A Walk on Kinder Scout (another one!)

Karen was leading a trip to the extensions at Water Icicle Close Cavern with Nigel Atkins and others and I had planned a walk on Kinder Scout.
Although the weather forecast was for light rain it remained dry but overcast. As I drove up and over the ridge bordering the Edale valley, through Mam Nick, it was foggy but cleared as I dropped down into the valley. It remained quite patchy once I arrived on the plateau of Kinder with the low cloud blowing in and clearing all during the day.
I parked at the car park at Barber Booth and walked up the road towards Jacob's Ladder then through a farm along the route of the Pennine Way towards the village of Edale (Grindsbrook Booth) passing a sign saying that Edale Moor had been closed to the public (except for Public Right of Ways) yesterday for shooting.
At the signposted junction with the path leading up to Grindsbrook Knoll, I turned along this route following the gradually-rising route to the summit of Grindslow Knoll. First, I removed the hood and sleeves section of my Paramo Third Element Jacket to prevent getting too warm. Here I sheltered behind a boulder for a few minutes and had a hot drink from my flask then replaced the hood and sleeves section once again.
I followed the path leading to the head of Grindsbrook Clough then followed the river channel leading towards the interior of the plateau for a short distance before crossing to another river channel worn in the soft peat and following this to the Northern branch of the Grindsbrook Clough valley.
I continued along the path following the edge of the plateau above Edale Village until after arriving at the rocky outcrop of Ringing Roger where I sat on a sheltered rocky stop to eat my sandwiches.
Following the zig-zag path leading down to Edale Village, I followed the short enclosed path from near the Old Nags Head pub until I arrived back at the junction with the route up Grindslow Knoll.
All that remained was to retrace my route back to where I started at Barber Booth.

 Paved path towards Grindsbrook Booth

 Memorial plaque on rocks, Grindslow Knoll summit

View across to Grindslow Knoll 

From path below Ringing Roger looking along Grindbrook Clough

DCA Council Meeting and A Walk to Minninglow

Karen and I spent the morning at a Derbyshire Caving Association Council Meeting in the morning at Monyash Village Hall. Afterwards we drove to the Minninglow car park on the High Peak Trail near Pikehall.
From the car park, we walked along the High Peak Trail for a while until we reached a Concessionary Footpath leading to Minninglow, a few hundred metres away.
Minninglow is an obvious landmark in the White Peak countryside and can be seen in the distance from many places. It is a large flat-shaped hill with a ring of large trees, which makes it fairly distinctive and easy to spot.
The summit has a cairn measuring around 35metres by 45 metres consisting of at least four chambers. The Low originally started as a single chamber with a small mound probably built during the Neolithic period. Later it was covered by a long cairn with four chambers and later still converted into a massive circular mound, perhaps during the Bronze Age.
From here, we walked across fields back towards the High Peak Trail and passed underneath the Trail through a short tunnel then across a few more fields to the farm of Roystone Grange.
Here we had a look at the remains of the mediaeval farmstead and sat for a while having a snack. Cistercian monks farmed here during the Middle Ages, but there were earlier inhabitants. There is visible evidence of Roman settlement in the area with he boulders in the fields and traces of a Roman Manor House and farm buildings. You can also see remains of a Romano-British “fossil” field system.
Continuing on the path through the farmyard we followed a lane until we arrived back at a minor road leading back to a junction where we turned right to arrive back at the car park.

Views of High Peak Trail

Megalithic structures on summit of Minninglow

Top of Minninglow in the distance

MREW Meeting at Lymm

I attended a Mountain Rescue Council England and Wales meeting at a hotel in Lymm in Cheshire with Bill Whitehouse, who gave me a lift.
It was a kick-off meeting to start the MREW Benevolent Fund.

Walk on Kinder Scout

Karen's parents were due to arrive later in the day and she planned to see them after an OCC trip to Clayton Adit. She started a stinking cold last night before going to bed and woke up feeling worse so planned on staying in for the day.
I had planned another walk on Kinder Scout and was first up at 08:00 and after breakfast and making up some lunch I headed for the car park at Barber Booth. As I drove there it was cloudy with some light rain. The forecast was for a damp start but clearing later in the morning and also a bit windy. As I parked the rain was a bit heavier and there were two people sitting in a car nearby presumably waiting for the rain to stop.
I started getting my boots on and as the rain wasn't getting any lighter, decided to put my waterproof trousers on and also my rucksack cover rather than wait like the others.
Just as well as the rain didn't stop until I was nearly back at the car after 14:00!
Anyway, I headed across the fields towards Grindsbrook Booth (Edale village) and then up Grindslow Knoll. Near the top I caught up with a guy who was walking in front and had stopped for a breather and we joked about what idiots we were doing this in such horrible weather!
I had decided to try and get to Kinder Downfall on the opposite side of the plateau so when I reached the start og the stream which heads down Grindsbrook, I followed that for a while heading North-North-west until it started to veer off towards the West. I then continued NNW for a while crossing heather and luckily not many groughs (deep channels in the peat worn by streams) as these are great to follow along their usually sandy and rocky bottoms, providing they are going in a direction you wan to go. If they are crossing your intended route, however, they are a pain as they have very soft sided and crossing them is not easy.
There were also stretches of flat peat bog with a lot of standing water but surprisingly, I didn't sink in them as I thought I might. The worst bit was only boot-deep or so. At on point I found a Christmas Tree growing in the big all by itself except for another very small example nearby!
I headed generally in a NNW then changed to NW hoping to intersect the main river which flows down to the edge of the plateau and then down the Downfall. Well my navigation was spot on as I spotted the wide, sandy bottom of the river some 100 metres away and as I joined it I was right next to the obvious landmark of two large gritstone buttresses known as Kinder Gates.
I followed the river downstream for a short distance and was soon at the Downfall where I saw some more walkers.
Sitting down on a rock near the top of the Downfall, I took my Paramo Velez Light Smock off and put my Karrimor Alpiniste fleece jacket on then replace the Velez and made start on lunch as the rain had started to get lighter. Unfortunately, it then changed back to fairly heavy and I got my two person “bothy bag” out to provide a bit of shelter while I finished lunch. As it was more of a pain than a benefit due to my position between boulders, I soon gave up and stuffed it back in its stuff sack and back in my rucksack.
After lunch, I continued on my way following the edge of the plateau heading towards Kinder Low. I noticed that the Kinder Reservoir in the distance looked pretty full unlike some other reservoirs I had seen lately.
I passed various landmarks en route such as Red Brook and Kinder Low and then stopped at Edale Rocks where I took advantage of the roof provided by a section of the gritstone formation to sit in some shelter and have a second helping of lunch and finish off my flask of tea.
Once that was finished I made by way back down via Jacob's Ladder where I managed to slip on a slippery rock and fall on my arse and bank my elbow on the nearby wall!
At the old packhorse bridge at the foot of the steps of Jacob's Ladder I stopped for a few minutes to remove my fleece jacket, waterproof over-trousers and put away my walking poles before continuing along the track and small road back to where I had started at Barber Booth after a pleasant walk of about 9 miles.

 Unusual place for a Christmas Tree ...

Kinder Gates

Notts Pot (but not me)

I had pulled a muscle in my back at some stage yesterday while underground and it was quite sore when I got up in the morning and I decided to wait until breakfast to see if it improved. Today, Notts Pott was on the Agenda and we had permits for both Notts Pot I plus Committee Pot/Notts Pot II.
We packed everything up into the car and again, it was back to Bernies for breakfast. I realised my muscle wasn't getting any better so decided to stay above ground today. During breakfast, Mike Child arrived as arranged and once breakfast was finished we drove back to Leck Fell. At the car park we met a pair getting changed for a trip down Short Drop Cave, then realised we could park at the gate back down the road and therefore be nearer to the field gate leading to Notts Pot.
So we decamped to the verge the other side of the road gate and after the others got changed, Karen left her stuff in Waggy's car and we arranged a location for Karen to leave his car key in case she surfaced before the others so that she could get changed and wait in his car until I returned.
Saying “see you later” I left the others walking across the fell to Notts Pot while I drove to Clapham for a wander around. Then a quick trip to Settle where I bought a newer lightweight version of the Paramo Torres Gilet (at 10% off!).
Then a tea and piece of cake in the Inglesport café back in Ingleton. There I ended up buying a Rab Stretch Vapour Rise Top...
Having arranged with Karen to return to Leck Fell before 14:00 in case she had a shorter trip than the others , I returned at 13:50, spent some time coiling up the ropes we had used yesterday but which weren't being used today, reading and snoozing.
Then at 16:30 or so I heard some rattling noise and saw Keith and the others walking up the road towards the parked cars.
After they had got changed, we all headed for home.

Lost John's Cave

The first Orpheus CC trip to Yorkshire Karen and I went on for ages started with a quick trip to the Orpheus cottage to pick up the ropes then a quick 2 hour trip to the Northern Pennine Club's hut Greenclose near Clapham last night.
Boyd had made the booking at Greenclose and told us (he was planning to travel up this morning) that there was a group from SUSS (Sheffield University Speleological Society) also staying. As it was Fresher season, there were 30 of them! Of course we knew several of them from DCRO and they were a nice bunch and always apologising in case they were too noisy or anything.
After dropping our gear off at Greenclose, we drove to Clapham to visit the New Inn for a while then returned to find the group from SUSS finishing off their evening meal and preparing for some games. The first involved picking up a small cardboard box using only their teeth while only touching the ground with their feet and nothing else.
Once all had successfully picked the cardboard box up, by various postures and movement, a strip was torn off around the top making it lower and therefore more difficult to pick up. Again, once all had succeeded, another strip was torn off. Eventually there was just a small piece of flat cardboard left. And, surprisingly, some even managed to pick this up!
Pete Wagstaff arrived during this contest and stood amusedly watching. The next game was one I had taken part in the past which involves holding a broom stick in both hands in front of you with your palms upwards while you step both legs over the stick so that it is now behind you. Now you have to swing a leg around one end of the stick, outside of your arm then back over the stick in between both arms.
All that remains is to, while not letting go of the stick, to raise on end and somehow get the stick back over your head so your are holding it in front again.
In the morning, we had a bowl of cereal then drove to Ingleton for breakfast at Bernies and also to meet the others who were travelling up this morning. Keith arrived followed by Boyd and also Phil Wall, who had been in Wensleydale for the past few days. Then, unexpectedly, Simon Wynne and Jason Blackwell also turned up not having mentioned they were planning on coming.
Once breakfasts were finished, Boyd headed off to do his own thing as he had a back injury, while the rest of us drove to the car park behind the shop at the crossroads at Cowan Bridge further along the A65 main road towards Kendal.
Having organised the ropes into tackle bags, we drove in three cars (mine, Waggy's and Simon/Jason's) up to the car park on Leck Fell. Arriving at the car park we found some scrotes had been letting off fireworks and left their rubbish everywhere, so we spent a few minutes picking it up so that we could dispose of it later in the day.
We got changed and walked down the road the short distance to the cave. Karen, Keith and myself followed the Centipede route with myself doing the rigging while Waggy, Simon, Jason and Phil followed the Cathedral route.
The plan was for Karen and I to have a short trip as we wanted to visit the Fireplace shop in Ingleton to look at buying a wood-burning stove so we were only planning to go as far as Battleaxe Traverse then head outwards. So we only brought the ropes for the pitches before this while the other lot had the rest. It turned out that the Centipede Route was already rigged, although it appeared to have been left in-situ as there was evidence of rust on maillons and carabiners.
Anyway, we got to the top of Candle/Shistol pitch and as we hadn't the rope for this short pitch (Keith had brought the tackle bag with the rope for Valhalla pitch further down) we dropped down using the in-situ rope.
We waited in the small chamber below for the Cathedral Route party to arrive but we got bored after 45 minutes or so and decided to re-ascend the short pitch and retrace our route back to where the Cathedral Route joined our route.
As luck would have it, just as I got to the foot of the Dome Junction pitch, where the Cathedral Route came in, I saw someone arriving a short distance above: it was Phil, who was doing the rigging. It turned out that they had been delayed because they didn't swing across into the hole part way down Dome Pitch, but had continued to the bottom and then dropped down the two short pitches of Shale Cavern and Sink Chamber. Realising their mistake, they had to re-ascend and then swing across Dome Pitch.
The two of us said “see you later” and returned the way we had come while Keith joined the others to head for the bottom of the cave. As some wanted to return via Centipede Route, we left it rigged and had an easy trip back to the surface not having to carry and tackle bags with ropes.
We were back on the surface at about 14:30 having headed into the cave at 11:40.
After a trip to the Fireplace shop and a snack in Bernies we returned to Greenclose to read for a while before driving to the New Inn at Clapham for an evening meal at 18:30.
The others arrived having some straight to Clapham after surfacing and getting changed.
Afterwards, Phil headed back to Wensleydale while Simon and Jason went home.
Back at Greenclose the SUSS Squeeze Machine Competition was just starting. This was made from what looked like an old drawer with no base which was placed on the floor with the back on the floor and the front at the top. The top was held on by two bolts and there were several thin bits of wood serving as spacers.
Once all competitors (including Karen, Keith and Waggy who all had a go) had tried to pass through the Squeeze Machine, the bolts were loosened and a spacer was removed from each side resulting in a smaller space to squeeze through.
Luckily the top was bolted on because at the later stages of the competition, several competitors were stuck part way through and needed to be released!
Eventually we headed for bed just as the SUSS lot were beginning a sing-song session using some song sheets.

P8

After breakfast at Monyash café, the two of us (myself and Karen) drove to the OCC Cottage to meet Chris Jackson, Joe Burmeister, Ashleigh Richardson, and Pete Wagstaff who were all taking part in a SRT workshop being run for the club by Nigel Atkins.
After a quick talk through a few situations with a Powerpoint presentation in the club library, we all headed for P8 for an underground session.
We split into three groups of two with Nigel, assisted by Matt (an aspirant CIC), and made our way to three pitches which are rigged in The Flats area of the cave above the streamway near Idiot's Leap.
Matt watched and offered suggestions as Karen rigged the pitch we were allocated (which drops down the the shelf just below Idiot's Leap). Karen then prusiked up a short distance and then feigned “being knackered”. I then tied one end of a spare rope being carried by Matt to one of the anchors, attached my Mini-traxion and lowered this down to Karen with a karabiner attached.
Karen was instructed to attach this to the top of her Croll. I then pulled on the other end of the rope to lend assistance as she prusiked back up.
Afterwards we joined the others at another pitch further down the streamway and as we all sat in a small chamber above the pitch, Nigel covered various situations and problems and how to cope with them.
As the time approached 17:00, we had been underground about three and a half hours and we packed up and returned to the hut.

A Walk Around Alport Castle

Karen and I drove along the Snake Pass and parked in a layby past the Snake Pass Inn at Birchen Clough and then after walking a short way back down the road on the grass verge joined a footpath at a style which led upwards through a conifer plantation. During this section of the walk we saw not only some sheep but also a cat, which was a bit unexpected.
The path broke out of the wooded area into open moorland and we followed a public footpath which passed a farm then onto an unsurfaced track leading to the hamlet of Alport.
Just past Alport we crossed the Alprort River, still a narrow stream at this point, by a footbridge and as it was about noon we sat by the bridge and had lunch.
After lunch we made our way along the rising path and found an ewe on its side facing downhill in the bracken with marks on the ground where it had tried to right itself but failed. It was obviously in a bad way and had an eye injury which may have been an old injury as its horn on the same side was also damaged. Karen tried to raise it on its feet but it was too weak to stand but at least it was now laying with its legs downhill so hopefully would have been able to right itself once it had recovered from laying head downwards.
Anyway we continued on the rising path leading towards the edge above at Alport Castles with views of the large rock formation know as The Tower with a wild landscape caused by an ancient landslip.
Soon we were walking along the edge of the moor above with fleeting glimpses of sunbeams through the cloud behind us. The weather forecast had been for dry and sunny weather but although it had been dry, it had been a bit misty and also overcast.
We continued along the edge path following the wide and deep valley with the Alport river below and as we followed up the valley, we skirted around a couple of “cloughs” which joined the main valley.
Our route back to where we had started on the other side of the valley and we could either continue on our side tot he head of the valley towards Bleaklow and then back on the other side via part of the Pennine Way, which would add another 3 miles and make the walk a total of 12 in total, or drop down the steep valley side, cross the stream then make our way 300 feet up the the opposite steep valley side. This was the option we chose, which was also the route described in the guide book which we had seen the walk in.
Once across the other side of the valley, we again walked along the edge now following the valley downstream until we needed to leave the valley and head off at a bearing of 220° for a couple of miles leading is back to Birchen Clough and where we had started. As luck would have it, we crossed the moor and crossed a few peat groughs then as we reached the conifers by Birchen Clough and saw below the road and very near to where we stood a stile over the fence then a steep path leading down through the trees to the car below.

Unusal Stile design - much easier to cross!

 Alport Castles