Sunday 18 January 2009

Hayfield to South Head and Kinder Low 17/1/08

This walk started from the car park at Hayfield opposite the campsite. I followed the country road over Bowden Bridge. It had rained overnight and the day had started off slightly overcast. My first destination was Mount Famine - a great view point for the Kinder Scout range and South Head.



From the north Mount Famine looks like a sharp peak, but this is just the start of a grassy ridge that continues to rise in height to its true summit. Here there is a weathered rocky edge characteristic of the Peak District.



The wind was rather blustery, but the cloud was clearing, and by the time I took the photo's above, the sun had come out, and the sky was mainly blue. There was just the odd thin cloud here and there.

My next destination was South Head. This involved a descent off the ridge to meet up with a narrow track. After a five minute walk, I left the track to climb grassy path up to the summit of South Head. This was surprisingly steep, as was the ascent of Mount Famine. When I reached the summit cairn, I got a great view all around.




After stopping a while to take in the great views, I descended the summit and headed east across moorland towards Brown Know. The ground was very waterlogged and there were frequent peak bogs that required hopping over.



As the land rose at Brown Knoll, the path turned north bypassing the summit to head towards Kinder Scout at Swines Back. This area provided a great view of Pym Chair rocks above Jaccobs Ladder, the steep path leading up from the Vale of Edale.



Eventually the path met up with the Pennine Way at the top of Jaccobs Ladder and as it ascended Kinder Scout. This involved a moderately steep climb up towards Edale Rocks and the trig point at Kinder Low.



From here the path crossed the western edges of Kinder Scout to Kinder Dowfall and Sandy Hays. I descended the ridge at Sandy Hays to the Reservoir at the bottom of William Clough. I stood looking back towards the western edges. It seemed really peaceful here listening to the sound of water lapping into the bank below the path. The scene was profoundly inspiring.