New Mills & the Torrs Millennium Walkway -- Saturday, February 13, 2016

The very first time I went into Derbyshire to explore some country pubs, the train I was on passed by a little station called New Mills, and I noticed a sign indicating the way to the "Millennium Walkway".  Intrigued, I Googled it, and I quickly decided that it was someplace I'd like to come back and visit.  So I pinned it to my Britain Pinterest board, and there the pin sat for a number of months.  Then recently, one of the Manchester Ramblers groups posted a walk in New Mills, and I knew that I had to go.

Today was the anticipated excursion to New Mills, and I was a bit worried about the weather.  The forecast called for cold and a chance of flurries.  Fortunately, the forecast was wrong, and it was a beautiful day.  It was chilly but clear, and with the right layers and a little movement, you were fine.

I met up with the Ramblers group at Manchester Piccadilly train station, and we had about a 25 minute train ride out to New Mills.  Within minutes of leaving the New Mills Central train station (funny enough, little New Mills actually has *two* train stations!), we were onto the Millennium Walkway.  It was beautiful.

Built in 1999-2000, it follows along a retaining wall over the River Goyt, with an old abandoned Mill on the opposite site.

This area is called The Torrs, a 30m deep sandstone gorge formed by the River Goyt.

The rushing river through the gorge was harnessed for power, hence the old Mills all around.  One of the Mills continued in operation until 2000!

There were also the ruins of a Mill that had burned down over a hundred years ago, and actually one of the fellows in the group said that it had belonged to his family back in the day.

The industrial heritage of the area made the two railroad lines and stations suddenly make sense.

My only "complaint" about the Millennium Walkway is that I was expecting it to be longer, and it was over too quickly.  We followed along the river, underneath a grand old viaduct, and then we were off on the serious walk, about 6 to 7 miles along canal paths, through fields and forests, and looping back around to end back where we had started.

At one point, we passed through a farm, and I saw the last farm animals I would ever have expected to see in Derbyshire, England -- LLAMAS!!!  A Mama Llama and her baby.

We also passed by a sunken canal boat that someone had decided to turn into a joke.  Note the sign on the retaining wall identifying it as the Titantic II, and the L-plates on the sunken boat (L-plates are used on cars and motorcycles to indicate a Learner).  I guess when your boat sinks and you don't have the money to salvage it, the only thing you can do is have a good laugh about it.

We also had about a 20-minute rest stop for lunch.

Afterwards, we walked into New Mills instead and had a few pints and crisps at The Royal Oak pub.

It was a GREAT day, and I had a lot of fun, but I definitely pushed myself with the length of today's hike both in terms of distance and time, and I know I will be feeling it tomorrow.

Torrs Millennium Walkway -- done.  :-)