Walks you can reach from Buxton by train

Beautiful Peak District fringe landscape. Valley floor walk with canal towpath and former tramway trail. Historic route tracing pioneering industrial transport infrastructure through Peak District foothills.

Waterway: three quarters along the Peak Forest Canal.

Time: 2h30–5h

Warnings: Busy road sections; rough ground with old concrete and limestone blocks.

Walk details: Walk Midlands (tips, photos and local insights).

Walk details: Rail Rambles.

A pleasant, varied route with generally solid surfaces, taking in a canal, a river, woodland and farm tracks. It is not very direct, with quite a few steps, stiles, kissing gates and at least one cattle grid and some seasonally overgrown and muddy sections. Visits the outskirts of Lyme Park and passes through Disley three miles from New Mills; adding the Millennium Walkway and the Torrs at New Mills is recommended.

Woodland: a fifth under tree cover.

Time: 3h30–7h

Lunch: Pubs and a Co-op at Disley, about three miles before the end.

End-of-walk reward: Plenty of cafes in New Mills at the end.

Warnings: There are three crossings of the busy A6; use the controlled crossings nearby rather than crossing where the footpaths emerge. Farm tracks may have slow-moving cars. Steps, stiles and gates. Can be muddy.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

Stunning National Trust Lyme Park. A rapid change from town to country, with a road climb out of Poynton before reaching open Peak District country. The eastern half is characteristic Peak walking with hill views, gorse and sheep pasture, rocky farm tracks and many stiles; the western half is gentler, mostly narrow woodland paths winding through farms and beside streams. A short section of disused railway path and canal towpath and with occasional deep mud around gateways. Passes through the National Trust's Lyme Park. Uses a short section of the Middlewood Way, a disused railway now a multi-use route.

Time: 3h30–6h30

Lunch: Lyme Park (National Trust), roughly mid-route, has facilities.

Warnings: A footpath near Hagg Farm has been closed since 2022 due to a dangerous footbridge and is expected to stay closed until at least June 2026; continue along the Middlewood Way to the next bridge and rejoin via the canal towpath. Two higher-speed road crossings near Lyme Park need care. Stiles and ladder stiles throughout, and watch for nettles. Can be muddy.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

An almost entirely off-road, foot-only route using Torkington Park, the Middlewood Way (an old railway line) and the Macclesfield and Peak Forest canal towpaths, with two golf-course crossings and a horse tunnel near Marple locks. Surfaces are largely gravel/packed earth and paved, but with difficult stiles and muddy and narrow stretches in places. Uses the Middlewood Way (NCN 55) and the Macclesfield and Peak Forest canal towpaths.

Time: 2h–4h30

1 end-of-walk reward: the Ring O'Bells

Warnings: Several difficult or wobbly stiles (one with no step) and narrow, muddy stretches make it foot-only. Two golf-course crossings — watch for golf balls (well signposted). A muddy, cambered drop near Marple golf course. Nettles can be high in summer.

Walk details: Slow Ways.