Distance: 27.5 miles (44km)
Start: Bakewell Bridge car park, Coombs Road, DE45 1AQ
Finish: Hope, Derbyshire
Terrain: Path, moorland, track, trail, road
Toughness: Challenging
Ascent: 1270 metres
Navigation: Moderate (generally waymarked)
Good for: History, hard-as-nails
Lat Long / Grid Ref of Start: 53.2144, -1.6711 / SK2206468649

The trail is 27 miles long, but divides well into three sections: Bakewell-Litton (7 miles), Litton-Hathersage (9 miles) and Hathersage-Hope (11 miles). The running is brilliantly varied, from the paved sections of the Monsal Trail through stunning limestone valleys, across open moorland and along the top of the famous Stanage Edge. Finally the trail winds through conifer woods before ending in the pretty village of Hope. Although waymarked, the White to Dark discs are not frequent enough to run from these alone. It is only marked in a S to N direction. From car park turn L onto quiet road and cross Bridge Street to enter fields. Follow waymarkers from here.

The White to Dark was conceived as a joint venture between Country Walking Magazine, Trailzilla & the Peak District National Park. Full details of the route, including step-by-step directions can be found here:

http://www.livefortheoutdoors.com/upload/545840/attachments/White%20to%20dark%20route.pdf

Miles Km Directions
0.0 0.0 From start in Bakewell, cross A619 (Bridge Street) into fields from where route is waymarked throughout. The following are primary points/distances:
1.5 2.4 Join Monsal Trail
4.3 6.9 Leave Monsal Trail
6.8 11.0 Litton (shop & pub)
7.9 12.7 Cross A 623 at Wardlow Mires
9.3 14.9 Foolow (pub)
11.0 17.7 Eyam (shop & pub)
12.9 20.8 Bretton Clough
16.1 25.9 Cross railway into Hathersage (shops, cafes, pubs, station)
17.7 28.5 North Lees campsite (Peak National Park Authority)
18.6 30.0 Stanage Edge
21.4 34.4 Short along A57 at Moscar
24.4 39.3 Ladybower Reservoir (dam). Route crosses Derwent Valley Heritage Way
25.6 41.2 Summit of Win Hill
27.5 44.0 Hope (shop, café, pub, station)

Download and print route directions (right click to download)

Download .GPX file (right click to download)

How to use .GPX files

OS Map

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Open Street Map and interactive elevation profile

[map style=”width: auto; height:400px; margin:20px 0px 20px 0px; border: 1px solid black;” lat=”53.2144″ lon=”-1.6711″ maptype=”OSM” z=”11″ gpx=”http://wildrunning.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/White-To-Dark-Way.gpx”]

 

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