A Walk on Kinder Scout

As it was the weekend for “Winster Secret Gardens”, Karen's parents were staying with us for the weekend and together with Karen they were planning to have a wander around the various gardens in the village open for visitors for the day. I was planning for a walk on Kinder Scout.
The forecast at home in Winster wasn't too bad but just after I had parked in Barber Booth and set off on my walk, it began to drizzle a bit and was fairly cool. So I was comfortable enough in my Paramo Fuera Ascent jacket which is windproof and showerproof.
I made may way towards Crowden Brook which is one of my favourite ways up onto the plateau of Kinder Scout as it is usually very quiet and has an interesting, if short, scramble at the end.
There were two groups of a couple of walkers in the distance in front of me and one couple opted for the steep past which leaves the Brook and climbs up to the rocks at Crowden Head while the second couple continued to follow Crowden Brook.
I caught up with them as they were resting and passed by. There were signs of the water having been very high recently with grass bent over and much loose peat left behind at the high water point, probably from the very heavy rain and thunder earlier during the week.
Just as I reached the head of the valley the rain began to get quite heavy and as I was right next to a sheltered alcove I decided to wait for a few minutes to see if it would stop. The couple I had passed earlier arrived as I was waiting for the rain to stop and continued on heir way with the man having a huge grin on his face.
It was soon obvious that this wasn't a short shower and so I got my waterproof overtrousers on and continued on my way.
I turned along the path following the Eastern edge and headed in the direction of Grindsbrook passing several walkers coming the other way mostly wrapped up in decent waterproofs and some obviously wet walkers in not so decent waterproofs – still, they seemed to be enjoying themselves.
Reaching the branch at the head of the Grindsbrook valley I followed this branch for a few hundred metres and at a small walled shelter without a roof, I sat in the slight amount of shelter and had my sandwiches.
Soon it stopped raining and the sun even made a short appearance. After lunch I headed back towards the head of the Grindsbrook Valley and then continued along the edge of the plateau in the direction of Ringing Roger above the village of Edale far below.
There were a few more light showers and then a lengthy dry spell so I removed the overtrousers and put them back in my rucksack.
I stepped over the stile into the fenced area at the top of the rocky ridge of Ringing Roger and then followed down the ridge. As I was doing this a small helicopter painted bright yellow flew past and curved round towards the head of the Grindsbrook Valley and then appeared to hover there for a while and then land. I saw a report on the Edale MRT website later that it was the Yorkshire Air Ambulance attending a call-out for a family of three suffering from hypothermia.
Continuing onwards the rain started again as I neared the path leading up Grindsbrook and just as I neared an old barn with National Park information boards in it, I sheltered in the old barn from the heavy rain for a few minutes. After a few minutes, it seemed to be getting lighter and as I would be sheltered by trees for a while I decided to not bother with the overtrousers and walk the short distance into the village of Edale and stop for a snack at the café at Coopers Camp Site.
Just as I was nearing the café, the rain got very heavy again, and I ran the last few metres and was soon in the dry. The café that used to be here many years ago was made from sections of old railway carriages and was full of character ans was an old favourite of mine. The current café is a modern concrete construction but the tea and cakes are just as nice!
Luckily the rain stopped just as I was finishing my snack and I continued on my way. I passed tow of the Edale MRT land rovers parked outside and started up the route of the Pennine Way when of course, it started to rain again! This time I stopped under a tree and put the overtrousers back on and continued.
As I reached the end of the section of path in the narrow gap by Coopers Farm camp site I saw Tim W and a couple of others. Tim was wearing his Edale MRT jacket and was obviously returning from a “shout” via Grindslow Knoll. Probably connected with the helicopter I had seen earlier. I said “hello” and continued for the last couple of kilometres back to the car at Barber Booth.
Afterwards as it was still relatively early, around 14:15, and there would be no parking around Winster due to the hoards “Secret Gardens” visitors, I decided to have a wander around Hathersage as Outside was having a sale and I had my eye on a Montane Prism 2 jacket!
Unfortunately despite being reduced from £100 to £59, there were no jackets at Outside in my size (XL). I had a quick look at CCC Outdoors across the road and they had one a XXL. I tried it on anyway and it seemed to fit fairly well – the sleeves were nice and long unlike the L size I tried on at Outside. These were for sale at £90. I asked about the price match promise pointing out that they were for sale across the road at £59 but was told that as they weren't an exact match – i.e. the size was different – then they wouldn't match the price. Well with my discount car and the extra 15% in the “this weekend only sale”, it came to about £15 more so I bought it anyway!
I headed for home and stopped to read a text message from Karen saying they were I the Burton Institute having tea. I arrived home at 17:00, fed the cat and had a shower. Karen and her mother, Pat, came in saying they had left her father, Bob, somewhere as he had disappeared while they were looking around the garden in the Dower House... They left again to see the last remaining few gardens and Bob came in to sit and rest from gardens!
I was wearing Paramo Fuera Ascent jacket, Paramo Velez Adventure Light Smock, Keela trousers, Marmot Precip overtrousers, Asolo Fugitive boots, and Osprey Kestrel 38 rucksack.