walkhighlands

This board helps you to share your walking route experiences in England and Wales... or overseas.
Warning Please note that hillwalking when there is snow lying requires an ice-axe, crampons and the knowledge, experience and skill to use them correctly. Summer routes may not be viable or appropriate in winter. See winter information on our skills and safety pages for more information.

(Squashed round of) Kinder Scout and Bleaklow Hill

(Squashed round of) Kinder Scout and Bleaklow Hill


Postby Alteknacker » Tue May 03, 2022 5:08 pm

Hewitts included on this walk: Bleaklow Head, Kinder Scout

Date walked: 14/04/2022

Time taken: 9.5

Distance: 29.2 km

Ascent: 698m

4 people think this report is great.
Register or Login
free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).

I'd never visited Kinder Scout, but recent reading of Colin Walker's 1977 book "A Walker on the Pennine Way" had rekindled my interest in doing so - in particular to see whether the conditions were as tough as he described them: "A peat Grough or Hagg of modest dimensions draining oozily across the route. Too wide to jump, too deep to ignore! Some groughs are as much as fifteen feet deep and if the peat does sometimes prove reluctant to support the boots then the sandy bottoms of the channels where the water flows are usually firm enough under foot." Who could resist such an enticing description?

Sandwiched between other commitments and, as they say in German, "...average to pig-average.." weather forecasts...

Image
...14th April looked like it would be a goer. But it all came together at rather short notice, and it transpired - unsurprisingly - that potential walking companions were committed. So it would be a solo affair.

I took a look at the map, and, given the linear nature of the two Hewitts I wanted to visit - Kinder and Bleaklow - I tried to work out a route that minimised the potential extent of out-and-back walking; and this is what I came up with - in retrospect, seriously sub-optimal - so many potential alternatives that I didn't spot at the time:

our_route.gpx Open full screen  NB: Walkhighlands is not responsible for the accuracy of gpx files in users posts


It's a kind of partial and "squashed" round - hence the title of this report.

Walking solo means I can start at the preferred time - which is just as the sun just starts to illuminate the sky above the far East. Unfortunately, I'd forgotten that sunrise is a long time after dawn; and having based my departure-from-home time on the published sunrise time, when I arrive - after a two hour drive - at my planned start point (where the Pennine Way crosses the A57/Snake Pass) - at 06.30, the top of the sun is well above the far eastern horizon.

But a still very acceptable ambiance, and I'm full of pleasurable anticipation.

Image20220414-063322. Looking north. Bleaklow is obstructed by Shelf Moor.

Image20220414-063713. But first I'm going to be heading south...

... towards Kinder. The path is well paved with large stone slabs. I rather suspect it weren't like this when Colin Walker traversed the Pennine Way!

Image20220414-064554. In the distance the Kinder Scout Massif.

It's pretty nippy at this hour - the car thermometer was indicating an outside temperature of 3 degrees; yet this wee fellah has managed to survive being born in temperatures around zero.
Image20220414-065722.

Inveterate walkers might be accused of a lack of engagement with contemporary affairs...
Image20220414-070003. ... but clearly not here in loftiest Derbyshire.

An hour or so's very easy walking from the start point along the paved path gets me to ...
Image20220414-073228. ...Mill Hill; from which vantage point this pic looking south towards the Kinder massif is taken.

A short, sharp accent up on to the massif leads to - a decision point: should I follow the Pennine Way; or the path along the edge of the escarpment that drops steeply into the Ashop valley.
Image20220414-075946. This is looking back north, the way I've just come, towards Mill Hill.

From a rational perspective it doesn't seem to matter which way I should take, since whichever I follow on the way out, I'll take the other on the return. So I just plump for the one I hadn't originally planned for, along the top of the southern edge of the Ashop valley.

Image0220414-080227. Looking eastwards along the edge of the southern escarpment. Quite a reasonable path - though its walkability does vary, as I shortly discover.

Image20220414-080248. Same as previous pic, but in pano. I figure it's worth showing these, because one of the key aspects of this moor's character is its horizontal nature - it's essentially flat - and the pano gives some sense of this character.

Image20220414-081932. There's a bit of locally specific gritstone character too...

Image20220414-082116. Again looking east along the escarpment edge.

Image20220414-084525. More local character...

Image20220414-091221. ...including at Fairbrook Naze.

Image20220414-091441. At Fairbrook Naze the path - following the escarpment edge - turns though almost 360 degrees, and takes a rather exhilarating route just below the edge of the escarpment.

Image20220414-091504.

After that it really is into deepest peat hag country - up, down, up, down, up, down...
Image20220414-093016. It seems to take an age to get anywhere at all. However tedium of this part of the walk is greatly reduced by the unmistakable sight of a short-eared owl quartering the area ahead for voles...
Image (library pic)
Great to see they're managing to survive the ceaseless depredations of the shooting community.

Image20220414-104245. Eventually, though, I see a group of rocks that I take to be Crowden Tower

Image20220414-104650. Could be Kinder Scout's highest point (it's almost bang on according to the GPS);

Image20220414-104659. Looking south towards - Pym Chair??? Crowden Tower??? No idea!! If anyone knows, please enlighten me!

Image20220414-105157. But this could also be the highest point...?? From the pics I've seen of the summit, neither of the candidates look right; but it's near enough for me, and I don't spend an more time trying to find a bit of a cairn that looks like the pics I've seen, but head off towards ...

Image20220414-110638. ...Kinder Low, which is about 600m SW of the highest point. But really nothing especially exciting. However here I'm back on the Pennine Way path, on which the going is MUCH speedier.

The path affords an excellent view of the countryside to the west of the massif - here Kinder Reservoir is partly visible.
Image20220414-113042.

Image20220414-115805. Looking back south along the western scarp from Kinder Downfall : not quite as dramatic as the east scarp, but still not bad.

Image20220414-121627. Looking ahead north shortly before the end of the massif, and the drop down into the small col before the short ascent to...

Image20220414-123734. ...Mill Hill again.

Image20220414-125012. After which it's back the way I came in the morning, along the stone-flagged path, pausing only to record this last view of the Kinder massif.

Shortly after this I cross the A57, where there are now many more cars parked, and the Pennine Way is fairly crowded with folk taking short walks. However, after about 3 km the path runs though Hern Clough, a shallow but quite steep-sided little valley, and I don't see anyone else until I scamble up the west bank of the clough to get to...

Image20220414-145048. ...Bleaklow summit - which, it has to be observed, is another one of the underwhelming variety. However, a bare 100 metres or so to the South West are...

Image20220414-150203. ...the much more interesting Wain Stones - also known as the kissing stones, I've somewhere read, for obvious reasons.

Image20220414-150224. From here I take a direct yomp across the moorland to Shelf Stones (centre of the pic) - which is tougher going than the path!

Image20220414-152506. Trig point at Shelf Stones.

From here I follow my planned route, that takes a path to the head of Crooked Clough,

Image20220414-154228. ...and then continues on the south east side of the clough, running in almost the same direction as the Pennine Way, and getting closer to it as one progresses along, before turning away again as the clough itself turns through 90 degrees; at which point I cut up and join the Pennine Way, at a point a few hundred metres from the A57 and the car.

Image20220414-155022. Looking back north towards Shelf Moor, just before I get there.

Summary: A considerably more entertaining walk than I'd really anticipated, mainly because of the variety in the landscape, notwithstanding the fact that its overall character is flat moorland.
User avatar
Alteknacker
Scrambler
 
Posts: 3473
Munros:176   Corbetts:33
Fionas:1   
Hewitts:264
Wainwrights:118   
Joined: May 25, 2013
Location: Effete South (of WIgan, anyway)

Re: (Squashed round of) Kinder Scout and Bleaklow Hill

Postby EmmaKTunskeen » Wed May 04, 2022 5:23 pm

Entertaining report, as ever, and early enough in the morning for some beautiful light :D
User avatar
EmmaKTunskeen
Mountain Walker
 
Posts: 348
Munros:32   Corbetts:28
Fionas:12   Donalds:14
Sub 2000:4   Hewitts:50
Wainwrights:41   Islands:24
Joined: Aug 19, 2016
Location: was West Sussex, now Ayrshire

4 people think this report is great.
Register or Login
free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).




Can you help support Walkhighlands?


Our forum is free from adverts - your generosity keeps it running.
Can you help support Walkhighlands and this community by donating by direct debit?



Return to Walk reports - Outside Scotland

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 13 guests