This walk of 12 miles (19.4km) passes the Derwent and Howden dams built between 1901 and 1916 were made famous in 1943 when the RAF 617 Squadron used the dams to practise their famous Dambuster raid against the Ruhr dams in Germany.
 Building the Dams was such a big project a village had to be built called
 Birchinlee to house all the workers.
11/05/07

Walking map in the form of a leaflet available from the visitor centre
To see a map of the area click here

Fairholmes information and visitor centre,
refreshments, toilets and cycle hire are also available.

Ducks around the visitor centre

Young ducklings arrive too looking for scraps of food

Upper Derwent Valley

Cycle hire centre at Fairholmes, the route around Derwent and Howden reservoirs is approximately 12 miles, unless you enjoy walking the hiring of a bicycle is recommended.

Derwent Dam

Derwent Dam

Derwent Dam and reservoir

Looking at the ornate side of this bridge

Derwent reservoir

The different shades of green of the trees stand out in this picture

Grey Squirrel

Howden Dam amongst the trees

Howden Dam

The steps provide a water feature beneath the dam

Howden Dam and reservoir

Howden reservoir meets the river Derwent

River Derwent

Continuing along the path around Howden reservoir

Packhorse bridge

Last look at Howden reservoir

This plaque shows Birchinlee Village known as "Tin Town", over one thousand people were involved in building Howden and Derwent Dams, the Dams were built to supply water to Sheffield, Nottingham, Derby and Leicester.