Parking
Start at Sheffield Station and finish at Manchester Piccadilly. The 14 station-to-station sections make rail access and a train return practical for shorter walks.
Overview
About The Steel Cotton Rail Trail
Why go
- Fourteen rail-linked sections make shorter walks easy to plan
- A changing route through hills, valley, woodland, meadow and canal scenery
Heads up
- The full point-to-point is a 62-mile walk with about 1,800 m of ascent
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Peak District map
Full mapElevation49–552 m
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
5 active Peak District alerts
- ClosureA54 Cat and Fiddle road closureThe A54 Macclesfield Main Road (Cat and Fiddle) is fully closed to all traffic from 27 July through 30 October 2026 during phase 1 improvement works.Official details
- ClosureHooks Carr (Stanage Popular) car park closureHooks Carr (Stanage Popular) car park will be partially or fully closed from 6 October for four weeks.Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Peak District Tour Guide
Your drive to The Steel Cotton Rail Trail, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Peak District National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
More stories near here in the app
- The Tiny Castle That Took Tolls
- The River That Powered Sheffield
- Practice Trenches above Redmires
- The Little Gardens at Lodge Moor
- 298 audio storiesacross Peak District’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Red Deer, Red Fox, Eurasian Otter, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 88 trails, 76 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Trail guide
Hiking The Steel Cotton Rail Trail
The Steel Cotton Rail TrailThe Steel Cotton Rail Trail is a 61.
The Steel Cotton Rail Trail is a 61.8-mile point-to-point walk from Sheffield Station to Manchester Piccadilly, divided into 14 station-to-station sections. The linked route measures just under 100 km. Its name recalls Sheffield steelworkers and Manchester cotton workers who used the Hope Valley railway to reach the countryside.
What the walk coversThe route crosses hills into the Hope Valley, then passes through woodland and meadows and…
The route crosses hills into the Hope Valley, then passes through woodland and meadows and follows canals into Manchester. Edale–Chinley is one of the tougher sections: Jacob’s Ladder climbs to Kinder moorland on stone slabs, then drops toward Chinley; Mount Famine looks back across the valley. The full route adds up to about 20½ hours on foot and roughly 1,800 m of ascent, so treat it as a series of walks rather than a one-day outing.
Make it workEvery stage starts and ends at a station, letting you stop at the next one and return by train.
Every stage starts and ends at a station, letting you stop at the next one and return by train. Begin at Sheffield Station and finish at Manchester Piccadilly; use the sections to choose a smaller commitment. The line follows existing footpaths and other routes and is not suitable for cycling.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Peak District
248 sightingsRed DeerMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
36 sightingsRed FoxMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
15 sightingsEurasian OtterMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
51 sightingsPeregrine FalconMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
47 sightingsEuropean Fallow DeerMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
54 sightingsWestern Roe DeerMost seen around 7 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Peak District. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
