Thursday 28th August 2025
I recently experienced an enjoyable round trip through the Derbyshire Dales and Peaks which I thought I’d share.
Alighting from the train at Derby’s railway station a smart new ’25’ plate Kinchbus operated Enviro200 soon arrived on the Skylink branded route from Leicester and Loughborough to whisk me over to the bus station where I noticed some extra touches since my last visit including more prominent signs telling you the departure bay numbers with electronic information available below including maps…
…and journey planning information.
It’s a shame the information doesn’t include the departure bay number of the recommended bus route but otherwise very helpful.
A trentbarton Wright bodied Volvo arrived on time ready to take me over to Ashbourne on its way to Uttoxeter.
The ‘swift’ branded bus was well turned out and successfully hid its 16 year age…
… and even more impressive during the short layover in the bus station between journeys a cleaner climbed aboard and gave the interior a once over removing rubbish that had accumulated during the journey.
This being trentbarton it wasn’t a surprise to find a stock of branded timetable leaflets on board…
… and we left with a good number of passengers although quite a few alighted before we’d left the confines of Derby, but more joined us along the route.
My mission on arrival in Ashbourne was to take a ride on the wonderful route 442 which takes a meander over to Buxton through some beautiful Derbyshire villages and countryside.
High Peak operates the route which comprises seven return journeys on Mondays to Saturdays. I caught the 11:50 from Ashbourne and the Optare Solo arrived 10 minutes earlier from its inward journey.
The 75 minute journey takes you along some narrow lanes…
… as well as offering scenic Derbyshire delights…
… with particular interest in the community of Tissington which has been the estate village of the FitzHerbert family since the 1460s whose hall, erected in 1608, stands in the centre of the village.
The village is accessed through an imposing southern entrance off the Ashbourne to Buxton road via a grand gateway…
… and along an avenue of lime trees.
The route also passes through the delightful village of Hartington at the northern end of Dovedale with its impressive stone cottages and houses and Hartington Hall now the local YHA which dates back to 1611.
Both villages are well worth a stop off to explore.
Sadly the journey wasn’t very busy with only one passenger leaving Ashbourne with me who travelled to Biggin with another joining there, another in Hartington and a fourth passenger for the journey in Longnor with all three travelling through to Buxton. The driver was exceptionally friendly and obviously knew some of the passengers.
From Buxton I headed south to Matlock on High Peak’s TransPeak branded route. This route at one time ran all the way from Nottingham and Derby to Manchester but now provides a popular hourly service between Derby and Buxton.
The journey I travelled on was well patronised with almost all seats taken after leaving Buxton’s Market Square with more passengers alighting and boarding as we passed through Taddington, Ashford in the Water and especially Bakewell where there was a big switch over of travellers.
The bus would have taken me all the way back to Derby but I wanted to explore recent improvements to Matlock’s town centre bus station having been tipped off they’re worth a look by a blog reader a few weeks ago.
Ever since a new A6 relief road and four bay bus station adjacent to the railway station appeared on the scene in 2007, thanks to a developer building new houses and retail in nearby old quarries, there’s been a problem with access to bus stations in the town.
The new road doesn’t allow southbound buses to regain their route after calling at the bus station so in practice they don’t call there but instead follow the old route through the town centre and call at the town’s other bus station.
Matlock probably wins the prize for the smallest town to have two bus stations…
… which has the downside of causing confusion of what bus route stops where.
The town bus station, as opposed to the railway station bus station (which is actually called an “Interchange”), is the one that’s recently been given a facelift thanks to funding from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and Bus Service Improvement Plan. See what you think of the facilities described as “first class” by Derbyshire Dales District Council Leader Councillor Steve Flitter …
The District Council’s celebratory press release boasted of “new internal seating installed, including the provision of accessible seating with higher and lower seating positions, doubling the previous seating capacity…”
“…Real time bus information screens have also been installed by Derbyshire County Council, with individual displays for Stands 1, 2, 3 & 4 along with a summary board adjacent the new waiting area.”
“The works complement improvements undertaken to the bus station including new window openings to bring natural light into the facility, new internal energy efficient LED lighting and CCTV.”
“In addition to the re-laying of external paving, external lighting, new seating and resin surfacing to the external areas outside the bus station and Spa Villas car park, new planters are being installed to the bus station exit. Signage will also be completed.”
The reference to “signage” is interesting as my contact got in touch reporting much confusion over where to catch buses leading to one enterprising local resident adding a makeshift sign to a lamppost advising how to return to Buxton on TransPeak (having alighted at the M&S Food Hall bus stop) which only stops at the “Interchange” on the way north.
When I visited a couple of weeks ago the sign had been removed…
… and I couldn’t see any replacement which would help passengers wondering where to go.
However over at the “Interchange” I did see a helpful poster explaining which bus routes stop at which bus station.
As you might be able to make out in the above photo, the diagram on the left shows colour coded and numbered bus stops at both locations and below there’s a helpful list of routes showing what stops where as in the photo below.
It might have helped to have used different stop numbers for each of the two bus stations, as you have to remember which is the blue 1, 2, 3 and 4 and which is the red 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. and 6
Still, at least that’s an improvement on no information, and in case you’re wondering what bus route that Stagecoach bus is on in the unadorned lamppost photo above…
… it’s on route 160 as confirmed by a rather tatty and unprofessionally produced display in the windscreen.
Ironically that bus stop outside M&S, where there are no seats (accessible or not) nor shelter, is the busiest of all.
While I observed things for a half an hour or so during my visit it was in continual use, whereas the “first class” revamped bus station was eerily quiet.
Next door to the bus station I spotted a building now used by Autoparts looked very much like it was the former trentbarton (or even North Western before that) bus garage. How times have changed.
From Matlock I returned to Derby on East Midlands Railway’s hourly train service calling at such delightfully sounding places as Matlock Bath, Whatstandwell and Ambergate and my circular delightful Derbyshire tour had ended.
Roger French
Summer blogging timetable: 06:00 TThSSu
BusAndTrainUser 
I know it’s a semi-permanent theme of this blog that closing bus stations in favour of roadside stops is a retrograde step, but sometimes the roadside stops are where the passengers want to be.
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In this case it is more that the entrance to the bus station is round the back and requires a bit of a convoluted diversion to reach (crossing a congested roundabout twice and dealing with traffic from the supermarket car park) if passing on the main road so many of the through or southbound services (as they have to loop round from the interchange) just use the stop on the main road saving several minutes. If access could be made from the main road (where the exit is) then I would expect more services to pull in. From a passengers perspective it is a few yards between stops and the bus station, as shown, has seats and better cover.
The layout of roads around Matlock Town Centre are complicated, buses coming from the south can’t cross the river south of the Town Centre and so have to pass north and come back if they want to serve the main Town Centre stops so the Interchange is the main stop for these services. Conversely heading back south services can’t turn right from the bridge across the river from the Town Centre (which is southbound only) to reach the Interchange and so could only serve either the Interchange or Town Centre stops and as the Town Centre stops are reachable they are preferred.
Dwarfer
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I think part of the ex North Western garage may still be used by Trentbarton as I note one of their buses is parked outside in your photo.
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Yes, it’s still used by trentbarton as an outstation of Derby.
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You certainly enjoyed wonderful scenery as I did on 17/07/1978 on Day Three of that year’s Motorcycle Touring Holiday (UGF666R – Honda CD175 – Still on L-Plates). I started that day from West Bridgford stopping at Southwell for the cathedral, Mansfield, Crich where I discovered the Tramway Museum was closed, Matlock for the Peak District Mining Museum, Matlock town centre, Buxton then via the scary “Cat & Fiddle” to Macclesfield, a stop in Wilmslow to visit former Hersham neighbours and a fuel stop with my hotel for the night in Altrincham. The fuel in Wilmslow (1.65 gallons) cost £1.22. It was an eight day tour: northernmost point being Leeds and I had a meandering route home via Bath.
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From my limited experience the TP service between Buxton and Matlock is often cancelled. Of the three times I have tried to take the bus I have only been successful once. Locals in Buxton have commented to me about how often this happens, which must affect passenger numbers
Simon
>
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I’m a fairly regular user and would say not so much cancelled as sometimes hopelessly late. The usual culprits: wildly over engineered temporary traffic light arrangements, usually at the behest of Severn Trent who seem to want to relay their pipes under the A6 10 metres at a time. I am not sure anyone has ever travelled from Matlock to Buxton without stopping at them at least once.
It also suffers from regular gridlocks in Bakewell, Rowsley and Matlock Bath caused by open-mouthed drivers in well polished Honda Jazzes queueing up to find somewhere free to park to then enjoy a look at the shops, or to eat fish and chips.
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started with ex-North Western route 65 Buxton – Ashbourne (with its many variations, including one which was only once a week!) and finished at the very last remaining ex-North Western garage standing, in Matlock.
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Anyone arriving by train in Derby without a ticket/pass valid on all buses should wait for an Arriva service, they charge less than Skylink to the bus station!
There isn’t a local service along a lot of Ashbourne Road out of Derby, so Swift carries a lot of local passengers. The daytime frequency as far as Ashbourne has recently been doubled, thanks to Derbyshire BSIP funding. These buses divert via new developments on the edge of Derby.
442 is one of those routes that look important on a map, but, in practice, carries very few passengers. It is very scenic and highly recommended.
All TransPeak’s are busy in August, though there are a lot of grandparents with ENCS passes taking their grandchildren out for the day, so not necessarily very remunerative. However, this doesn’t apply on a wet Monday in November. Exaggerating slightly, I reckon that the load on the 10.35 from Derby is either 5 or 55 dependent on the weather.
I haven’t stopped off in Matlock since the recent works were completed.
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Whereas anyone at the station wanting to buy a bus-only Derbyshire Wayfarer ticket should ignore Arriva whose drivers have repeatedly refused to sell me one, and jump on Skylink whose drivers are more than happy to fight their ticket machines to sell the Wayfarer ticket which at £9 is excellent value.
Just a pity that Wellglade have set their ticket machines up such that the Derbyshire Wayfarer is hidden deep in the menus!
Love the way that Roger once again fawns over his chums’ companies. It’s getting a bit blatant.
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Personally the walk from Derby station into town through the housing area is a better option, it’s free and quite a nice walk until you reach the edge of the town centre
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Pressed “send” too soon.
I meant to add that the timekeeping of TransPeak could be horrendous when it ran through to Manchester – delays measured in half-hours. Simon Fowler must be unlucky; I’ve not had significant problems since the route was shortened.
Jim Froggatt
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I loved that quote from the District Council Leader. Probably the first time he’s caught a bus all year (assuming that is how he used the bus station?), no doubt escorted by a minion so he didn’t have to work things out for himself.
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Today’s typo – it’s Longnor not Langnor.
The arrangements in Matlock highlight the issues with integrating public transport modes, unfortunately railway stations are not located where travellers want to go in a lot of cases.
On the occasions I’ve used the TransPeak service it has been a bit late in the summer but more reliable in the winter. I recall a trip many years ago when I got a journey operated by Ribble when it was a joint route. That was when I travelled around by Wanderbus ticket for £2.97 per day!
Richard Warwick
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Longnor now corrected, thanks.
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Hi Roger,
I am now taliking about just shy of 40 years ago….things might have changed!!!!!! But, I recall, being able to order from a loose-leaf timetable/flyer – I have forgotten which one it was(!) – three timetable booklets to cover each part of Derbyshire…’Mid, North and South’, I think. Bet you can’t do that anymore! Maybe you can though, because the ‘North’ seems much more ‘plugged in’ to what people want, then the ‘South’ with their ‘P.T.E’s’ – ‘Public Transport Executives’….whether as many are going, nowadays, I don’t know!
Thank you.
Kind regards,
Ben Walsh, Cambridge.
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Derbyshire County Council used the excuse of Covid to stop publishing their timetable books and haven’t restarted them since. The excuse now is, as ever, “too many changes”.
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for a bit of rail nostalgia and quaint station names I recommend “Slow Train” by Flanders & Swann, written in response to the Beeching cuts in the 60s. Ambergate gets a mention.
Steve Thomas
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For scenery, I also recommend the 65 Buxton to Sheffield!
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Two points:
The Swift “direct to Derby from Ashbourne & Uttoxeter” is correct for Ashbourne but hardly for Uttoxeter, with two straightish parts at right angles to reach Derby.
Re. surviving NWRCC garage buildings, when I last looked the one in Higher Road, Urmston was still standing.
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What a lovely round trip. I’ll try and take in Tissington next time I’m in the Ashbourne area.
Do you think a footbridge between Matlock’s two bus stations would be a solution? – it’s less than two hundred years as a direct distance.
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“Two hundred yards” presumably! I guess even that distance is less than the length of the new Swindon “bus station”, so one could justify claiming that both are parts of one bus station.
RC169
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Hopefully the idea of having different lettered or numbered bus stops through the town will make sense , maybe can be changed the next time routes change or are renumbered.
Maybe next year’s running thread can be towns with two bus stations (Nottingham’s contrasting ones were my favourite – Kingston another place where as much is in Eden Street for happenings as it is in the two bus stations.
JBC Prestatyn
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Hello there, until very recently bus stands were A-E at Bakewell Road and 1-4 over at the Interchange. When the Bakewell Road bus station was ‘revamped’ letters were altered to numbers. Matlock Bus Users group have made many suggestions for improvements to information in Matlock, including consecutive numbering of bus stands.
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Good to see you returning to my (extended) patch, Roger, and I’m glad you had such an enjoyable day, even though the skies were grey
The River Dove is actually the boundary between Derbyshire and Staffordshire, so you were in the latter when passing through Hulme End, Warslow and Longnor. This border area is in my opinion the finest part of the Peak District, and is relatively untouristed apart from the Dovedale stepping stones area.
Hulme End was the terminus of the delightful short-lived Leek & Manifold narrow gauge line which only operated for some thirty years from circa 1900. If you had alighted at Hulme End you would have found the original terminus building, which has been restored; there are loos there and displays and pictures showing the history of the line.
Brian Musgrave.
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Did you ever use the old Matlock bus station? This is a major improvement. For an almost bankrupt county council, we must be thankful for small mercies.
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