Walks you can reach from Whaley Bridge by train

Mostly field tracks with a steep descent and several stiles. Passes the regally-sounding village of King Sterndale.

Time: 5h (3h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)

Warnings: Steep downhill section to the railway line and several stiles.

Walk details: Buxton Town Team (PDF).

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: 4h (2h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)

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

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

Spectacular views. Wild landscape of deep valleys and gritstone peaks and studded with peat bogs and pine forests. Buxton developed as a fashionable spa in 18th-19th centuries using profits from Dukes of Devonshire's copper mines. Macclesfield granted borough charter for market in 13th Century.

Time: 7h (5h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)

Warnings: Stiles; busy road with no pavement and fast traffic.

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

Similar walk: Walk Midlands (inc. GPX).

Reverse direction: Slow Ways (inc. GPX).

Spectacular. Canal towpath with residential roads and riverside paths. Scenic canal walk through Peak District foothills along the Peak Forest Canal.

Waterway: almost all along the Peak Forest Canal.

Time: 4h (2h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)

Warnings: Muddy sections on towpath.

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

Reverse direction: Slow Ways (inc. GPX).

Time: 5h30 (4h walking, 1h30 lunch)

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.

Lyme Park (National Trust)

Time: 5h (3h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)

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.

A delightful walk along canal towpath and through pastures and woods, much of it under tree cover, with farm tracks and stiles and occasional steps. The access to the canal at New Mills is steep. The northern edge of Lyme Park can be visited via a detour. Uses the Macclesfield and Peak Forest canals.

Lyme Park (National Trust)

Time: 4h (2h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)

Lunch: Local shops and pubs in Disley mid-route.

Warnings: A mixed herd of cattle at Barlow House Farm needs care, especially with dogs. The gate at the Red Lane end of Lyme Park is locked at closing time and may be shut without warning in high winds; check National Trust opening times.

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: 3h30 (2h walking, 1h30 lunch)

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.

Moorland plateau ascent from valley station, gritstone scarps, green valleys and hillfort promontory.

Warnings: Can be muddy.

Source: An alternative variant of Buxton Circular via Combs Moss (Saturday Walkers Club).