Some time ago we were going to go down Crowden Clough but it was wet at the time so we didn't bother. Now I'd got a few days off this week, and yesterday was free. As the weather looked promising I thought I'd see if I could go up Kinder Scout via Crowden Clough, coming down via Ringing Roger (a new part of Kinder to me at least).
As you can see from the maps I had to change my plans a fair bit. Map courtesy of Crown Copyright.
Whilst my usual Walking buddy is still recovering (and for the sake of waiting an extra week or two I can't blame him) I thought I do some walks on my own. So this is my first solo walk, so with some trepidation I find myself at an unusual spot...
Still the trains are fairly regular and there's a pub nearby. The locals though did look a little scary though:
The forecast was for generally clear skies and good visibility, low cloud and light rain late afternoon. As I was expecting to be finished by around 1530, this didn't bother me too much and the view towards Lose Hill suggested the forecast was correct.
After a certain struggle with the camera (making sure the lens is properly attached is a bonus I find) I headed up the Pennine Way from the Pub.
Checking the view from time to time, it seemed the the weather gods were on my side still as I started on the path towards Crowden Clough.
I knew Crowden was rockier than my usual routes up Kinder, but the initial view didn't seem off putting.
In fact the walking was rather straightforward really, lots more crossing of streams than usual but some nice watery features to compensate.
Of course crossing the water means you have to make your own bridges from time to time.
I'm pretty sure, without checking, that Crowden is a similar length to Grindsbrook, but it seems to take much longer as it's more uneven under foot. Well, on the day it was, although the water level was fairly high so in sunnier times it may be more of a walk by the rockery instead of in it.
However it soon starts to shows its character, although here it seems more than manageable.
If you've previously read my ramblings on this ere forum you'll know height and I don't get on. So I have no tolerance for ridge lines and little tolerance of climbs / scrambles. So I'll leave it to your imagination what I thought when I came across this:
Still onwards and upwards I thought, but trying to ignore the upwards bit, I'm not that far from the top now.
Then I came across this:
After cursing I tried. No I really did. I got near the top but couldn't see any way forward at all. Worse than that was the starting of a vertigo thing. To help matters my brain flooded my body with adrenaline which makes my legs and hands a bit wobbly. I hadn't seen a soul all day so if I fell it'd be an uncomfortable wait, so shakily I back tracked and headed for the other footpath that takes you to the bottom of Crowden Tower.
Of course this now coloured my day somewhat, the punch line then being that when I was at the top looking down I could see I was actually only a few metres from a muddy path before a more straight forward climb. That and there was a party of 6 or 7 people coming up the clough as well. Still better safe than a mangled heap lying in ice cold running water eh?
Whilst climbing up you're very sheltered from the prevailing weather. So I was unaware of the windy conditions on top (although Kinder seems windy pretty much all the time), the cloud was coming down and that a light rain had started. I soon found this out though and walked to some sheltering rocks before deciding what to do.
The rocks offered no shelter at all so I ate briefly before following the path to Grindsbrook again. The wind was picking up and whilst the cloud didn't know what to do with itself (it was up and down the rest of the day) the rain had decided it liked the look of these hills and would make itself at home.
So off I went down Grindsbrook.
One advantage of going a different way is that you see things you sometimes miss. Like this bank:
As I walked along the path stretching into the distance...
...I thought to myself well I'll be on the train by 1330, so home for around 3. Hmm... so instead of waiting in the rain at Edale Station I'll be at home, beer chilling in the fridge, soaking in a nice hot bath.
And with that happy thought I headed off home.
© Dazza