Kinder Scout

Saturday 8th October 2016

I wanted to get in a last walk in the Peak District last year before the onset of winter, so with a reasonably good weather forecast I made plans to head up Kinder Scout, which is the highest point in the National Park. This is a hill that I have been up many times over the years, but I felt I hadn’t been up Kinder Scout in recent years with my most recent visit, as far as I could recall, while walking the first part of the Pennine Way five years earlier. Initially I had planned to take the train to Edale, but after missing the train I ended up driving, not to Edale, but to the other side of the hill parking in a layby in the Woodlands Valley not far from the Snake Pass Inn, where I have parked several times over the years. Descending through trees to the River Ashop, I crossed the bridge and rounded the headland to start climbing beside the Fair Brook under patchy cloud. I remember descending this valley many years ago in dwindling light, but I couldn’t remember ever ascending this way so I was looking forward to the prospect.

There were good views up the valley with a clear path underfoot as the stream slowly delves into moorland north of the Kinder plateau. As I approached the astonishing edge of the plateau, the terrain roughened and steepened pleasingly with rock now abounding which made for a fun, easy scramble up the final section onto the perimeter path that encircles the plateau. Most of the Kinder plateau is a boggy moor that is not particularly fun to walk, however the edge of the plateau is littered with great lumps of weathered rock that look spectacular and add to the pleasing walk around the perimeter. Under patchy sunlight and a light breeze I headed along the edge with far reaching views north across the moors of the Dark Peak along a path that, although it deteriorated into bogs occasionally, was nevertheless clear. The weathered gritstone outcrops in many shapes and sizes provided an interesting sight as I made my way along the northern edge of the Kinder plateau.

Eventually the Pennine Way came into view and once I was on that path, turning to the south, the number of people increased dramatically with the path becoming almost crowded, however the quality of the path underfoot also improved due to the popularity. By now the skies, that had been mostly clear, were now becoming leaden and overcast thereby ruining the views for the rest of the day while a cold wind began to blow. The clear path took me to the Kinder Downfall, where there is a dramatic wedge in the side of the plateau driven by the River Kinder as it falls from the moorland top into the lower western moor. There I left the crowds behind and followed the river into the heart of the plateau on the original route of the Pennine Way, which now takes a wide course south of Kinder Scout before climbing Jacob’s Ladder and follows the western edge of the Kinder plateau to reach the Kinder Downfall. After a while I came across two rock buttresses either side of the river that are known to as the Kinder Gates. Despite the grey weather I was happy to be here looking at these highlights of the Kinder plateau, so I stopped and had my lunch.

It hadn’t been my intention to cross the plateau, but after eating I decided that I wanted to continue following, or see if I could follow, the original route of the Pennine Way across the moor. There were marks of footprints going in all directions and it was difficult to know which ones were going in the right direction. I made the mistake of following the river upstream for too long and had to turn back to head east across the boggy, trackless moor. It was at this point that I realised I should have worn my gaiters as my trousers were soon filthy from the moorland peat, but I suppose you can’t get it right every time! I could see other people wandering around the moor and they seemed as aimless as I was, looking at maps and GPS devices to try and determine the correct direction to be going. The featureless terrain was a difficult place to navigate and I rather enjoyed the challenge until eventually I came across some posts with pink ribbon at the top and following these revealed an emerging path that brought me to the Crowden Brook and the southern edge of the plateau.

On reaching the good, clear, very popular perimeter path I turned left in the worsening weather along the southern edge of Kinder Scout past the stunning Grindsbrook Clough where the Pennine Way originally ascended onto the plateau. The perimeter path continues along the northern edge of the valley with an abundance of rock everywhere that is always great to feel under my feet. At the top of Golden Clough I came off the perimeter path and headed back across the moor towards a trig point that could clearly be seen on the horizon. This was not easy as there was no path and many water-logged groughs in the peat were always just a little too wide to jump across, which made it more difficult to cross the moor than it had been earlier. It was navigation that had been the problem then, but now it was the uncrossable water-logged channels in the peak that blocked my way to the destination that I could clearly see. Eventually, with considerable relief and with even muddier trousers, I reached the trig point near the eastern end of Kinder Scout.

The perimeter path is an easy walk north from the trig point and from there I headed west around the spectacular Blackden Clough that had me wanting to climb by that route next time I come to Kinder Scout. Finally I left the perimeter path coming off the plateau following a line of grouse butts back into the Woodlands Valley where I was soon able to return to my car. If the weather had not deteriorated this would have been a fabulous walk, but in the afternoon there had been a cold wind with overcast skies that lessened my enjoyment of the day. Kinder Scout is quite a mercurial hill with many difficult bogs that made this walk quite a challenge even though some parts of the hill is deservedly very popular, in particular the route of the Pennine Way along the western edge. I have always enjoyed the challenge that Kinder Scout presents especially when you strike away from the more popular areas.