Keith and Pete were up for the weekend as it was the OCC Half-Yearly Meeting on Sunday and they were planning on a trip in Mandale Mine with Karen who had been there recently during the week. As this would not take very long I decided to spend the day walking.
The weather forecast was for showers and some wind. I decided on another trip to Kinder Scout and drove to park up at Barber Booth after breakfast. I got my walking boots on and after walking along the road for a short distance I followed the Pennine Way route through a farmyard heading towards Edale village. As I reached the fields past the farmyard I found the wind was very strong and it made sense to try and keep to the lee of the wind so when I reached the path junction with the Pennine Way route dropping down to Edale village past Coopers Farm camp-site I planned to turn left and follow the path up Grindslow Knoll.
When I reached the cairn on the top of the Knoll I was almost knocked over by the wind. I had taken my walking poles out on the way up to help, as I found the wind was getting fairly strong on the way up. Now it was so windy it was difficult to place them on the ground as I walked along as the wind kept blowing them. From her I headed for the paved path along Kinder's edge and then followed this towards the head of the Grindsbrook valley. After passing this I followed the tributary heading in a roughly Northern direction. It was more sheltered in the small valley formed by the tributary and I stopped for a rest and a coffee from my flask at the remains of "Four Jacks" cabin. After the stop I followed the stream for a bit further to see if I could find the remains of an aircraft wreck I had found several years ago in this area but after a quick look around I couldn't find any.
I then headed across groughy ground (groughs are the names given to channels worn in the peat bog) until I reached Blackden Edge on the Northern side of Kinder Scout overlooking the Woodlands Valley. I then headed South to meet the path along the Southern Edge. I noticed some dark clouds moving in from the West and soon it started to rain. The rain was fairly light to begin with, bit soon it became heavier and with all the wind it was coming from all directions! I stopped behind a small boulder to keep my lags dry as I only had a waterproof top on (a Paramo Adventure Light smock) and a guy came past walking in the opposite direction.. It looked like the rain wasn't going to stop anytime soon so I decided to get my waterproof overtrousers on. As I was doing this, the guy who had passed me earlier had turned around and was heading past me again saying "I'm not going that way!" with a wall of white cloud rolling in behind him!
I finished getting the overtrousers on and soon afterwards found a well-sheltered spot behind some rocks on the edge overlooking Edale below and stopped there to have a quick lunch as I was getting hungry. After lunch I continued onwards and passed a group of men dressed in jeans and light jackets, etc who seemed cheerful enough despite the strong wind and heavy rain. I followed the path descending Golden Clough below Ringing Roger. Soon I was making my down the steps leading to the bottom of Grindsbrook Valley and into Edale village. By the Old Nags Head Inn. I followed the Pennine Way track back to the junction with the path I followed earlier up to Grindsbrook Knoll, and then followed the path I had been on earlier to arrive back at the car park.
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