Hill Skills On Kinder

22.8.13
Walking with; Nobody

Another chance to get out onto the Peak District's finest hill to work on my rope and navigation skills. Kinder is undoubtedly my favourite hill in the area, dramatic, historic and accessible and I decided to access it on this occasion from the lay by at the foot of Chapel Gate. This particular track has been the scene of much controversy over the past 18 months with banning orders for trail bikes and 4x4 and then orders being rescinded. However, early on a Thursday morning it was pretty tranquil and as I struck off towards Brown Knoll, with only a couple of other walkers in sight! The walk to Brown Knoll afforded great views to the Edale valley and the Great Ridge and in the distance were the various rock formations running along the flank of Kinder, Noe's Stool, Pym's Chair and the Crowden Towers.
On reaching the Swine's Back I found a few likely looking crags and spent a productive hour abseiling myself and lowering and retrieving my rucksack up and down the slope, rope work has definitely improved over the last couple of months. Nathan and Manchester Climbing Centre have undoubtedly aided in this, but my poor long suffering wife, Ruthy, has been a willing volunteer to be belayed up and down the stairs in our flat! After a bite of lunch I left Swine's Back and navigated my way through the groughs and peat hags towards the actual peak of Kinder Scout, marked on the map at 636m and a fair distance away from the trig point on Kinder Low. I came up slightly to one side but decided that the cairn to my left was likely to be the spot. Resting at the cairn I watched a couple of Curlew and then, even better, a Golden Plover. I picked my way back to Pym's Chair pausing to eat a couple of bilberries before heading back to Edale Rocks and from there following the path that led me to South Head.
South Head looked tempting, the short, very steep haul up to the summit was an option, but I was in a rush at this stage, needing to pick Ruthy up from Stockport station and time had ticked on. I followed the Bridleway back to my car, being passed only by one mountain biker and finishing in the sunshine feeling pleased to have had a great day further refining my skills! It's a slow process, but my accuracy and ability are definitely improving and my confidence is following with it!

Kinder in Spring

23.4.13
Walking with; Nobody

After the trials and tribulations of a windswept Lake District last week it felt good to be back on familiar ground and to, maybe, just maybe, see Spring finally beginning to stir. Kinder is my "go to" hill, close enough to have a long day out and sleep in my own bed, and yet, wild enough to feel like a proper adventure and different every time I visit.
I set off from Barber Booth, one of a string of hamlets that make up Edale, and followed the River Noe, enjoying the daffodils and budding trees, until I reached Upper Booth Farm. The path follows Crowden Brook through a wooded vale before bringing you out at the foot of Crowden Clough with Crowden Towers and the Kinder edge towering over head. It was a pleasant climb, the gradient rises (for the most part) gently and there was a cooling breeze, none-the-less by the time I'd scrambled up to the foot of the Towers I'd worked up a sweat and an appetite! As I sat and ate the first half of my lunch, I saw my first Swallow of the year, a harbinger of Spring if ever there was one. The good weather had bought out quite a few walkers so I decided to leave the edge and head into the peaty heartland of the massif intent on doing a little "nav work". It was hard work, in and out of groughs and bashing through the heather, but as well as reaching my eventual goal of Crowden Head, I put up a few Grouse, spied a solitary Curlew and managed to come to the aid of a compass-less father and son who'd strayed a little off route......all part of the service!
Another session of cross-Kinder yomping bought me out at Kinder Low and then onto Edale Rocks for the second half of my lunch and some truly superb views down the valley and across to the Great Ridge. My knees didn't fancy Jacob's Ladder so after a brief consultation with my map I continued on to Brown Knoll, detouring to examine the sparse remains of another WW2 plane crash that lay on the Eastern side of the hill. The tops of Brown Knoll reminded me of Black Hill, peat and vast expanses of pale grass waving in the breeze. I located the memorial cairn of John Charles Gilligan complete with the classic biblically inspired walker's epitaph, "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills........." before contouring round Horsehill Tor and dropping back into the valley. The last quarter mile or so had plenty of Spring lambs and that, as well as the Swallow and budding Hawthorns made me optimistic that Spring may finally have made it as far as the Peak District, fingers crossed!

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