The Tissington Trail runs 21 kilometres north from Ashbourne along the trackbed of the former Ashbourne-to-Buxton railway line, threading through the limestone White Peak landscape to Parsley Hay, where it joins the High Peak Trail. It is surfaced and suitable for walking, cycling, and — for much of its length — horse riding. The gradients are gentle, the scenery typically lovely, and the former railway infrastructure (bridges, cuttings, embankments) gives the trail its own distinctive character.
Bike hire is available from the old Ashbourne station car park, which serves as the southern trailhead. You can ride up to Tissington village — a picture-perfect estate village with a lovely church and a manor house dating to Elizabethan times — and back in a comfortable two to three hours. The trail continues through Hartington to Parsley Hay, from where you can loop back through Hartington on country lanes. Ashbourne makes an excellent base for a day on the trail.