Why this ride
From Belper it runs 293 km to Belper; allow about 4 h 41 of riding. It goes by way of Jodrell Bank Observatory, Liverpool - Maritime Mercantile City and back through Jodrell Bank Observatory. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Derwent Valley Mills and Liverpool - Maritime Mercantile City
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 293 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 41
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Scenic road chapters
Cat and Fiddle Road
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 77 km this is Cat and Fiddle Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 77 km
- Named road
- Cat and Fiddle Road
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Derwent Valley Mills
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.
Read the complete Derwent Valley Mills write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Derwent Valley Mills is where the day begins. Next is Jodrell Bank Observatory.
2. Jodrell Bank Observatory
You see the dish long before you arrive. The Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank rises out of the flat Cheshire farmland like something from a science fiction film, a white steel bowl seventy six metres across, tilting slowly to follow its targets across the sky. When it was completed in 1957 it was the largest steerable radio telescope in the world, and one of its first tasks was tracking the rocket that carried Sputnik into orbit. The observatory, founded by Bernard Lovell after the Second World War, has been at the forefront of radio astronomy ever since, and it was listed by UNESCO in 2019 for its role in the development of the science.
Read the complete Jodrell Bank Observatory write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Jodrell Bank Observatory comes up about 77 km into the recorded legs. Next is Liverpool - Maritime Mercantile City.
3. Liverpool - Maritime Mercantile City
Liverpool turned its back on the land and faced the sea, and the waterfront shows it. The Pier Head is dominated by three great buildings, the Royal Liver Building with its two clock towers topped by mythical Liver Birds, the Cunard Building and the Port of Liverpool Building, known as the Three Graces, built in the early twentieth century when the city was one of the richest ports in the world. Behind them the docks, warehouses and merchants' houses of the old town tell the story of a city that grew from trade in cotton, sugar, tobacco and, painfully, enslaved people.
Read the complete Liverpool - Maritime Mercantile City write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 146 km into the recorded legs you reach Liverpool - Maritime Mercantile City. Next is back through Jodrell Bank Observatory.
4. back through Jodrell Bank Observatory
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Jodrell Bank Observatory write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Jodrell Bank Observatory, late in the day. Next is Derwent Valley Mills.
5. Derwent Valley Mills
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Derwent Valley Mills write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Derwent Valley Mills. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Derwent Valley Mills to Jodrell Bank Observatory
Derwent Valley Mills → Jodrell Bank Observatory is 77 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Jodrell Bank Observatory to Liverpool - Maritime Mercantile City
Jodrell Bank Observatory → Liverpool - Maritime Mercantile City is 69 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Liverpool - Maritime Mercantile City to back through Jodrell Bank Observatory
Liverpool - Maritime Mercantile City → back through Jodrell Bank Observatory is 70 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Jodrell Bank Observatory to Derwent Valley Mills
back through Jodrell Bank Observatory → Derwent Valley Mills is 77 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
More motorcycle rides nearby
- Cat and Fiddle Road · 20 km