Kinder Scout

Last Thursday I took advantage of the clear weather that day to leap into the car and drive up to the Peak District for a walk around the Kinder plateau. I have walked around most of the top of Kinder Scout, but I had never been all the way around and I had also never been to the trig point at Kinder Low, so last Thursday I set out to correct these oversights while walking in very cold weather. I parked in a lay-by near to the Snake Pass Inn and crossing the road passed through the wood crossing the River Ashop onto open country. Following the path I forded Fair Brook and walked up Gate Side Clough beside a broken wall up onto the edge of Kinder Scout.

The first picture was taken from the rocks at the top of the climb looking out across the Woodlands Valley at Oyster Clough with Alport moor beyond and the eastern end of Bleaklow visible on the horison. Climbing a little further I reached the path and proceeded in a clockwise direction around the edge of the plateau until I reached a point due north of the trig point at the eastern end of Kinder. Striking out across the frosty heather I made my way across to the 590m trig point and admired the view. The deserted, bleak nature of the high moor can be seen in this picture of the eastern trig point. Turning towards Edale I headed towards the southern edge striking the path at the top of Golden Clough.

I was now in plenty of company as I started walking along the most popular half of Kinder Scout. From the top of Golden Clough right round to the top of William Clough there were many people around also enjoying the edges of the Kinder plateau in the clear yet bitterly cold weather. The views of Edale to the south, however, were marred by the low sun and low clouds blowing over the Lose Hill-Mam Tor ridge. I tried taking pictures of the scene but none of them really looked worth putting on this site. So with low cloud threatening to ruin the day I proceeded around the top of Grindsbrook Clough, across the head of Crowden Clough and through the Wool Packs. I have been along this path many times so the many weathered rocks held little interest for me and the paved path was no longer the challenge it once was (besides in this weather the bogs were all frozen solid).

Eventually I reached the Swine's Back (a low hill at the top of the Jacob's Ladder path) and had my lunch. After visiting the Edale Cross, a medieval cross at the high-point between Edale and Hayfield, I returned to the Pennine Way and followed it past Edale Rocks, pictured left, to Kinder Low, the south-westerly Trig point on Kinder and as close to the summit as is possible without a bit of guesswork. The Trig point stands at 633m, while the highest point on the plateau is 636m somewhere north-east of Kinder Low. I had never actually been to this point before, but I don't really seem to have missed anything. Despite this it was a very popular place with many people crowding the summit while I was there. Funny how the other two trig points weren't as popular as this one!

Continuing along the Pennine Way, the Kinder Downfall was clear to see ahead as the next port of call. The waterfall was completely frozen but I still couldn't get a very good picture of it, so instead we'll have to make do with this one taken from the top of the waterfall. The frozen River Kinder can be seen moving off to the Kinder Reservoir in the distance. Rejoining the path after my fruitless clambering on the rocks around the Downfall I headed along the edge until after crossing a fence I headed out across the frozen wasteland to the third and final trig point on Kinder Scout. Judging by the total lack of footprints around the 624m trig point it didn't seem like anyone else had been to visit it recently. In the distance is the wide expanse of the Kinder plateau.

The remainder of the walk involved heading back over the frozen bogs to the northern edge of Kinder, along the top of The Edge around Fairbrook Naze and down Fairbrook Clough in darkening conditions back to the car. This was a fun walk in very cold weather, but I was still a little disappointed. I was hoping for some good pictures of Edale but the conditions just weren't cooperative and also to be honest I was hoping for a little more snow. Last year I did a walk along the northern edge of Kinder Scout in these sort of conditions when the snow was much thicker. I was hoping for similar conditions on Thursday but it wasn't the case. C'est la vie.