Another Walk on Kinder Scout, Derbyshire

Since Karen had been offered a trip on a winch down a local mine which she missed out on when a group from Orpheus CC had a trip recently, she took the opportunity to have a visit in the mine. I decided on a walk on Kinder Scout as I had been in the mine on that OCC trip.
I set off after breakfast and parked in the lay-by at Barber Booth in the Vale of Edale. After changing into boots, I followed the road for a short distance to a small bridge and then followed a footpath leading along the side of the river flowing down from Crowden Clough which was the route I was following up onto the plateau of Kinder Scout. Unlike last week, the weather was dry and fine and there were a lot of people camping on the farm site on the other side of the brook. As I was relatively early I saw no one else until after I had reached the head of the valley and passed the short scramble where I saw a man waving his map around. There were a lot of flies around (I have no idea what they were but they were the same ones we saw a fortnight ago and seemed to be busy mating) and he was worried that they would bite him. I told him that they were harmless and were busy mating anyway! He seemed happy with this and continued on his walk.
I followed Crowden Brook for a short distance on the plateau and then headed North aiming to cross to Kinder Downfall. In the clear weather you could see miles into the distance and many of the landmarks on the plateau. I could see Kinder Gates, two large buttresses of gritstone either side of the Kinder River and a welcome sight when the visibility is bad when heading for the Downfall. So, it was an easy walk across the peat, which was luckily quite dry, avoiding the deeper groughs to head for Kinder River. Again, there was very little water in the wide, sandy and flat river bed and soon I arrived at the Downfall with views across to Glossop and Manchester. Now there were many more walkers around as the Downfall is one of the "honey pots" of the plateau.
I had a quick break and after coffee from my flask and my sandwiches, I followed the path along the plateau edge heading towards the trig point on Kinder Low. Before I arrived at Kinder Low, I headed back across the middle of the plateau keeping the obvious landmark of Pym Chair, in the distance, on my right as I headed towards the top of Grindsbrook valley. From there I followed onwards to the cairn on top of Grindsbrook Knoll, where I had been last week in the rain, but this time, instead of following the path back down towards Grindsbrook Booth, I followed the path heading South, which I have never followed before. This path, after a slope and longish flat area, soon dropped down very steeply in the direction of where I had started at Barber Booth. There were quite a few people slogging up the steep path and I decided I would not bother coming up this way myself - it was bad enough going down!
Soon I was at the farm near the small bridge which I had passed earlier and I managed to avoid the temptation of Bradwells ice cream which was being sold from a barn door. A good sales spot as the Pennine Way passes through the farmyard!