Looking at an evening route down Midshires Way and The Chevin to Makeney/Little Eaton then across to Drum Hill for a play around and then back via Castle Hill
Any ideas on the best route back to Belper Lane End, avoiding roads as much as possible. There is a lack of bridleways in the area, I don’t really want to retrace steps along The Chevin so it might have to take in some cheeky footpaths
Any to specifically avoid?
(Comments that I shouldn’t be riding footpaths not needed, I know this and don’t normally make a habit of it and only planning to do this route during quiet evenings)

Hmm, I’ve explored a lot of the paths in the area and not found anything worth going out of my way for.

There used to be a nice descent down to Duffield Bank near Makeney, but the techy rocky bit at the end got replaced with horrible backfilled wooden steps.

You could take that path, or go via the BW from Holbrook to the Holy Bush. From there, across to Milford and pick up the path past the sewage works, then back up to Chevin Road and over to Blackbrook. From there, you could head up through Handley Wood and pick up the top of Longwalls Lane.

From Milford though, I usually go along Chevin Road to Blackbrook, then Dalley Lane to Belper Lane End. It’s quiet, and the quickest and most direct route. It’s all good once you are up near Alderwasley as you probably know.

Also, the nice descent through quarry woods at Coxbench is off limits these days – the new landowner tolerated riders for a while, but has had enough of being told to eff off by people on bikes on his land :o(

Pretty much what al2000 says.

I live in Ambergate and haven’t found anything of note in that specific area – Belper is in the way!

There are some tracks near Flamsteads School – go up the drive/road to Park Hall, out the other side of the Hall and the track veers left (black dashed line on map) and eventually runs south alongside A38, thentake the bridge over A38 to Openwoodgate. It ain’t exciting, but it’s not road!

http://streetmap.co.uk/idld.srf?x=437543&y=347572&z=120&sv=437543,347572&st=4&ar=y&mapp=idld.srf&searchp=ids.srf&dn=734&ax=437543&ay=347572&lm=0

There are also some old Tar Pits just below bridge over A38 that kids use to rag-around on bikes (look on Google satellite view)…

http://streetmap.co.uk/idld.srf?x=437698&y=347057&z=120&sv=437698,347057&st=4&ar=y&mapp=idld.srf&searchp=ids.srf&dn=734&ax=437698&ay=347057&lm=0

Cheers al
Know the steps you mention and would agree 🙁
Was in quarry woods on Thursday, first time there on a bike in quite a while, know it’s always been cheeky but didn’t see anything different from last few years?
I can’t remember if this bridge is passable, or if the footpath either side of the river is worth using to get for A-B without being on Tarmac

Not looking for anything exciting just a traffic free alternative to Tarmac to get back