Heritage port opens up world-class attraction

IMAGINE arriving up the Trent by canal boat, entering the Trent and Mersey Canal at Derwent Mouth and a mile later arriving in the inland heritage port of Shardlow.

Then at the information heritage centre hiring bikes and cycling up the Derwent Valley over three days.

Just 20 miles a day, giving time to visit Elvaston Castle, Royal Crown Derby, the Joseph Wright Gallery, the Silk Mill Museum of Making, Darley Abbey and its mill, Milford mill village, Belper Mill, Shining Cliff Wood, Cromford Canal, Cromford Mill and village, Masson Mill, Matlock Bath and the Heights of Abraham, Peak Rail, Rowsley’s Flour Mill, Haddon Hall, Chatsworh House, Calver Mill, the ancient Leadmills Bridge and the even older stepping stone; onward past Thornhill, up the construction track to cross the Ladybower Dam, and finally around the reservoir to the Derwent Visitor Centre just below the Derwent Dam where the Dambusters practised.

Then, leaving your bikes to be transported back, boarding canoes to paddle back the length of the Ladybower Reservoir. From here carrying your kayak to the bottom of the dam, and then leisurely, paddling down the river for another three days, seeing and hearing the valley in a completely different way.

Not only will this provide the opportunity to visit attractions missed on the way up, but also, on the app downloaded on to your phone, hearing how the river has formed the valley, providing irrigation and unique habitats; medieval weirs constructed to create fish ponds, seeing the leets that carry water to power the mills; the creation of the gorge at Matlock Bath; how it powered the industrial revolution and created the unique landscape of the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site; fauna and flora.

Join other boats on the river at Derby between Darley Abbey and Pride Park, passing under a giant new boat lift connecting the re-engineered Derby Canal, and through the tree-lined pastures of the gravel lowland back to Derwent Mouth and up the cut back to Shardlow Heritage Inland Port.

This is the vision of the Derwent Valley Trust. Not only to walk the valley along the Derwent Valley Heritage Trail, but to cycle it, paddle it, and horse trail it – a world-class attraction.

Having created the walkway we are in discussion with owners, examining feasibility and bidding for funds to build the cycleway, and campaigning to create the paddle trail. This is why the Derwent Valley Trust will wholeheartedly support the bid, reported in the Derby Telegraph, for Shardlow to claim heritage port status.

Derek Latham, architect, landscape and urbanist,

Derwent Valley Trust