Just to prove we don't take ourselves too seriously.
Let me get this straight, we go for a long walk in the mountains in an area notorious for bad weather, we take a big bin liner to sleep in, and the overnight stop is the middle of nowhere with no facilities of any kind?Yes
So, forgive me for asking, but suppose I need to go to the toilet, what do I do?
That's easy, I will take a trowel so you can dig a hole.
And what do I sleep on?
The ground.
And what about spiders and slugs and worms and stuff
Ignore them.
And what if it rains?
We sleep under trees so we won't get wet.
But trees leak!
True, but your bag is waterproof.
It might be, but I'm not.
It'll be fun
No it won't
So the conversation went on. Eventually, my wife agreed to come on the trip. She has suffered many times before as a result of my madness (enthusiasm), being made to do things that her girlie friends will not even attempt to comprehend. My mother-in-law has resigned herself to the fact that I will persuade her and she will agree to almost anything, but warns (threatens) me that I had better jolly well bring her back safely or I will have her to deal with. The fear of that above all else ensures a safe trip!
I suggested we invite Tom (my 13-year-old stepson) to come along to get him away from his Play-Station for a weekend. To my surprise everyone thought it a good idea.
So it was that we set off on Friday 21st September with a team of six brave souls. A number had dropped out at the last minute due to work commitments - or did they finally realise that it was in fact, total madness?
The destination was Edale in the Peak District with an overnight camp on the Friday. We arrived about 8:30pm after having stopped for fish and chips in Ashbourne to save cooking. Once the tents were up, we drove down to Edale itself to 'The Rambler' for a couple of beers - to save making cups of tea at the campsite!
Saturday morning soon came and whilst it wasn't actually sunny, there were definitely blue bits in the otherwise dull grey-white sky.
My plan was to leave about 8:00am, but Rich (token Welshman) had other ideas. He was going nowhere until he had purchased and eaten a large bacon and egg sandwich from the farmhouse. So it was that we finally got underway just after 9:00am. Our first objective was Hollins Cross (411m), which was achieved in just over an hour. This is on the ridge above Castleton and on a good day offers excellent views across to the Winnats Pass area. Today it offered nothing of the kind and after a brief rest we walked on to climb Lose Hill (476m). From here, it was a long descent to the Hope Valley, followed by a climb up over Hope Brink and down to the Ladybower reservoir. We followed this for a while before branching off and heading for Rowlee Moor. At was at this point that the sun came out and we had some glorious views over to Kinder Scout to the South and the Upper Derwent Valley to the East.
We plodded on to the summit trig point, at which point, the path disappeared. The original plan was to skirt around the river Alport finding our own path, but in the deteriorating conditions, took the decision to drop down to the stream and up the other side. It was tough going and it was at this point that Jonny (token Scotsman) commented that this was his first and would be his last walking trip in the Peak District - what does the man want - footpaths all day? The drop involved a height loss of about 50m at a gradient in excess of 1:1 which had to be made up on the other side. It was six very tired people that reached the top. From here, it was a compass bearing over the slight rise and down to the catching feature of the Snake Wood and busy A57. Our bivvy site was no more than 1/4 mile from here and we were soon dropping packs and collapsing in heaps (of what I have no idea!).
The bivvy site was a pleasant grassy area just under some trees, with a babbling (must be female) brook close by. We all agreed it was a fine location and we had soon sorted our shelters, some with conventional bivvy bags, one with a one-man tent (shock, horror) and one with a shelter comprising a bit of string between two trees and a throw-over covering - top marks for initiative. Very simple, very practical and apparently, very cheap.
The rest of the evening was spent sorting our shit, eating dinner and chatting about the day. As there was little to do, we all retired by 8:30pm.
Sunday morning saw everyone in remarkably good spirits, even my wife had to admit that it was a superb night, better than she could have imagined and something she would be doing again very soon. Well, actually she said it wasn't too bad, but it amounts to the same thing.
Again it was a 9:00am start and again we had to wait for Rich to have his breakfast - sausage sandwiches this time! Finally, some considerable time after the rest of us, Rich was ready to go. Whilst packing, he admitted that he was known for his tardiness - we would never have guessed! The day started easily enough, but Tom managed to get a soaking less than 5 minutes after starting when he slipped on a rock crossing the stream and filled both his boots with water! Today we had a climb up to Kinder Scout, which was a long pull into ever decreasing visibility.
Eventually we all arrived at the top and set off for Kinder Downfall. Now anyone who has been on Kinder will know that paths are few and far between, walking in a straight line is impossible due to the Peat Groughs and on a bad day, keeping clean is impossible due to the Groughs. So it was that I had map and compass in hand, attempting to maintain pace counting and trying to ensure that everyone was in sight. We arrived smack on the Downfall, so I was quite pleased with my compass work, more so when later on we came upon a team looking for the same place who had been walking for 4 hours from Edale (less than 2 hours away). This kind of terrain is my favourite by a long-way. The feeling of being somewhere no one else has been (although I'm sure thousands have), totally reliant on map, compass and your own skills beats the gonk-like footpath following any day of the week.
The route back followed the edge of Kinder Scout along a good path, which disappears near Crowden Tower, requiring more map and compass navigation to finally arrive at the top of Grindsbrook where the old Pennine Way route comes up. From here it was a steep downhill, which soon flattened off eventually arriving in Edale itself some 2k from the edge of Kinder Scout.
We stopped at the Nags Head for lunch and beers, and it was with some effort that we dragged ourselves out, two-hours later, for the final 40-minute walk back to the campsite.
The car was where we left it and we changed into clean clothes. It was at this point that the so-far, enjoyable weekend soured somewhat. The farmer, in whose field we had camped on Friday, came to us, insisting that we had not told him we would be leaving the car two days and that we must pay for the privilege, but admitted I had told him we were camping elsewhere on Saturday night! He was also miffed that we had used his facilities - Jonny and Rich had used the toilet! We argued the toss, but eventually agreed to pay the (paltry) £5 he was asking for. I for one will not use that site again (Upper Booth Campsite, Edale) and would recommend that no one else does either. For someone who has no doubt suffered from the FandM restrictions, he is hardly promoting good relationship with his customers. What is more, there are plenty of other sites with better facilities (two toilets, two sinks and one shower for the whole site) in the area. I would prefer to pay double for a pleasant welcome than less to a miserable anti-social git like that.
Post Script: On Monday morning, my wife said 'You know, I did enjoy the weekend'. Wow, that is praise indeed
