New Mills Marina Campsite Review + Cross the Millennium Walkway to Fab Food | Van Life UK

Join us on a peaceful van life adventure to New Mills Marina in the heart of Derbyshire, UK! In this episode of Up-Sticks, Gill and Jan (without Milo, due to the heatwave!) explore the serene Caravan & Motorhome Club Certified Location (CL). Discover its fantastic facilities, including spacious pitches, a pot wash area, and immaculately clean showers and disabled-friendly wet room.

We’ll take you on a guided tour of the picturesque marina, past charming narrow boats, and reveal breathtaking views of the surrounding Peak District, including a distant glimpse of Kinder Scout. Experience the tranquility of the Torrs, a stunning gorge where the Rivers Goyt and Sett meet, and marvel at the historic Torr Vale Mill, an 18th-century cotton mill that operated for over 200 years.

Walk with us across the impressive Millennium Walkway, offering unparalleled views of the mill and the dramatic gorge below. We’ll also uncover the UK’s first community-owned hydroelectric scheme and share some fascinating industrial heritage.

Later, we head into New Mills town, navigating its charming, cobbled streets to find our way back to the Torr Vale Tap. Join us for a candid review of their non-alcoholic beer selection and a delicious, enormous Reuben sandwich. Whether you’re a seasoned van lifer looking for your next peaceful stop, or simply interested in exploring hidden gems in the UK, this video offers a comprehensive and relaxing tour of a truly unique destination.

Info: Washer & dryer tokens for laundry: £3.89 from the reception.

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Check out all our vlogs here – https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6vbjcX6RUJaxsJ7bWcDrLF6aeMdFL7PD

00:00 Intro
02:12 New Mills Marina campsite review
08:20 To the Millenium Walkway
13:04 Millenium Walkway, New Mills
15:25 The Tailrace
17:00 The community hydroelectric project
20:20 To New Mills town
25:29 Torr Vale Tap (incl. alc-free beer review)
31:07 SHOCK HORROR NEWS AT THE SPAR SHOP
32:19 Outro

#vanlife #vanlifeuk #travel #travelvlog

Hello and welcome to this week’s episode of 
the Upsticks channel. Hello. And this time, uh, Gill’s come with me. Um, we haven’t brought 
Milo because it’s supposed to be a very, very hot few days. possibly a heat wave, 30° plus, and we 
thought it wouldn’t be very fair on him. So we’ve come without Milo and it’s already very warm. So 
to start with we’re going to sit and have a beer, a packet of crisps and after that we’ll go 
for a little explore. Have I said this is New   Mills Marina? I can’t remember but this is New 
Mills Marina at a little town called New Mills in, sort of, the north – north Derbyshire. 
So we’ll have a little explore in about 20 minutes when we’ve just had a little 
relax. So, we’ll see you soon. See you soon. So, there’s space for five five vans. Well done 
for checking. Space for five vans. Over here, we’ve got a little pot wash area. Um, just one 
sink, but that’s all you need, I think, for five, five vans. And right next door is bathrooms and 
showers. So, let’s have a little look in there. So, there’s a defibrillator in the laundry. So, 
there’s a laundry next to the marina office, which we’ll go past in a minute. So, 
there’s a one large, like a walk-in shower, a wet room really for disabled people as 
well. A lovely big room there. Shower, toilet, etc. And next door is a smaller shower and toilet. 
Very nice, very smart, very clean, smells fresh, etc. So, I’m very happy with the 
facilities here. That’s lovely. And we’ll just have a little wander around the 
rest of the site. Should we start off by looking   at the our personal picnic area, Gill, up here? 
We’ll walk past the boats. So, this is a a marina. So, right next to our pitch, which is pitch 
number five – you just turn up and you pick   whichever one’s free. You don’t sort of pre-book. 
Um, there’s some sort of stone picnic tables, which are rather rustic, aren’t they? And bench 
seats. Oh, and the Yeah, a griddle for having a barbecue, which is quite nice. And strangely, 
yeah, the grass is wet. The grass is wet? You can feel it on your… through your canvas shoes. 
And then down here, I don’t think we can. Oh, we can. Well, we can scrabble down there, can’t we? 
It’s quite a steep bank. It’s the end of the marina.   So, should we just wander down here and walk along 
the boats? Oh, now what’s that boat going by? Oh, look at the view, though. It’s a fantastic view. 
Apparently, you can see Kinder Scout from here.   Oh, wow. That’s perhaps Kinder Scout straight 
ahead over there cuz it’s got a very flat top. So I think that’s in the distance I think is Kinder 
Scout. Yeah. And that boat there has a diesel pump on it and it says “not for road use”. So that is 
obviously a roving um… uh… diesel pump which is… I’ve never seen before. Now we may not be able to 
get out this side – private. You can. Maybe we’ll see. You can cuz I saw the other end earlier. 
Yeah. But this is very… it’s so peaceful, isn’t it? Yeah. First thing we noticed when we drove here 
and opened the door and put our chairs out and decided just to spend an hour having a couple of 
drinks is how peaceful it is. Just the sort of the occasional chug chug chug of a boat. Such a lovely 
sound that is. It is. It’s a lovely chug chug chug sound. Yeah. And uh Oh, there’s one for sale there. 
Oh, shall we start a new vlog all about boating? 45,000. 45,000 was cheaper than 
a – cheaper than our motor motor home. Van, camper van. So there you go. 
Can’t go quite so far in… But no, but there’s some attraction to that. You 
can’t go abroad for example, but you are stuck   in the UK and you’re stuck to just canal routes. 
You could probably go across the channel if we tried. Yeah, why not? Let’s try that then. We’ll get one 
and try. Yeah. Not this year. Up the Seine into Paris. Yeah. Yeah. It’s very pretty here, isn’t 
it? Gorgeous. Gorgeous. So, to stay here in a van, you do have to be a caravan and motor home club 
member. Hello. We’ve just, we’ve just, we’ve just arrived. We tried to check in. Are you… I assume 
you’re staff. “Yes, I am.” Yeah. Yes. Okay. So, yeah, we’ve we’ve checked in with Caravan and 
Motorhome Club members. “Okay, that’s it. Is it number   five? Pitch number five. Wi-Fi code cuz…” Yes, 
please. Not urgently. Oh, go on. Yeah, we’ll take it now. Why not? “You put me off doing 
my strimming.” Is that a problem? We heard you earlier strimming. We thought I bet that’s the 
staff it says on the door ‘doing something   else.’ Boating holidays from here? Oh, right. So, 
you do boating holidays from here as well. “Um, not from here. We do. Okay. So, the ABC marinas do.”
They got three sites. Is that right? Three. Three marinas. “About 10 of them.” Oh, okay. “Um, but we 
do do a day boat.” A day boat. All right. Lovely. “But there’s one of the lets we do.” I’ve spoken to 
a lady here who’s in one of the lets and saying   how wonderful it is. Yeah. I think she’s up in 
that one there cuz they’re up on the balcony now. “An Asian lady?” Yes. Yeah. “In the Bike Rack, on 
her 50th birthday.” Yes. “It sleeps 10.” Wow. Yes. That’s instead of a party, that’s what she wanted 
to do. Lovely time. “They’re going tomorrow.” Yeah,   I’ve had a lovely long chat with her. She gave me 
the tip of how to get to the Millennium. No. Yeah, Millennium Bridge.? “Bridge?” Yeah. Yeah. Which 
is why we came here actually. But it’s just   beautiful here. Never mind looking at the 
bridge. Thanks for the tips. And thank you very much. Bye-bye. Thank you. We will. So, 
we know where we’re going. So, we’ll head towards the Millennium Bridge. This, by the way, 
before we go any further, opposite is a brewery, a micro brewery behind those doors. And that 
opens tomorrow, 12 noon. So, there’s like a micro brewery. You can go in and – I’ll put 
some more information up on the on the screen,   but we might be able to squeeze in there 
before we go, might we? Well, we’ll try we’ll try and get there before we leave. Anyway, 
this is a good introduction to New Mills Marina. Let’s go and find the bridge. This is why we came 
really. That’s what you wanted to see, isn’t it,   Gill? Yes. Yeah. Let’s go and find it. Let’s 
have a peep over this wall. What we got here? Oh, I think it’s I think it’s a car park for 
the Swizzels Sweets factory. Yeah, it looks like it. So, yeah. Swizzels Sweets. Love Hearts. 
Squashies. Drumsticks. I’ve not had a drumstick for years. I love squashies. Oh, yeah. You still 
get them sometimes, don’t they? Give them to you as a little present. Yeah. Little tiny packets. 
Often little complimentary ones, aren’t they? Complimentary packets. So, that’s where Swizzels 
are. Yeah. Yeah. Let’s go over onto the pavement, shall we? Can tell we’re walking in the middle of 
the road. Oh, that’s nice. Interesting. Different. Yeah. See, there’s a sort of a layout of the 
mill as it is now with different businesses. It looks like it’s fully occupied by businesses, 
doesn’t it? And holiday cottages and things like   that. And if we look around the sign here is 
Torr Vale Mill. They’re making the most of it. Is that… There’s a tunnel there. Is that the 
canal or is that a railway tunnel? I wonder. I wonder. We may see a canal boat or a train going 
past. I don’t know which. I like the… I like the um the ladder sticking out and the greenery at 
the top. Yeah. What was it? Not might see Fred   Dibnah. Oh, no. He’s dead, isn’t he? Might see….
Ah, there’s the Millennium Bridge. Uhhuh. So, the Millennium Bridge is the other side of 
the gorge. Look at that. You could almost be in Rome. Look at some Roman ruins. But it’s… 
You could, couldn’t you? But it’s not as old   as that. It’s sort of 18th century. 1790 this 
mill was built and started operation. And I do know that it didn’t finish operating until 
the year 2000. So it operated continuously for 210 years making cotton or I think the last 
thing it did was making towels and flannels and things like that. cotton towels. So, it was 
operating continuously for 210 years. I think we need to find the restaurant / drinking 
bit, don’t we? If we can work out where that is. This seems to be a way down. So, oh, and she did 
tell us there was going to be a load of steps,   didn’t the lady? She did say… 
Yeah. Very friendly lady at the camp. And there’s some signs here. It looks 
like sometimes they light it up like a   son et lumiere of the… Is it? Yeah. Enchanting 
trail of fire and light in October and at Christmas. And at Christmas as well. Oh, 
you have to pay to come to see that. So, we cross this little bridge over this 
is either the Goyt or the Sett. cuz I   don’t know which river this is. Oh, wow. 
Isn’t that beautiful? Isn’t that lovely? Oh, isn’t that beautiful? I can see another… 
Is that another bridge over there? Is it maybe just a pipe going over the river? 
So, this is either the Goyt. We’ll find   out whether it’s the Goyt or the Sett 
and I’ll I’ll put a note at the bottom of the screen. Let’s look the other 
way. What can we see the other way? Well, there’s the old mill. Yeah. So, 1790 till 2000 in operation. So square 
as well, isn’t it? The architecture is sort of… Yeah. They didn’t fancy them up too much. They didn’t 
fancy them up, did they? They just made them very   rectangular. Squared them off. Um, just like 
the ones at Cromford Mill when you – I know you come with me, but you saw the video – and yeah, 
all the mill buildings are very square. Oh, there’s obviously a footpath along by the river. 
Kinder trespass. Kinder trespass 75. Is it Kinder Scout where there was the first trespass uh to 
try and open up footpaths or the land? It was, wasn’t it? Oh, yes. That’s where the first mass,
mass trespass. Yeah. Yeah, there’s obviously a commemorative walk presumably 75 miles long passes 
here over this bridge. Well, this is amazing. It’s a lovely mix of old industry and nature, 
isn’t it? There you can see the length of that ladder. That ladder. Yeah, it’s definitely 
a Fred Dibnah ladder. That is beautiful. Right, let’s go on the Millennium Bridge. Yeah, look, 
the Valerian. It’s… It’s Millennium Walkway. The Millennium Walkway. It’s not a bridge. It’s a 
bridge. It’s a bridge. It’s a walkway. Just to give you this fantastic view of the old mill, 
which is absolutely fantastic, isn’t it? It is. It’s quite stunning, isn’t it? I 
mean, before they built this, well,   I suppose you could try and walk down the bottom 
of the valley. Probably some brave souls did, but it’s not really accessible to 
get these views before, was it? Here we’ve got a weir. I bet that was to control 
the river levels when they powered the mill with water levels. I know later on it was powered 
by steam. I doubt it’s powered by steam by the year 2000. So by then it’s probably electric 
or something. Yeah, I can see a little balcony up there where you can sit out. So I bet 
that’s where you can sit out and have a drink. So, we’ll be going there later, won’t 
we? Definitely. I think so. I think so. We’re going to wander down that bit. Have a look 
what’s down there. Look at the valley there. Right. I don’t think Gill wants to come down here,   but there’s some steps down. And I’m going 
to have a look down, see what I can find. Well, I think this is about as far as you can 
go to be honest. Just down to the water’s edge.   Whoops, nearly stumbled there. So, what have we 
got over here? The rock mill tailrace. What’s a tailrace? Something to do with water management, 
I think. But I don’t know what tailrace means, but as it’s right by the river, it must be 
something to do with controlling the water flow. Right, there we go. Go back see 
Gill. See what we’re doing next. What? Not a lot to see. There’s a tailrace 
down there. A tailrace? A tailrace? You going to ask me what a tailrace is? Yeah. I 
don’t know, but I’m going to find out. I’ll   put it at the bottom of the screen. So, how… how 
did you find out about the Millennium Walkway? I’m just googling places to visit and attractions 
and things. It just came up and it kept coming up and… Shall we wander down there? Yeah, why 
not? Go on. Let’s have a look down there. No idea what’s down here. There’s no 
sign. There are some signs up there on   the the other path. Yeah, but let’s 
go down the the path with no sign. There’s Oh, there’s another 
bridge arch over there. Look,   looks like a road bridge. Torr Mill. 
So, this is the remains of Torr Mill which is the site of… Yeah. Torr Mill built in 
1790 by the Schoefields, known as Schoefield Mill. Let’s have a look around here, 
shall we? Yeah. Let’s go down here. Go through this arch. Let’s go 
through this. Come this way. Come   on. You got to go through an arch. 
An arch. Got to go through an arch. I was trying to avoid the steps myself. Another   big… What a fantastic place this 
is. It’s fascinating, isn’t it? Ah, this might be the hydro electric. 
There is a community or something hydroelect electric station, isn’t it? 
Yeah, this might tell us all about it.   Let’s have a little look. This is 
about wildlife. I think the Yeah, it’s over there. That one over there tells 
that one. Yeah. Yeah. So, I think this might   be the community hydroelect electric plant 
that supplies power to something. I don’t know what. Yes. I like the way over there there’s 
arches and then more arches. Arches on arches. Here we go, Gill. It is indeed the – Oh, it’s the 
UK’s first community owned and funded hydro- electric scheme. Archimedian screws. Okay. 
The sight of the Torr Mill. That’s the one that burnt down, no doubt. And yeah, they now 
generate power. Did it say how much power? Um 240,000 kW hours annually. Enough to power 50 
to 60 houses per year, saving 100 tonnes of CO2. There you go. started in 2008. Well, 
that’s fascinating, isn’t it? So, there’s all these little bridges and things here. 
Another bridge bridge here. Uh, but what we’re   going to do now is we’re going to walk up into 
the town. What does it say? What’s that? Oh, the Torrs. Open to the public 21st September 
1974. Oh, okay. There you go. Yeah. So, this is called the Torrs. There’s more 
bridges. Look criss-crossing this place.   I think this is the set. This is the river Sett. 
So, which joins the Goyt just down there where the um hydroelectric point is. So, if we go this 
way, we should get into New Mills Town Center, which I think is really a big village not a
proper town, I think. And then we’re going to   try and walk across that big bridge. Forgotten 
the name of the bridge already. One where the climbers… Yeah. whatever it was, the B6101 was it? 
Something like that. The B something or other. And then go to the mill to have something to eat and 
drink. That’s our plan. Right. We found somebody else looking at their map and they think this way 
by the river Sett – uh takes us to the town centre. So, it’s very peaceful down here, isn’t it? 
Certainly. sort of all these road bridges above and things and possibly railway bridges and other 
things. Oh, It’s quite a feat of engineering, isn’t it? It is. All these stone bridges and so 
old some of the um I know some of them are burnt down like the mills, but yeah, a lot of old very 
old structures, many of which are still standing. The walkways back that way or the town is that 
way. Yeah. So, that’s I saw a steep climb down to the walkway. But we want to go town center, don’t 
we? So, yeah. And this is a steep cobbled road. Yeah. It’s a sort of town where 
there’s probably lots of steep bits. There’s quite a few car parks for anybody. Yeah, 
just coming for the day. This must be the high street, I guess. It looks like it. What day 
of the week is it? Sunday, isn’t it? So, it’s   closed up. Let’s find that bridge then and go to 
the mill, shall we? And have something to drink. Now, we are a little bit lost. I mean, we know 
exactly where we are, but we’re not quite sure   how to get to the mill for something to eat and 
drink, but we can at least see it. There it is down. Oh gosh, it is a railway line down there. 
There’s a railway station. So, that bridge must be further back that way. Can you work out where 
we are? Where we need to go? We’re here. We’re there. And that’s that’s where the mill is. That’s 
where the mill is. We thought that’s the 611 that we thought there was the… So, where are we again? 
There. So, how do we get to that? We can go down here. I think that says down to the middle…
Let’s go down there, shall we? We’ll follow   our noses. There’s lots of… There’s lots of signs. 
I’ve tried to be clever by ignoring the signs and trying to find the 6101 over that lovely big um 
viaduct-type bridge, but we’ll go this way. which… Yeah. the… Well, there’s this outdoor 
seating areas. Hope we can get a table   outdoors. Yeah. Thought there might be 
more than that with a view. Yeah. Well, may have vacated a table by the time we get there. 
We’ll see. We’ll see. Worst case, we just have to sit outside down that little um, little alleyway 
at the back. It still looks pretty, doesn’t it? Now to Torr Vale Mill – get it right –
and I score these places on quality and quantity of non-alcoholic beers. 
So if they have absolutely none, they get an unhappy face. For every non-alcoholic 
beer, they get a little tankard. And for every one of those that’s what I would call a 
real ale as opposed to Heinekin or Guinness, they’ll get little little sparkly tankard. 
So let’s see what score they get in here. This is where the cheese wheel is as well. 
Gill. A cheese wheel. Look. Oh, right. Cheese wine beer and much more. Yeah. Interesting. Sit inside by the looks of it. Yeah. Do you have any non-alcoholic beers? “Yes, we got Erdinger,
Guinness, Heinekin, [___] berries and cherries” What’s that last one again? “It’s like a cider” So not a beer then… Erdinger please
Torrside Brewing [__] .. Junga Tettnang…. I don’t know what can you recommend… a 
stout you like stout… I like   hazeis “Hazy, hazy one. It’s not very 
local. We’ve got a.. It’s a Belgian hazy beer.” I’m going to try one 
of these. Local… “Junga tettnang” Okay. Right. Well, we need a little drum roll for my 
non-alcoholic beer assessment at this point. Oh,   you’re doing that here. Yeah, I’m doing it every 
anywhere I go. Okay. Uh, so I’m going to give it it’s going to get three tankards. One of which is 
a no, none of which is a sparkly. I wouldn’t call any of these a real. So, three standard tankards, 
which ain’t bad. I have a choice of, you know, um, uh, Erdinger, which I’m drinking, which is a 
little bit nicer than Heineken or something like   that, and uh, Guinness, which I love, but they 
get three standard tankards. Fair enough. So, I’ll do the little I’ll do the little video 
now with the drum roll. Here it comes. Kerching! There we go. And we both ordered a 
sandwich. So, we’re going to sit and have a   sandwich. We’ll show you those when they turn 
up in a few minutes. It’s a Reuben, which has pastrarami. Was it sauerkraut? Sauerkraut. Some 
sort of cheese. Swiss cheese. Swiss cheese in a on foccacia which Italian. So, it all sounds very, 
very nice. So, we’ll show you that in a minute when it arrives. Yes. Very eclectic mix. Yes. 
Yes. How many countries? What’s a eclectic mean? Weird? Eclectic. Yes. I know. I know what you said. Not 
collective. Not. No. No. I heard what you said. Yes. So, what countries are they? Pastrami comes 
from… I don’t know. If you know the answer, put it in the comments. Yes. Swiss cheese 
hopefully comes from Switzerland…. Focaccia is Italian. Italian, I think. and sauerkraut. Germany. German. 
Yeah. So, it is a Yeah, you’re right. It’s a mix   of countries, isn’t it? This Erdinger comes from… Well, 
it’s probably brewed in Burton on Trent where I come from, but originally comes from I don’t 
know. Doesn’t say. It sounds like Belgian, is it? Is it Belgian? I think it’s Belgian, 
but I’m not sure. That’s a local beer. So,   what’s that? Local beer. I can’t remember what 
it’s called. It was a Torr. Is is it the name of this…? Is it Torr something? The Torrs brewery, 
brewery. Torrside brewery, which is the one near the campsite. Right. So, there is a brewery 
right next to the site. No, we’ll find out and we’ll put a little 
note in the comments. Was it the two types of hops remember? There was quite a few, weren’t there? 
It’s the one that was named after two hops that we never heard of. Yeah. So, we’ll double check 
that. We’ll put it in the comments right now. So, it’s a luxury one. We get a stonking 
big bit of a focaccia, don’t we? Well, lovely. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you 
very much, sir. Great. There we go, guys. Enjoy.   Thank you. I thought we will. So, what we got? 
We both got this Reuben sandwich with a huge slab of focaccia… Yeah. Crisps. A huge packet of 
crisps. Not just a few crisps and and a few chips. So, we’re going to tuck in and enjoy. Probably 
in 5 seconds you will see a completely empty plate times two. I don’t you know I won’t need 
any more tea now after this cuz it’s quite big,   isn’t it? For a sandwich. 
Yeah. See you later guys. Bye. That was delicious and very very filling. Those 
two sandwiches which were enormous. Hiya. How you doing? Yeah, you can take those. still 
going with the chips or uh No, you can take   them. We’ve stalled completely. Thank you very 
much. Lovely. He’s a very nice waiter as well, wasn’t he? Anyway, where were we? Yes, that 
was that was £7.50 for those sandwiches which   were enormous. And it was big as a main 
course in my opinion. And uh yeah, it was really nice. Really good value. Really 
good value. Really good value. Yeah, the chips. We   didn’t need the chips. We had a little bowl of 
chips. It would have been £15 without the chips, but it was only – it was less than 20 with the 
chips and it was way more than we needed for very nice chips. And the chips, everything was very 
nice. Yeah. Well, I really enjoyed that. Yeah, it was good. It’s good. There’s a little cheese 
place. They do cheese and wine. I think opposite, but don’t want to go in there. Might get tempted. 
I’m stuffed. But we’re going to head back to the campsite now. We’re going to pop to a little 
Spar shop on the way to pick up a couple little   things we need. So, we’ll see you next. Back at 
the van. Yeah, back at the van. Back at the van. Werewolf spotted in Bridlington… Huge news – comma – if true… Yeah, that’s rowlocks innit? Who do they think we are?
Stupid article. Thank you. Thank you. “Thank you. See you.” Somebody’s photographed um 
a werewolf in Bridlington,   Gill. It was in the in the Star newspaper. 
Mmmm? Yeah. Really? Yeah. Werewolf in Bridlington… Really? We’re not going to Bridlington, are 
we? No. That’s all right then… Should be all right. That’s too much back. That’s better. At least   to start with. Back later. Wine 
in the fridge? Yep. Owooooooooh!!!! Old joke… Didn’t think your legs were out. They weren’t. Well, there you go. Ouch. Always. Don’t leave it recording cuz you’ll 
start snoring the rest of it. I can   edit sound snoring if I start snoring. Yeah.