The route is waymarked with green markers and uses existing footpaths, tracks, quiet lanes, disused railway lines and a canal towpath. The start and finish is at the King's Head pub on Buxton Market Place, where a plaque has been installed by the Peak & Northern Footpaths Society (PNFS). The terrain covers open moorlands of the South Pennines, the limestone scenery of the Derbyshire Dales, woodlands, reservoirs and rural farming countryside. Most of the trail is in Derbyshire but also goes through sections of Staffordshire, Cheshire and Yorkshire. The total ascent is with a highest point of at the summit of Shutlingsloe.