A fine frosty day on the peaty plateau - November 1987
Walks with a Camera © Geoff’s Pages 2011
The Peak District is somewhat misnamed - it
contains few summits that one could truly
describe as "peaks". The top of Kinder Scout is a
good illustration of this generalisation - a high
wet plateau - lots of peat, which resembles a kind
of sticky black porridge when exposed and
trodden - and nowhere for the water to escape.
On this day, however, we were spared the worst
excesses of the black porridge - it was frozen hard!
We left home in pretty thick fog, but the forecast promised
clear weather on the tops - and so it was. The fogs of the plains
gave way to mists in the valleys - and fine clear air on the
tops, with distant views to bubbles of cloud rising through the
fog - the power stations on the Trent perhaps.
Starting from Edale, we followed the two
alternative routes for the start of the Pennine
Way - via Grindsbrook Clough and the plateau,
where the rocks resemble Henry Moore
sculptures. Kinder Downfall marks the spot
where some of the water
escapes from the level summit
(the rest leaves in walkers'
boots...). Here we turned back, following the
alternative route via Jacob's Ladder to our starting
place.
An excellent walk, improved enormously by the
frosty weather.
