Sam the Eagle (to a young Scrooge): Oh, you will love business. It is the American Way.
Gonzo (whispering): Uh, Sam …
Sam the Eagle: Oh. It is the BRITISH WAY.
The Muppet Christmas Carol.
The railway was opened in 1831 to link the Cromford Canal at High Peak Junction (my start point for yesterday’s walk) with the Peak Forest Canal at Whaley Bridge, 33 miles away. The modern trail ends to the North of Hurdlow, 17 miles from High Peak Junction.
I walked as far as Middleton Top – a six mile round trip, including a 15 minute diversion each way along the Cromford Canal to get to and from the car park at High Peak Junction. The footbridge was meant to have re-opened on 24th August, but Severn Trent’s works are over-running. There was no activity taking place yesterday, so I guess the footbridge will be closed for some time to come. Maybe the County Council should personally fine the CEO £1,000 per day for over-running works – I bet that would have an instantaneous effect on punctuality.
Rant over, and you’re probably thinking that a 6 mile round-trip doesn’t sound very far. However, the Cromford and High Peak Railway was designed to carry goods and minerals, the driving force of 19th and early 20th century business. As such, the normal rules of railway construction (nice, flat routes preferred) didn’t apply. The steep inclines (1 in 8 gradients) between these two points were conquered by the use of huge beam engines to haul the wagons. On this section of the route there were three. The remains of the engine house for the first are barely visible, the second (at Sheep Top Pasture) is a well-preserved shell, but the third at Middleton Top is gloriously complete. It’s open on a number of Sundays and Bank Holidays throughout the year and is well worth a visit to gawp at the wonders of Victorian engineering.
The three engines raised wagons a combined 718 feet (220 metres) in a little over two and a half miles, with the first 465 feet (143 metres) being achieved in the first 1,320 yards (1.2km). Unsurprisingly, I can feel all of this height gain in my calves today.
Enough of the mind-boggling stats – here are some pictures from my walk.
Back to the stats. The walk took 2 hours, 42 minutes and 29 seconds. I covered 11.42km and took 15,594 steps. You might be able to spot where the inclines are from the record of my heart rate during the walk up …
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