(S/E) Leave Callow Top Holiday Park site past Reception and when the entrance drive bends right and starts to descend, look for a slightly concealed footpath opposite, on the outside of the bend. Cross a stile and footbridge, turn right and follow the hedge on your right to another stile.
At the end of the next field go through a gate and cross the field beyond, with a brick-built barn away to your right. Keep on over a series of further stiles until you pass to the left of a lone tree and reach a stile to the left of a gateway, in the corner of a field at the end of a wood on your left.
(1) Go through a second gateway by a pond (not into the wood) and turn right. Follow this field path, cutting a couple of corners, until you reach a narrow lane.
(2) In dry weather, simply take the path opposite; in wet weather a short diversion along the road right then left avoids a muddy spot, rejoining the field path via a stile on the left opposite Spend Lane Farm. Aiming towards the prominent peak of Thorpe Cloud, a squeeze stile goes through the wall above a copse, beyond which pass through a gate on your left and then swing right. Aim for a gate in the far right-hand corner of this field.
Cross a farm track, still aiming in the direction of Thorpe Cloud, passing a round water trough and inspection hatch and then walking down a steep slope to a stile among trees in the bottom right-hand corner of the field.
(3) Cross a small stream in the valley bottom, then climb the steep slope opposite, aiming to the right of the church. Go through a gate in the wall and turn left. Very shortly, turn back on yourself below the cemetery wall and then walk through the churchyard to the road.
(4) Follow Church Lane and then keep straight along Digmire Lane at a junction by the village hall. Follow the lane as it curves right and leads to a larger road. Cross over, walk through the car park and follow the track beyond to a quarry.
(5) Turn left here and follow the path down Lin Dale. At the famous stepping stones in Dovedale, unless you wish to explore the dale upstream, turn left, staying on the near side of the river.
(6) Follow the river downstream, passing a footbridge near the Dovedale car park (detour for toilets and refreshments) on the opposite bank, until you reach the road near St Mary’s Bridge. Follow the footpath almost opposite, to cross a stile beside a field gate and then a small concrete bridge over a dip in the field.
(7) Keep right through a gate next to a side-stream, which you then follow until it rejoins the River Dove. Follow the river downstream, with woodland on your left, until you reach Coldwall Bridge, where you turn left briefly. Turn right onto a farm drive to pass a squeeze stile by a gate.
(8) Continue to the farm, where you keep right through a clearly marked gate. Follow the path beyond to rejoin the river. Pass through a wooded section, before returning to a series of riverside fields.
(9) As you approach the village of Mappleton, the path leaves the river briefly to bypass a meander then emerges on the road near Okeover Bridge. Take the footpath opposite and follow the river downstream.
After a stile, leave the river and cross the next field diagonally, aiming to the left of a cream-painted house. On reaching the road again, turn right.
(10) Pass a bus stop then, opposite the sports field entrance, turn left (with an ivy-covered sign indicating “Public Footpath to Ashbourne”) and walk in front of the houses to a wicket gate. Climb the slope beyond, over a stile and on uphill.
In the corner of the field go straight on through a gap in the hedge by a footpath sign and continue uphill. At the top of the hill go through a gate and squeeze stile and cross the next field. A fenced path leads past Field 5 and back to the road through Callow Top Holiday Park site. (S/E)
