Captain's Log

Skyline

The Edale Skyline is a 22 mile route that follows the crest of the hills around the Edale valley. Or maybe not the crest. I find 'skyline' ill defined. Is the Edale skyline the interface between sky and land  when you are stood near the Nag's Head in Edale? If so, you can't see Win Hill from there, and that hill is normally included in the Edale Skyline route. 'Watershed' routes are better defined since it is possible to determine, by looking at the contours on a map, which way water will run. I think 'skyline' walks offer a bit of flexibility.  The Long Distance Walker's Association website doesn't even appear to have the Edale Skyline in its database. I've known about the walk since I was a nipper and I'm sure its famous (or maybe infamous) to those within commuting distance of Edale. Recognised by organisations or not, the Edale Skyline gets Venture status in my book.

Normally the challenge is completed within one day, but I decided to split it over two, with a wild camp on the plateau of  Kinder Scout. I'd start from the Ladybower Reservoir, simply from a free carparking point of view. Purists might start from Hope or maybe even Edale itself. As I say, 'skyline' gives you a bit of flexibility in defining the route.

Lowlands

The walk started easy enough. From Ladybower's Reservoir, I had to skirt around the eastern foot of Win Hill to reach the Edale Valley. As I made my way along the footpath I caught up half a dozen Duke Of Edinbughers. They had stopped to look at the map. I greeted them as I approached. 'We are trying to find Hope' one of them said to me. I thought about telling them that I was the same at their age, but as you gradually get older your realise there isn't any.  A moment later, it clicked that they were trying to find Hope, the village. I assured them that they were on the right footpath and the strain was released from their furrowed brows. They told me they were camping there tonight. 'You've only an hour of so to go' I told them. They seemed pleased with the news.

I was going to Hope too and I made good progress by field hopping and country lane walking. It was an pleasant start and pretty too. The sun was out, birds were singing and even a farmer waved to me on his ATV (naah... I made that last one up).  First Mam Tor and then Lose Hill came into view.  They formed an impressive skyline. A notice next to the footbridge across the railway line warned that there should not be more than 20 people crossing it at any time. I wondered if that ought to be updated to reflect the growing levels of obesity around today; maybe it should be reduced to 15. I managed to safely get across. I skirted the outskirts of Hope and field hopped my way to the pyramid of Lose Hill, that now dominated my view ahead. My Edale Skyline walk felt like it was starting for real now.

Lose Hill

I met three other groups of DoEers on the climb up to the summit of Lose Hill. They all had their orange rain covers on. I'm not sure whether it is just a safety-visibility  procedure since there was no indication of rain. It was a tough climb up Lose Hill, especially with a heavy backpack. I'd weighed it this morning at 15.5kg. They reckon your pack shouldn't weigh no more than 20% of your body weight, which actually gave me the opportunity to add another 3kg of luxuries if I didn't mind the effort of carrying it. I was also considering the merits of stuffing my face with pies, getting fatter and thus being able to exceed my current 18.5 kg threshold.

I found a group of female DoEers collapsed at the top of Lose Hill. They'd picked the coldest point to rest since there was a strong, cold wind blowing over the summit. At last I could see the full extent of the Edale Skyline. A long ridge stretched westwards to the impressive Mam Tor, Brown Knoll stood sentinel at the top of the valley and Kinder Scout dominated the northern side of the valley. Over the to the east, I could see the craggy top of Win Hill, the last hill on the Edale Skyline. What a view! It was too cold to linger on the top and so I followed in the wake of the DoEers as they progressed along the ridge to Mam Tor.

Mam Tor

The ridge walk from Lose Hill to Mam Tor is wonderful. On the north side you have the splendour of the Edale Valley and on the other a fantastic view over to Castleton and Winnats Pass. There is of course the environmental blight of Hope Cement Works, but you can't have everything perfect in life. The ridge was popular with walkers today. This surprised me since it was midweek. I saw groups of even more DoEers on lower paths on the Castleton side of the ridge; they were certainly honing their skills today. I've dredged my memory, but apart from one Yorkshire Three Peaks outing, I can't remember anything like the DoE scheme being offered to me at school. 

As I climbed up the ridge to Mam Tor the wind got stronger and stronger, until it felt almost gale force at the trig on its summit.  'Wild camping in this might be interesting' I thought as I hung on to the trig for support. I escaped to the leeward side of the summit to stand near the southern cliff and got a tremendous view down the valley to Castleton. It was already gone 4 o'clock and I still had a fair distance to go before getting to my intended camping spot on Kinder Scout, and so I picked up my pace on the descent to the col between Mam Tor and Rushup Edge.

Rushup Edge And Brown Knoll

The good thing about the Edale Skyline walk is that most of the paths are decent and you can keep up a reasonable pace. The track over Rushup Edge was stony but dry and easy walking. As soon as I'd started the climb up to the top of Rushup Edge I lost all the Mam Tor potterers. I even lost the DoEers. It felt like I was walking alone again. The sky greyed a little as I made my way over the ridge and the wind still felt strong and cold. I dropped down its western side and made my way across to the start of the Brown Knoll path.

The path to Brown Knoll has now been completely slabbed and it's as easy as walking through Barnsley town centre, without the necessity of keeping a canny eye out for dog turds. Gone are the days when a Brown Knoll traverse was a bog slog. The slabs really do make it easy and I reached the summit by 17:30.  Its trig had a convenient platform around its base that can serve as a seat for those with small arses. I struggled to get comfy on the narrow plinth as I ate my sarnies. It was a welcome first break of the day though. I was now at the head of the Edale valley; half the Edale Skyline was under my belt. My copious belly drooped over my backpack's waist strap as I tightened it for the last haul of the day to Kinder Scout.

Kinder Scout

'Is that Jacob's Ladder over there' said a fellow descending from Kinder Low. I confirmed that it was. 'I've already been lost once today. I came up by Grinlack...Grinlock...Gronlow...' 'Grindslow Knoll' I interrupted, since he would have gone on forever. 'That's it, yes. Thanks for the help' and with that he went off towards Jack's Lab...Jake's Loo...John's Log...or something like that.

The greyness of the sky that had accompanied me over Brown Knoll, had departed and been replaced with blue skies and golden sunlight. It had turned out to be a very pleasant evening indeed. The stones of the incredible Woolpacks and Crowden Tower glowed golden with the falling sun. By the time I reached the top of Grindsbrook, the rocks were attaining a reddish tinge.  The wind was still strong and so I decided to go into the plateau to find a more sheltered spot for the wild camp. I used a track up a clough that I'd used to get to the centre of plateau  a few times. I couldn't remember any specific good camping spots but I figured there must be one with my name on it somewhere. 10 or 15 minutes after leaving the edge of the plateau, I came across a perfect camping pitch next to a beck. The beck looked dark with peat, but I'd already filtered some water at Crowden Tower and so drinking water wasn't an issue. I could just see Crowden Head over to the west and I watched the sun  dip down near to it, until if finally it disappeared. It got very chilly. It was time to get into the tent and get some rest for tomorrow's walk. 

Today's walk had been over very familiar territory, but was still superb. The walk around the crest (sorry, skyline) of the Edale valley is a true classic. It was nice to be on Kinder Scout so late in the day since normally I'm an early starter and consequently finish my walks before evening, and so miss the 'golden hour'. I was already looking forward to tomorrow and continuing my walk along the edge of Kinder Scout, over to Win Hill and the completion of the Edale Skyline.