Walks you can reach from East Midlands Parkway by train

Off-road walking and cycling alongside canal and river — a waterside network of paths. Passes the historic Trent Bridge.

Walk details: Derwent Valley Line Community Rail Partnership (local insights).

Parks, river and heritage trail.

Museum of Making

Darley Park

Time: 5h–10h30

6 lunch spots: Darley Park (1h–2h30 in) — Darley Park Terrace Cafe, the Little Darley in the Park, the Abbey Inn, or the Darleys; plus the Joiners Arms (3h–6h in), or the Orangery Café (3h–6h in)

4 end-of-walk rewards: the Alexandra Hotel, the Brunswick, the Victoria Inn, or the Waterfall

Adapted from: the Leicester Ramblers.

Similar walk: North Staffordshire Community Rail Partnership.

Waterways — River Derwent, Derby & Sandiacre Canal and Erewash Canal.

Time: 5h30–11h

2 lunch spots: Canal Cottage Cafe (2h30–5h30 in), or the Navigation (3h–6h30 in)

2 end-of-walk rewards: Peking House, or the Sawley Junction

Adapted from: the Leicester Ramblers.

Largely urban walking on pavements and a riverside path, through parks and along the line of the Derby Canal.

1 lunch spot: Waterside Café

Warnings: Only a few trains a day call at Peartree.

Walk details: North Staffordshire Community Rail Partnership (tips and turn-by-turn directions).

Mixture of off-road cycle path and on-road sections. Part of the longer London-to-Lake-District route.

Walk details: Derwent Valley Line Community Rail Partnership (local insights).

Flat urban canal towpaths and riverside paths along the Sheffield & Tinsley Canal and Five Weirs Walk, past Victoria Quays and the Tinsley locks. An easy waterside start to the trail.

Victoria Quays: A large canal basin in Sheffield constructed 1816-1819 as the terminus of the Sheffield Canal.

The Sheffield & Tinsley Canal: A canal opened in 1819 to link the city with the navigable River Don, famous for featuring in the opening scenes of the film The Full Monty.

Walk details: Penistone Line Trail / Penistone Line Partnership (PDF).

Urban streets, landscaped Victorian cemetery, municipal parkland, narrow wooded valley, open moorland, rugged gritstone edges and a scenic descent into lush valley.

Time: 6h30

Warnings: Can be muddy.

Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Repurposed railway track along the Great Northern Greenway.

Time: 4h30–9h30

2 lunch spots: the Bell and Harp (1h–2h in), or the Three Horseshoes (2h–4h30 in)

4 end-of-walk rewards: the Alexandra Hotel, the Brunswick, the Waterfall, or the Merry Widows

Warnings: Follows a busy road for a sixth of the walk.

Adapted from: the Leicester Ramblers.

Public roads, footpaths and canal towpaths; railway embankments and woodland tracks and grass areas. Extensively documented railway history of the Long Eaton triangle spanning 1840–1968: wagon works, sheet stores and canal-transhipment facilities, with modern flood defences and Ratcliffe Power Station visible.

Warnings: One stretch alongside the River Trent is liable to flooding in very wet weather; beware of traffic turning off the roundabout at Tamworth Road; beware of fast-moving traffic on Fields Farm Road (40 mph). Canal towpath often under water when the river is in flood.

Walk details: Derwent Valley Line Community Rail Partnership (local insights).

Canal, footpaths and roadside footpath.

Time: 4h30–8h30

3 lunch spots: the Anchor Inn (1h30–3h30 in), the Blacksmith's Arms (2h30–5h30 in), or the Moorings (3h–5h30 in)

1 end-of-walk reward: the Boat Inn

Warnings: Last section on busy road.

Adapted from: the Leicester Ramblers.

Good paths, nature reserve, canal and river.

Waterway: nine tenths beside rivers and canals.

Time: 4h–8h

4 lunch spots: Beeston Lock (1h–2h in) — the Riverside Bar, Boathouse Cafe, or Canal Heritage Centre; plus Restaurant Sat Bains (2h–4h in)

Warnings: Check for flooding.

Adapted from: the Leicester Ramblers.

Time: 4h30–9h30

2 lunch spots: the Swan Inn (2h–4h30 in), or Waterloo Lodge (2h–4h30 in)

4 end-of-walk rewards: the Beer House, the Freemasons Arms, the Cherry Tree, or the Oat Hill

Adapted from: the Leicester Ramblers.