Walk 1 - The Chevin from Goods Road (3.75 miles)

This classic Belper walk starts at Goods Road near to the Belper Royal Mail Sorting Office.  Walk past Belper Storage and look for an access bridge over the river on the right.  Walk over the bridge and when you get to the gates of the sewage works turn left down steps and follow the footpath to the right / downstream.  This path follows a fence and emerges onto a track.  Walk left and uphill past a gate to the road. 

Turn left onto the road being careful of traffic and follow this road up and downhill.  As you come to the village of Milford the road crosses the railway line with a tunnel on the right.  Just past this take Jacksons Lane uphill.  The lane soon turns into a footpath which climbs steadily passing over a farm track.

 In the fields on the right you can often see deer as well as pheasants, horses, sheep and cattle. Woodpeckers can often be heard in the trees.

 At the top of the path emerge onto a wider track and turn right to follow this gently uphill.  As the path rises you will pass a former firing range and see some fine views of Belper. 

The Chevin is from the Celtic word Cefn, meaning ridge and forms part of an ancient ridge route used by Celts, Romans and Anglo Saxons.  The former firing range and target wall is dated 1800 and Grade 2 Listed.  It was built for the militia, The Belper Volunteer Battalion, raised by the Strutt family who established the textile factories at Belper and Milford.  The range was used during the Napoleonic War, Boer War and First World War. 

After a while the path starts to descend and narrows.  As it approaches a sharp left bend look for a stone squeeze stile on the right near a bench and sign for The Midshires Way.  Go through the stile and follow the path downhill.  At the road turn left to walk along the road and look for a track on the right just past a 30 sign.  At the end of the short track head through the small gate and bear left downhill heading for a wooden face.  Continue down the flagged path and head towards a combination wood / stone squeeze stile.  Continue downhill walking towards a metal field gate and stone squeeze stile.  Go through the stile and straight across the field to a path alongside the river. Turn right onto the path and follow this downriver along the field edges and through a metal kissing gate.    Continue along this path and go under the access bridge.  Take the path on the right back to the steps and walk back over the bridge to return to your starting point.