Well sort of a trip report as it's mainly pictures.
The distance was 8.5 miles up the cycle path bisected by Oaken Clough. Still it makes an easy, if protracted, climb onto Kinder. We started at the Bowden Bridge car park, a rather special place for a walker, or at least it should be.
Whilst we've walked Kinders western edge a few times, we've never ventured over the down fall and continued round. This is usually because we start in Edale, for this walk we started in Hayfield - the other side of the hill.
This was different to what I originally intended, but as we had the dog with us and it had been raining heavily the previous week we thought somewhere with less opportunity for losing the dog in a mud pond was better.
As always the OS Map shows the route and is Crown Copyright.
I'll let the pictures do most of the talking to give you a flavour of the day - a thoroughly enjoyable if windy (well this is Kinder) walk.
After a while we come to Edale Cross. Looking slightly incongruous with its comparatively modern signage and protective wall. Still without such protection I suppose it could have been lost centuries ago (sorry, coming over all Time Team there
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We soon reach Edale Rocks and their guardians - the deadly and occasionally cheeky KS Sheep massive.
Someone was obviously having a good time on the day. Tracy Emin would be proud. Or maybe not...
We resume with some more typical KS scenes.
Here's a fetching view of Mermaids Pond. She wasn't around today sadly, but after abseiling down the cliff, fighting off a few errant sheep with hoodies, I evaded the hares and left a small box of chocolates along with a note cancelling the milk. Well she could be gone for ages.
Back to Kinder. Starting with Kinder Downfall.
Ofcourse no report of Kinder Scout can be complete with a few Groughs and Hags. In many ways, especially for plateau hoppers, this is the most typical view of Kinder.
As we progress along the western edge beyond KS Downfall the rock formations show all of the class of the woolpacks, but writ large. This edge whilst the windest section is possibly my favourite. It's much quieter and less congested. A taste of wilderness.
Eventually you reach the way down, which is one of those jarring stone staircases. Today was nice and dry even if the sun didn't appear as forecast. In the wet or ice this could be very dangerous. Yes I'm not a fan.
Still a few nice views as you descend Williams Clough. We took the smaller more 'unofficial' route.
Here we have the woofit doing his best Sir Ranulph staring into the distance impression. Later on he did his best sleeping like a log impression.
One final view over the reservoir.
Oh and why should Bowden Bridge be a special place for walkers? Well, it was the start of the Kinder Mass Trespass in 1932.
© Dazza