The Pennine Way

Introduction Edale Crowden Globe Farm Slack Top Ponden Thornton Malham Horton Hawes Tan Hill

From the Old Nag's Head Inn, Edale...

Bowes Middleton Langdon Beck Dufton Garrigill Alston Greenhead Twice Brewed Bellingham Bryness Uswayford

Edale to Crowden (26 km, completed 24/8/91)

Like thousands before me, I started from the doorstep of the Old Nag's Head Inn in the village of Grindsbrook Booth on a fine (if clouding over) June day (21 June 1991). Those staying in the Edale Youth Hostel will have a slightly earlier start for a longer day.

The previous day I had arrived in Edale via train (first from London to Manchester and then a local train to here) and had spent the afternoon walking a little along the route to Jacob's Ladder. Today, I followed a path across the road with a stream alongside to my first PW stile. The path lead across the fields (more stiles) to Upper Booth farm (owned by the National Trust). Along the way there were chances to look south to the hills of Rushup Edge and Mam Tor which mark the southern limit of the Dark Peak and the start of the limestone White Peak further south. It then lead right along a gravel road to an information barn for the National Park's High Peak Estate and further to a little packhorse bridge at the foot of Jacob's Ladder path. This is a steep stony path forming a short-cut to the green track to the left. The top is a good spot for a breather and a view into the Vale of Edale. By this time the weather had got worse - low cloud and drizzle.

Edale from Jacob's Ladder

The photo looks down the River Noe back into Edale with Mam Tor on the horizon and an impression of the sharp brims of Rushup Edge to its right.

The path climbs up and around the headwaters of the River Noe. At a sharp turn in the heather, there is a gate and cairn - head straight on to visit the Edale Cross which was a boundary marker for the Royal Forest of the Peak. Further on you break from the path that follows the contour around to the Noe Stool rocks (these are worth a visit), head north uphill to Edale Rocks and then continue uphill to the boulders on Kinder Low. Don't do what I did and wander off to the Ordnance Survey pillar and then head NNE along a faint path. Keep west of the OS pillar and head NNE after Kinder Low on a more obvious path. The path I was on took me into the wilds of the Kinder Scout bog. Eventually I swapped to a NE heading, got to the 'summit' of the plateau and followed a grough flowing northwards to join the River Kinder. A nice sandy walk along the river rejoined the PW at the Kinder Downfall. I had to miss out the section over Bleaklow (dropping down to Glossop - see the Virtual Glossop page) due to the effort and time expended in this unplanned detour. However I came back in August and redid this section.

On that trip I also had a look at the old main route from Edale. This gives an interesting short walk to fill in the day that you arrive in Edale. Head north up the valley from the Nag's Head Inn to a private road and a path to the right over a footbridge onto the hillside. A good path enters the wild and stony valley of Grindsbrook Clough. The stream is followed for a kilometre as it bends to the west and becomes narrower. A lone tree on the other side of the stream signals a crossing to that side and a rougher path up to a northerly bend and a scramble up a steep bouldery gully to the west. There is a surprising emergence onto the flat plateau of Kinder and an abrupt change from stones to bare black peat. This is a good spot to appreciate what you are not going into! Return to the village by a thin path south over Grindslow Knoll and down grassy slopes to join the start of the PW.

The proper route skirts the edge of the bog on rocky ground with the plateau edge to the left, passing over Red Brook and coming around to Kinder Downfall. Along the way, there are nice views down to Kinder Reservoir in clear weather. The waterfall there is not much (except after massive rainfall) but it falls into an impressive gorge carved out by glacial meltwater in the last Ice Age. When the wind is strong and in the right direction, the waterfall is actually blown back over the gorge rim! I stopped for a break - the sheep here can be quite aggressive in their begging for food.

After the Downfall I followed the path around the edge of the plateau (easy and dry walking), dropped sharply down to a wet saddle (crossing the Hayfield-Snake Road path - a good escape route in bad weather) and climbed to the bump of Mill Hill. Here the path forms a muddy trough along the crest of a broad ridge. At Featherbed Moss (referring not to ease of passage but to the white fluffy sheets of cotton-grass), I followed the new route up-slope of the worst of the groughs, but still managed to get mud up to my knees. Most people tend to walk parallel to the actual path which is full of sloppy mud. On an overcast, wet day, this was pretty miserable. The thunderstorm rumbling up behind me just added a final spooky touch.

Coming down to Torside Reservoir

I reached and crossed the Snake Pass road (on my second trip) to take a broad, gravel path up to and across the Doctors Gate path. This is a road of Roman origins but the few visible sandstone paving stones and kerbs date from medieval times. Beyond there the path narrowed and got more muddy as it met the Devils' Dike (a deep and wide grough possibly marking a Saxon boundary). Route-finding was easy - following the dike bottom until a line of posts took me into Hern Clough, following the clough upstream until I climbed to Hern Stones and then a surprisingly dry NNE course to Bleaklow Head and the Wain Stones. The Wain Stones are still straining to kiss and not quite making contact.

The drop down to Torside Clough (a steep, almost gorge-like stream - see the photo to the right) was along a clear path once Wildboar Grain was gained. Finally I dropped steeply to Reaps farm and then followed the road over the dam to the far side of Torside Reservoir. The official PW crosses straight over the A628 road to climb slightly up to Highstones barn and descend again to a lane that leads to the Crowden-in-Longdendale Youth Hostel and telephone at Crowden. However I walked along the road intending to pick up the lane where it meets the A628. The traffic though was so light that I accompanied another walker along the road to the youth hostel. From there I was picked up and spent the night at a great B&B in Hadfield near Glossop.