The first factory in the modern sense stood at Cromford, in a narrow valley in Derbyshire, and the man who built it was a barber from Preston. Richard Arkwright's cotton mill of 1771 was the first to spin cotton with water power on a large scale, and it set a pattern that spread to the Midlands, Lancashire and across the world. The Derwent Valley Mills, the series of mills and villages that stretch from Cromford down to Derby, were listed by UNESCO in 2001 as the birthplace of the factory system.
Belper, on the river a little below, was the domain of the Strutt family, who built mills, houses, chapels and a school for their workers. North Mill, rebuilt after a fire, is one of the oldest surviving iron-framed buildings in the world, and the rows of workers' houses on the hillside still stand. Cromford has the best-preserved village, with a street of three-storey cottages built by Arkwright, with long upstairs windows for the weavers' looms, and a canal wharf nearby.
The valley is also one of the great motorcycling places in England. The A6 winds through the gorge between Matlock and Cromford, and Matlock Bath, a little spa town of Victorian villas under steep wooded cliffs, is a famous meeting place for bikers, who fill the promenade on fine Sundays. The road is fast and flowing, but the corners are tight and unforgiving in places, the surface can be slippery, and police keep a watch on speed. For a quieter ride, the lanes up onto the Peak District plateau offer open moors, stone walls and long views.
Belper, with twenty-three thousand people, has fuel, a good selection of cafes and bakeries, and a market. Matlock, a few kilometres north, is the other main town, and Heage, a village on the hill, is smaller. A Bakewell pudding is a local speciality, as is the Derbyshire oatcake, a soft pancake filled with cheese and bacon.
The weather in the Peak District is changeable, with cloud and drizzle on the tops. Autumn, when the woods along the river turn colour, is the best season for the Derwent Valley.