Kinder Scout and Bleaklow

Having only walked in the Peak District of a few occasions, I felt these experiences were not enough to give the best perspective as to whether I liked that area or not. With both the Lakes and the Dales coming at the top of my walking list as they are similar to my own West Pennines walking area, the Peak District had acquired a reputation all of its own.

Each year, my wife and her sisters go away as a group, leaving us ‘boys’ to hold the fort at home, so this year we decided to do our own thing and planned a weekend’s walking. After searching for some suitably located accommodation, I found what looked like a nice pub in Hayfield – The Sportsmans Inn – and booked us in for a Saturday night. Victor had planned a couple of walks we could do; nothing too far but, as it turned out, certainly testing on our legs.

On the Saturday morning we arrived at the pub, geared up, and set off on our first day’s walk : Kinder Scout. I’d heard so many stories about how boggy and wet the walk could be, and wondered if we’d get a repeat of the same. Our initial part of the walk took us up the side of the Kinder Reservoir and up William Clough – an excellent approach and, when the cloud lifted, great views back down to Hayfield and beyond.

At the top of the clough, we then headed on a well trodden path towards the trig point on Kinder. It was at this point that the weather changed and looked like we’d get the sort of weather that Kinder is renowned for – swirling cloud, bad visibility, and cold winds. However, this soon passed and we reached the trig point quite easily. It was here that Victor advised that this was not the real summit – that was 800m away, in the middle of what looked like a big peat bog. Taking a compass bearing, we trudged towards what we hoped would be the summit, albeit on about 3m higher than the trig point.

Throughout our walk to this point so far, we kept meeting someone who really looked like Cameron McNeish of TGO magazine infamy and, when we were approaching the real summit, he was heading towards us from the other direction. Obviously, it wasn’t who we thought it was, but we exchanged a few words and all went on our merry way back across the bog land.

From the trig point, we headed back to the Kinder Downfall which, I must admit, looked disappointing from up close. Considering the amount of rainfall we’ve experienced in recent months, I would have expected more, but it seemed just like a trickle. Our route back down was a relatively easy one, and here we met our familiar walker again – it turned out he was a Park Ranger, who passed on some information about the Edale Cross. Arriving back in Hayfield, we checked into the pub and hoped for a relaxing evening. From the outside it looked like it needed a bit of TLC but, once inside, this opinion all changed – very nice; good food, nice wine list, good beer, and our room was comfortable. Beer, food and wine was a welcome treat that night, but our day’s walking saw us retiring to bed around 10:00pm.

Breakfast was good the following morning and, after checking out, we headed off to meet up with some friends for our planned 2nd day’s walking – to Bleaklow (aptly named we thought be the end of the day). We’d arranged to meet at the Torside car park located between Wild Boar Clough and Torside Clough. Crossing the Longdendale Trail near the car park, the first part of our ascent was up through some woods towards Wild Boar Clough. Having read an article that classified this as a Grade 2 / 3 scramble, but suggesting it was best attempted in dry conditions, we approached with some trepidation. As we climbed steadily up the Clough, we soon saw why the conditions mattered so much – whilst there wasn’t much water, the rocks were extremely greasy and covered in moss. Our decision to climb around these, up the steep banks, turned out to be the best route up but, looking back down the Clough, the effort rewarded us with fine views.

As we neared the top, the cloud was down and visibility wasn’t good. Taking a compass bearing and hoping to meet the Pennine Way, we set off. Visibility wasn’t good but we found the path we were looking for, as well as the summit spot with some ease. After a brief stop there, we head back along the Pennine Way towards Torside Clough to make our descent back to the car. The high level route down the Clough was another great experience, affording us spectacular views both down and across the valley. The descent as kinder to our legs than the previous day, and we soon arrived back at the car. Before going our separate ways, we head down into Padfield for a farewell beer or two, then set off for home.

Two days of walking turned out better than I’d expected, and I’d certainly go back for another visit subject to the weather conditions which I know can change at any times. We were relatively lucky – good accommodation and two relatively easy walks.

Here’s to the next time…………

Stuart McDonald