Pennine Way

When I first started looking into hiking in the Peak District, my first thought was to do the first leg of the 268 mile Pennine Way.  The high-level foorpath starts in Edale at the base of Kinderscout, goes through Yorkshire Moors, Northumberland before terminating just over the border in Scotland along the backbone of the Pennine hills.  It can be broken into pieces with the help of trains and buses, but from start to finish, it would take me about 3 weeks.  

The first day is especially brutal- it's near 17  really rough miles to your first overnight.  

Instead, I decided that a leisurely explore through the Peak District would be a better way to spend 3 or 4 days.  I was right!  Having the flexibility to get out of the rain and have a lazy morning indoors was much better than pushing through it to get to your end destination.  We did a good amount of walking anyway, and we took our time and went at a leisurely pace.   

The final day of our walk would take us to Hadfeild, where a train would take us to Manchester and another train would whisk us the two hours back to London.  It was 17 miles from Hayfield if we took the route I wanted:  back up Kinderscout and follow the Pennine Way across the empty moors before descending back down to civilization.  

So we woke up early.  It's not hard in May- the sun is up at 5:30 now and the birds will let you know even when the blinds are drawn.  I had told the pub landlord we'd be out before breakfast and to just leave us milk for coffee and cereal and we'd be out.   

I do love getting up with the lark.  Starting a walk on a beautiful early morning is really one of those times to love and appreciate life.   

Plus, the birdlife is astounding.  Curlews, grouse, skylarks, wrens, all letting you know they are alive before spending quiet afternoons tucked into the heather.

 Our path took us back to the shooting lodge, and then continuing up the Snake Path via William Clough, a steep and sometimes scrambley path that follows a rushing stream to the top of Kinder.

At one point, we lost the trail as we followed the stream a bit too closely, and ended up on a sheep-trail on a high ledge with wonderful views back down the valley.

It was rewarding to get to the top, where the summit of Kinderscout is there to greet you, and a nice stone-slab path takes you across the open expanse of Black Moor.

Red Grouse

For years, trail improvements have meant that as long as you stick to the trail, your feet will stay relatively dry.  The Peak District and all its streams was once the centre of the cotton textiles industry.  The dismantled factories now provided the paving stones to keep dry on your way across the moor.  While I normally prefer less pavement hiking, it was a real treat to not be sunk into the bog up to my armpits as legend has most ramblers doing.

We were up early enough to not have a soul on trail with us.  Most people start from Edale anyway and were probably just having breakfast by the time we got this 6-mile jump on them.

The north side of Kinderscout was a lovely way to view it.  It's not the tallest hill in the world, but the high moorland plateau on top is really a unique place.

The Peak District isn't as breathtaking as the Lake District, but it has a quiet emptiness to it that is beautiful in its own right.  

Without the stone slab trails, it would be really easy to get lost up here.  Everything in all directions looks the same.

Our first companions of the day:

Wander off the trail and you have this lovely to contend with:

We crossed the A57 at Snake Pass and continued on across Shelf Moor and Bleaklow.  This is where the paving slabs ended and you got a bit of bog walking in.  The trail twisted and turned and climbed and dipped, following a stream.  Sometimes, it was easier just to walk through the stream than sink in the mud.

The water flowing through peat bogs is quite tannic and takes on a yellow-brown color.

At the edge of Bleaklow, we stopped for a rest.  It was hard, challenging walking.  We had carried around a good deal of the bog with us.

Soon we were following the course of a stream down off the high moors down to Torside reservoir.  Despite exhaustion, I wasn't ready for the ramble to end.  A warm, sunny spring day is something I don't take for granted.

We parted ways with the Pennine Way and followed an abandoned railway track the three miles into Hadfield.

The ride back to London was rather lonely as I think we won the "High Stink" award.  The seats around us remained empty, with a lot of people taking a sniff and then backing away.  Despite trying to freshen up in the train station sink and changing shirts and socks, we were ripe in a way that needed a power-wash and industrial strength cleaner.

That was a lovely toe-dip into the Peak District.  I'm planning on going back- the two hour train ride makes it an easy weekend from London and there is plenty more to explore.

Lantern Pike

The next morning greeted us with torrential rains and howling winds.  After a breakfast and a chat with fellow walkers, we headed back upstairs and drank tea in bed and read books and chatted until the sun suddenly came out around 11.  That's probably the laziest morning we've ever had on the trail.

We decided to do a short hike into Hayfield via Lantern Pike, and decide from there where to go depending on the weather, as this break in the forecast was totally unexpected.  We were talking about taking the train into Manchester just to have some museums or indoor things to do, but the sun got us back in our boots and out the door.

The climb up Lantern Pike was peaceful and lush.  On the other side of the valley, we could see the cloud cover still storming away over Kinderscout and we stayed at the peak for a bit to wait for it to clear.  You could just make out the shooting cabin that marks the otherwise featureless moors.  This is not a good day to be on top of Kinderscout!  You wouldn't see a thing.

Finally, more sun, and the colors started to pop as the wind whipped the clouds past.

We met a nice family out for a walk with sons and dogs- this was their local hike- and they gave us some advice regarding local haunts and trails.  They had been from London but moved up here to telecommute and live a much more peaceful life.

It was an interesting area.  Sandwiched between major cities (you could see Manchester and Liverpool from the top of Lantern Pike) but kind of isolated.  This area is also shaking an industrial past and the walk down the Pike into Hayfield along a former rail line we passed a few derelict factories.  

Ahh, finally, a bit of sun on Kinderscout.

I love the subtle colors of the moors.  The heather is starting to bud, giving the hills a purple tinge.  In high summer, the ground will be awash in purple.

We made our way into Hayfield and waited out a fairly epic thunderstorm in a pub.

The rooftops shining with wet and sun, we decided to go up the Snake Trail up to the shooting lodge.  Despite the heavy rain, it looked like it was clearing.
 

The weather up here is quite wild.  The Peaks have a reputation for sponging up a great deal more rain than the rest of the country.

The bonus of all this wicked weather we ended up being the only people on the moors.

It was lonely and lovely.  After yesterdays traffic jam on Jacob's Ladder, it was a nice surprise to be out alone.  Plus, the Snake trail is historic.  The mass trespass that lead to Kinderscout being open country began on this trail.

We ended up enjoying our walk so much, we took a longer loop back to the pub.

For a lazy rainy day, we ended up doing 8 miles, stopping at pubs and having a leisurely stroll.

Song thrush

I'm a little in love with the Peak District now.

A long walk in the Peak District- Castleton to Hayfield

I had one of those long weekend walks through the Peak District that made me happy that I made all the right choices in life that led me to be there.  

A mere two hour train ride north of London, sandwiched between the bustling metropolises of Manchester and Sheffield with a load of other populous cities in the midlands within an hour of the boundaries, The Peak District is the first area given National Park status in the UK and the second most visited National Park in the world.   Only Mount Fuji in Japan has more visitors.  Last year, Google had a nice google-doodle to celebrate the anniversary of it becoming  parkland.  

It took me more than a year later after seeing that to get here though.  I'm a bit spoiled for choice when it comes to choosing a walking weekend here.  

We took a train to Sheffield and then switched to a small two-carriage diesel affair.  A 4-mile long tunnel under the hills separates the urban sprawl to the park nicely, and we emerged from the dark in a whole new landscape of hills and farms and valleys.  

We disembarked in the town of Hope and made our way on foot to Castleton the long way- instead of taking the road directly, we walked up the hillside and took a much longer trail past Roman ruins and through sheep fields.  

The fact that it doesn't get dark until very late now is a joyfully good time for walking.  Putting in four miles after a two hour commute was a nice stretch before bedtime.

We got to the hostel and bunked down for the night.  I just want to applaud the YHA for everything they do.  Yes, it's bunk beds, but they have a lot of really beautiful properties, very few of them purpose-built.  The YHA Castleton was an old manor home on beautiful parkland nestled in a valley with hills all around.  What a treat to stay there, even if it's in a bunk in what used to be the stable.  The common areas retained their character and there was a lovely library to explore.  I would come back any time and we would have stayed longer and used it as a base but it was only available the one night.  Also, it's cheap as hell to stay.  Even a private room will set you back much less than a B&B, and you always meet nice people in the common rooms and at breakfast.

We set out early.  Lucky us, the trail up loose hill is right in the back yard.  But first, we would have to get past lambs, lambs and more lambs, which takes me quite some time to walk past.

I think the border Leicester sheep win awards for being the goofiest looking of the lambs.  Their oversized ears make them look like they are trying fly.

Finally, passed the undeniable cuteness, we started the long climb up Loose Hill to tackle what is reputed to be the finest ridge walk in the Peak District.

and here it is:

Ridgeline walks are always my favorite here.  The views, the easy walking after a big climb up.

THE WIND.  Oh, gawd, the wind.  It was windy.  Fiercely so.

Even though we obsessively checked the forecast, we weren't thinking it was going to rain until the next day.  Alas, as soon as we got to the top of Loose Hill, big wind-driven drops began to splat on our hoods.

The views from the top though.  Ahh, the next valley over contained the biggest climb in the Peak District:  Kinderscout, the legendary bog-topped hill that inspired a mass trespass that turned this into a National Park.  

The wind and rain didn't seem to deter too many, and towards Mam Tor, we were sharing the trail with dozens of people and dogs and mountain bikers.

In the valley below was Edale, a town quite popular with walkers, as this is the start of the Pennine Way trail.  This was the first official National Trail in England, an answer to the Appalachian Trail in the states.  It's the stuff of nightmares: everyone who has walked it tells stories of bogs, bogs and more bogs on the 268 miles from Edale to the Scottish Borders, following roughly the Pennine Watershed the entire time.

 After a warming lunch at the Penny Pot, a cozy National Trust cafe near the Edale train station, we stopped at the visitor's centre and headed to the start of the Pennine Way.  Already having hiked 7 miles, I thought we would be well behind the crowd, but dozens of people had set out with us.

And yes.  There is a pub at the start of the trail.

Wainwright, the grandaddy of all ramblers in the UK, famously complained about how miserable this trail was, and he was a tough old nut.  Bogs.  So many bogs.  Rain, let's pray for not a sunny day (too much to ask!) but a less-than-soaking rain.  A drizzle perhaps.  He famously said, "I hope you enjoy your walk on the Pennine Way...the walk will do you good.  You won't come across me anywhere along the Pennine Way.  I've had enough of it."

So perhaps it was the most appropriate way to start the trail with the sound of rain beating against my be-hooded ears.

Away we go!

The official trail skirts around Kinderscout before switchbacking up the western side of it.  The top of Kinderscout has been the stuff of nightmares for many people.  A big, flat bog on the top, with no obvious landmarks.  It's easy to sink up to your armpits and lose your sense of direction in the mist up there.

I would normally be all up for an adventure, but the wind was really whipping.  Staying on the good trail became the best idea.

Soon, the rain got bad enough for me to have to put the camera away in a dry bag.

I took it out from time to time to capture a quick shot, but it stayed safe for the rest of the day.

The most astounding this was Jacob's Ladder- a well-paved steep set of switchbacks very early on in the trail.  Here was the line of people going down as we were going up:

 It was some pretty epic people watching.  We saw dozens of people not wearing rain gear.  Jeans, flimsy tennis shoes, sodden sweatpants.  People carrying or bribing small crying children to just take a few more steps.  One large-bottomed woman was more or less being carried down Jacob's ladder by her entire family.  Yeah, they didn't forecast rain.  Honestly, my heart (and wallet) goes out to the Mountain Rescue people here.  They probably get more than their fair share of stupidity rescues.

We followed the trail to the top of Kinderscout and took shelter in a blissfully protected Tor near the top.

With nothing but our eyes and noses peering out of our hoods and our hands starting to go numb, we fumbled with the maps.  Instead of taking a long walk on top of Kinderscout to Kinder Downfall (the highest waterfall in the UK) we decided to get off the ridge and our of the wind and head down to our pub.  It seemed like we were quitting, but it was still a 4 mile walk to warmth, and we began our long trek into the next valley.

Once we left the top of Kinderscout, we didn't see another person for the rest of the day on trail.  It was getting crowded up there.

I had found a cozy roadside pub in the hamlet of Little Hayfield.  With Kinderscout on one side and more hills on the other, I figured it would make a nice basecamp for a couple days.  Plus, if it rained, we didn't have to go out in it to get to our next destination.  It was really stark and beautiful to slog across the moors with the occasional red grouse being scared out of its hidey-hole in the heather.

It was fantastic to get in, shed the sodden clothes (because even waterproofs won't keep you dry when you are out there for hours)  warm up with a hot bath and then sit by the fireplace with a whisky.  Despite the weather, we did over 16 miles of walking, most of it exposed to the wind.  Sleeping well is about the only thing I can do at the end of the day.