nature reserves

Distance: 6 miles

Refreshments: The Refreshment Room on the Monsal Trail (Old station) and The Anglers Rest in Millers Dale