
Ladybower Reservoir 20th September 2025
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- 9.65km route
- Rucking with 20kg's
- Route difficulty - Easy. This route round the reservoir is a great one to start pushing your distance. There is a well laid out path all the way round and toilets available at the visitor centre which is about 1/2 way round if you park on the road.
We decided to go back to one of our favourite places this week for a slightly easier ruck with minimal elevation as we'd had a few challenging ones in the past few weeks, and it's not all about going hard each week. sometimes its nice to take your foot off the gas and enjoy the ride.
As we arrived early, we found a p[lace to park on the A57, but there is plenty of parking at the reservoir visitor centre which is near to the Derwent dam and is a short drive along the side of the reservoir where there are toilets and a café. We followed the path along the far side of the reservoir which takes you through the tree's and past some lovely old houses and a charming little church. You also get to the lost village about 1/2 way to the Derwent Dam which was submerged when the reservoir was filled and can only be found (what remains) when the water level is particularly low like it was today.
We continued the path which took us through the woods along the side of the reservoir, and tree's looks majestic and bright green with the sunlight shining through.
The surrounding woodlands were looking particularly spooky today with the low hanging cloud sitting on the treetops, which made the Derwent Dam look even more imposing stood proud in front of them.
We stopped for our usual breakfast and coffee at a little spot which is usually by the waters edge, but today it looks like we were sat looking down to a small stream running through a ravine which was very strange. The ground looking bright green with all of the fresh new plants shooting up now that he ground has air and sunlight on it.
After breakfast, the path continues through the tree's along the reservoirs banks, and if you know where to look, you can still seem the remains of the Mini which was abandoned years ago when the water is this low. As you emerge from the woodland, the path opens out to lush grasslands before getting back to the road and to the car.
This is a really pleasant walk in a beautiful place and we pretty much had the place to ourselves with the weather being a bit wet. Definitely worth a visit if you haven't been before.