Trip to Matlock Bath

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Matlock Bath is probably best known for the Heights of Abraham and its cable car ride up there. The town itself kind of has an almost “sea-side” feel to it - even though it’s in Derbyshire and therefore in the middle of the country! I think the “sea-side” feel comes from having touristy type shops on one side of the road, and the River Derwent on the other. We spent a short amount of time in the town, (which has more fish & chip shops in one place than I’ve ever seen before!) but most of our visit was spent at the Heights of Abraham.

To get to the top of the Heights of Abraham there is an Alpine style cable car to take you up. To get to the station at the bottom there is quite a steep pathway, which could be difficult for wheelchair users. We didn’t use George’s chair on this occasion because it wouldn’t have made it up the gradient of the path, so we made sure he had plenty of opportunities to sit down and rest. The tickets that you buy at the bottom cable car station enable you to access everything at the Heights of Abraham. We purchased an adult ticket, child ticket and I had a carer’s ticket.

Personally, I found the cable car ride terrifying, although John and George were fine with it. I found the swaying very unnerving, and the way that the cable car almost slows to a stop about half way up, while it passes the cable car on the way down, I found to be disconcerting too. I travelled up with my eyes firmly shut, while gripping on to my seat, and telling John and George not to move, to reduce the swaying! On the way down, the operator at the top suggested that I sat with my back to the direction of travel, so I was looking at where we’d been, rather than where we were going. I found doing that made it much easier, and I actually travelled down with my eyes open!

Once we were at the top, and my feet were on solid ground, I really enjoyed the fantastic views that you get from up there. Besides the views, there’s a cafe, a restaurant and a shop near to the cable car station.

There are also two caverns that can be explored, with guides. The cavern at the top has steps down and some low ceilings, so you need to duck as you are walking through. We didn’t go in this cavern, partly because we were unsure how George would manage without his chair, and partly because a lot of the walk involved walking in single file and it would be tricky to guide John, and to make sure he ducked his head in the low parts. There is an option to watch a film about the cavern instead, so that’s what we did.  The lower cavern is reached by a steep path, which signs posted nearby recommend that wheelchair users do not use due to the gradient, so we did not go down there.

There are a few children’s play areas and an old Victorian tower, which can be climbed to get an even better look at the view. The steps go round inside the tower and, to me, looked like the stuff of nightmares! As I wasn’t feeling particularly brave that day, I enjoyed the view from the bottom of the tower!

We had our lunch sitting on a balcony in the cafe and enjoyed a Bakewell slice, while taking in the panoramic views of the town. We found the food to be reasonably priced and it tasted pretty good too.

All in all it was an enjoyable day and we would visit again. Next time though, I will make sure that I sit with my back to the direction of travel in the cable car!