Navigating across Kinder Scout

Saturday 8th August 2020

Hot, sunny weather prompted me to head back to the Peak District past the spot where I had been walking the weekend before eventually and parked at the Snake Woodland car park on the Snake Road. Taking the path into the woodland I passed down the valley to the River Ashop where I ignored the path that heads up Ashop Clough and crossing the stream I headed down the valley until I could go no further where I crawled up the peaty bank onto the clear path that follows the side of the valley to the mouth of Fair Brook. On previous visits to the area I have parked in a layby near to the, now closed, Snake Inn, but these were already full and had forced me to park further up the valley on this occasion. The landscape south of the Inn is unrecognizable as the trees have all been felled, which was very disconcerting and has left a dreary scar in its place. On reaching Fair Brook I took the path that climbs towards the Kinder plateau, which I have used on several occasions previously and has become my preferred route to the top. The weather was overcast at this point with dull views but it was still warm so I was soon quite hot as I made my way up the path that follows the northern bank of Fair Brook up the clough to the edge of the Kinder plateau.

Near the top I turned sharp right as soon as possible to cut the corner taking a faint path across the top of the clough up to the rocks of Fairbrook Naze before heading along the perimeter path beside the Edge. My goal on this walk was to reach the top of all the highest points on Kinder Scout navigating across the featureless moorland plateau. Although there is very little variation in height across the plateau, a 625 metre height is marked on Ordnance Survey maps along the northern edge, which was where I was now headed, however, when I reached that point I could hardly find anything there. Turning back towards the top of Fair Brook I saw a faint path heading in that direction so I followed it and marvelled at the change in the vegetation on Kinder Scout since I first came up there in 1998. I remember deep groughs, natural channels in the peat, with black, bare, peaty sides and sparse vegetation on top, but now the plateau is abounding in various plants and the deep groughs have gone. There are even some small trees growing here and there, the tallest being conifers, and it is really pleasing to see how green the top of Kinder Scout now looks.

The faint paths I was following into the interior of the plateau began veering away from where I wanted to go, which was Crowden Head, so I veered off studying my GPS device to ensure I was heading in the right direction across the moor. The ground was quite firm though undulating so it was not easy to walk as I passed vast displays of willowherb now growing abundantly where previously there had been just bare peat. When I reached the grid coordinates for Crowden Head I was disappointed to find hardly any rise in height and nothing but willowherb, so I turned my attention to the highest point on Kinder Scout across the vast, featureless plateau with nothing to aid my navigation except my GPS. Soon after I set off I saw some people heading in my direction and when we got near enough they asked where Kinder Scout was, which is difficult to answer as the whole plateau is Kinder Scout. I directed them west towards the Kinder Gates and the Kinder Downfall before continuing, though first I had to find a way across a wide, though shallow, boggy channel. This was very tricky and I was unable to get across without getting my feet wet. Once across I passed the faint paths of the right-of-way that crosses the plateau from the top of Crowden Clough to the Kinder Downfall and as I reached easier, flatter terrain with sunnier weather overhead I finally reached the 636 metre top of Kinder Scout.

A small cairn on a grassy mound marks the highest point on Kinder Scout, but it looks rarely visited with most people being satisfied with the trig point at Kinder Low. I was satisfied to have reached the summit for the first time so I took my shoes off to let them dry as I had my lunch while gazing across the plateau enjoying the sunshine and marvelling at the vast scenery of the Kinder plateau all around me. Putting my drier shoes back on I crossed the moorland to the trig point at Kinder Low, which was crowded with people so I didn’t stay and turning north headed along the Pennine Way. I no longer had any difficulty with navigation and my only challenge now was maintaining social distance from all the other people walking from Kinder Low to the Kinder Downfall. The weather was now fabulous with stunning views west across the Kinder valley and I was immensely enjoying the walking skipping across the rocky ground, which is always a deeply satisfying surface to walk upon even if it is Dark Peak gritstone. Passing the Kinder Downfall I eventually branched off the path to reach my final top of Kinder Scout at the north-west trig point before returning to the Pennine Way.

Descending steeply off the plateau I ignored the Snake Path and stayed on the Pennine Way climbing up Mill Hill and across Glead Hill and Featherbed Moss. This is a vast, featureless bog, which must have been horrendous before the flagstones were laid and even now is tedious in its flat terrain and monoculture of heather and bog. With hindsight it would have been better to have taken the Snake Path down Ashop Clough instead of this dreary path with the weather now deteriorating in keeping with the terrain. At the top of the Snake Pass I continued along the Pennine Way for a short distance before turning right at Old Woman down to the road again at Doctor’s Gate Culvert and then down the valley of Lady Clough to the car park. The weather was a little mixed on this walk with lovely sunshine early afternoon but rather overcast, though still warm, at other times. This was an interesting walk, although I really should have taken the Snake Path at the end, but it was fun trying to navigate across the Kinder plateau. This is never an easy place to cross so I enjoyed the challenge, though I was helped by perfect weather.