A new trail in the Peak District is celebrating the unique blend of industry and nature found between Manchester and Sheffield. The 62-file Steel Cotton Rail Trail actively guides walkers through a “post-industrial” landscape, offering a refreshing alternative to the illusion of “real nature.”
This route embraces its setting, taking adventurers past light industrial units, working polymer factories, and alongside the mighty A6 road, all while curtained by beautiful trees and woodland. It’s a trail for those who appreciate the ambling-through-countryside where “work and wilderness rub along.”
The 100km path is split into 14 day-friendly sections, all linked by railway stations. This makes it easy to explore this fascinating landscape. You can walk on the former Peak Forest Tramway, which operated until the 1920s carrying limestone, a vital raw material for Victorian Britain.
The trail also leads to Mousley Bottom nature reserve, a pretty patch of woodland that was previously a landfill site, gasworks, and sewage works. This transformation is a key theme of the walk, showing how nature has reclaimed and softened the scars of industry.
For those who enjoy a walk with substance and story, this new trail is ideal. It provides a more authentic look at the countryside, while still offering the pastoral beauty of the River Goyt, the drama of New Mills’ gorges, and the challenge of moorland climbs.