Captain's Log

Kinder Edge

I'd heard the patter of rain on the tent at times during the night. It had been cold too and I'd had to put on a jacket to keep warm in my summer sleeping bag. I'd awoken at 05:30 and felt good to go. It had taken 2 hours for me to get my breakfast, brew a drink and get everything packed up, on my last wild camp. I'd felt that was a bit tardy and that there was room for improvement. I was ready in 1 hour 55 minutes this time. Small improvements lead to bigger ones over time.

I made my way back down the clough to the edge of the Kinder Scout plateau at the top of Grindsbrook. It was a grey day in the Edale valley. Yesterday's cold wind still lingered, but was now more of a breeze than a gale. I started making my way eastwards along the  plateau's dramatic edge. It's dramatic because of the intriguing rock formations that cling to the top and the superb views down into the Edale valley. This was the shorter day of my Edale Skyline Venture. All I had to do, was walk the rest of Kinder's edge, traverse Win Hill and then drop down to Ladybower Reservoir to complete the Venture.

Three tents had pitched near the top of Ringing Roger. One of the wild campers had stripped his shirt off and was smothering himself in a cloud of deodorant. I suppose that's one way of keeping yourself clean. 

Crookstone

It was easy walking along Kinder Scout's southern edge. Inevitably it had to come to an end and it did that just beyond Jaggers Clough. The name always reminds me of Mr Jaggers, Pip's lawyer, in Great Expectations. I dropped down from the edge and made my way across to Crookstone Hill. There are two small trees on Crookstone Hill that stand together and are aesthetically pleasing. It is probably down to the magnificent backdrop behind them of Win Hill and Crook Hill. Near to the trees is an upright stone with Crookstone inscribed on to it. The track tacked east at this point to pick up the Roman Road that runs along the top of the ridge towards Win Hill.

There was a great view westwards, looking along the valley. I could see yesterday's conquests: Lose Hill, Mam Tor and then Brown Knoll at the head of the valley. I felt that I was getting nearer to the end of the Edale Skyline circuit now.  Just beyond Hope Cross I came across another wild camper and we chatted for a while. Yesterday, he'd spent a midge infested evening on the banks of Ladybower Reservoir. His objective today was to retrace my steps, back along the southern edge of Kinder Scout and find a wild camp spot at the Woolpacks. 'The next day, I'm going to drop down to the campsite at Edale. I'm going to have a few pints in the Nag's Head whilst watching the cricket.' It sounded a good plan to me.

Win Hill

I met a couple of large groups of walkers coming down from Win Hill. Several of them were wearing Tee shirts with a Chuf insignia. I wondered if they were doing the whole Edale Skyline challenge for the Children's Heart Unit Foundation. Win Hill was busy on top. I waited patiently to try and get a picture of the trig without any people in shot, but it was impossible. Every group that arrived seemed to want their picture taken while they stood next to the trig. In the end, I just gave up and took the photo. That cold wind that had chased me all day yesterday, returned with a vengance on the top of Win Hill. It felt freezing and I was glad to drop down its eastern flank to a more sheltered area. I had been secretly dreading going down Parkin Clough. It is steep, slippery and difficult, even without a 15.5 kg pack on your back. In retrospect, I should have taken a more gradual ascent through the woodland to the north, but the end of the Venture was in sight and this was the quickest way down. I didn't rush the descent and it took quite a while to reach the bottom of the clough where the path headed northwards to Ladybower Reservoir. Near the reservoir, I saw a squirrel that had its head in the end of a plastic icecream container that some idiot had discarded on the path. At first, I thought it was dead since I got to within a couple of metres of it without it moving. Eventually though, it started scrambling backwards and after a metre or so it managed to drag the container off its head. It scarpered up a tree. I put the container in my wild camp litter bag. 

The sun started making an appearance as I crossed Ladybower's dam. Perfect timing. Well, I'd completed the Edale Skyline Venture. It had taken two days, but I'd enjoyed every minute of it. The views on the walk are exceptional. Maybe I could do an alternative Edale Skyline as a future Venture. An Edale Watershed walk would include an end-to-end walk across the middle of the Kinder Scout plateau. Now that would be interesting.