Chesterfield Canal

Opened in 1777, only twenty-six miles of the Chesterfield Canal is navigable from West Stockwith to Worksop, although sections in Derbyshire are currently being reclaimed. While much of the canal is temporarily abandoned, filled in and in some cases built over, the towing path (sometimes diverted) remains throughout the forty-six miles.

At the Chesterfield end, the towing path will form part of the Chesterfield Link path to the Trans-Pennine Trail between Chesterfield and Staveley, with some diversions where it joins the Staveley to Killamarsh Trail. The towing path, known as the Cuckoo Way, is named after unique vessels which folklore has it were known as Cuckoos and which plied the Chesterfield Canal (the Cuckoo Dyke) in commercial days.

There is much controversy surrounding tis unusual name and its origins, but the canal does pass through a small tunnel at Drakeholes in Nottinghamshire, beneath Cuckoo Hill.
The Cuckoo Way will form a vital east - west link between the Trent Valley Way and the Trans Pennine Trail between Jull and Liverpool, to which it will be linked by a spur at Killamarsh.

For serious walkers, or those just out for an afternoon's stroll, the Cuckoo Way