With a new guidebook edition imminent, and days rapidly shortening into winter, my good friend Clon Ulrick and I took the chance to spend three days on a complete walk of “the Way”. Clon and I had met in Botswana years ago, when both living there. We used to camp together with our families in the remote Kalahari, but this was to be a new sort of adventure!
Our 3-day plan implied approximately 18 miles per day to cover the total of 55 miles, or 88 kilometres. Almost as important, in this distance the river falls from around 200 metres (660 feet) above sea level, to near 30 m (100 ft) – a drop three times the height of the Niagara Falls! From one point of view, this suggests a nice and steady downhill walk. Yet it was the energy to be gained from this continuously falling water which caused those early industrialists to come and build mill after mill down the valley, giving us the wonderful industrial heritage we enjoy today.
We set off in late October 2023, as it happens just ahead of Storm Babet! We were determined to be the first users of the new edition of the guidebook. This is an account of our walk.
Day 1: Ladybower to Rowsley (27 km)
