Two Walks In One Weekend!

Well Saturday had been a lovely walk and Sunday dawned with very promising looking weather too.

Even with his man-flu feeling a bit better, Geoff couldn’t do a longish walk today. He was off to stay with Abi for the night and go to the cinema to see ‘Warhorse’. I’d told him there was no way I was going to see it with him, as I would only end up crying all the way through. I can feel myself choking up every time I see the trailer on TV…

Tilly’s poorly paw was still hurting so she was out of action, and possible icy conditions up on Kinder made it not the best place to take Dixie. Dixie would be fine herself, but a dizzy, daft, pulling Boxer on the lead is not always the best combination when there’s ice underfoot.

So, I was on my own. Very peaceful!

I sorted myself a route:

Home – Kinder Res – Sandy Heys – Kinder Downfall – Red Brook – Three Knolls – Broad Clough – Kinder Res – Home. About 9 miles.

I got my suff together then went out to the campervan to get one of my walking poles that was in there, and couldn’t believe how cold it felt outside! So on going back inside, I went straight upstairs and added long johns to my attire. They don’t look anywhere near as fetching as James’ though, so it’s a good job I had trousers on over the top.

All seemed quiet and peaceful as I set off through the village.

On approaching Bowden Bridge however, you could see by all the parked cars that there would be an influx of walkers on Kinder today.

The weather wasn’t all blue sky like yesterday and I’d be surprised if the temperature got above freezing at all on the summit, but it was clear, fresh and felt good to be out.

I didn’t see too many people as I walked around the edge of the reservoir and crossed the stream at the bottom of William Clough.

My route to the plateau was up Sandy Heys. It’s pretty direct and fairly steep in places and always catches any wind that’s around. Today was no exception. As I crested the shoulder of the ridge, gusts suddenly appeared from nowhere threatening to knock me off balance.

There was a good view of Mill Hill rocks.

Just before I reached the edge path I stopped for First Lunch in the shelter of a couple of rocks, with superb views all around.

As often happens, once on the edge path the wind was breezy but not as strong as climbing up Sandy Heys. It was suddenly very busy though and not only with walkers. There was obviously some sort of fell running event on. I did my good deed for the day when one runner came up to me and said,

“Do you know if there’s a trig point near here? If I miss it out I’ll be disqualified!”

As it happened we were fairly close to the trig point known as ‘Sandy Heys trig point’, so I gave him instructions on how to get there. It’s not visible from the path but very easy to get to once you know the handrail to follow.

Once at the Downfall there was the usual mass of people having lunch. I thought it looked a bit dark and brooding today.

I continued around the edge path to the top of Red Brook.

From here, I left the edge and started off down the Three Knolls path. Immediately the crowds disappeared and I was on my own. This is why I like this particular path so much, hardly anyone walks it. It’s also usually devoid of sheep too, so if Dixie’s with me she gets a chance to be off the lead.

I managed to get a snap of one of the helicopters that had been buzzing around all day – transporting heather seed up to the plateau I suspect. (Now here is the point where I admit to both liking helicopters and collecting die-cast models of them…)

Second Lunch was had in between the second and the third ‘knoll’.

The path eventually contours around under the mass of Kinder Low End.

It was getting a bit cooler now as the sun was getting lower, and as I made my way around the edge of Broad Clough and down through the fields back to the village, the setting sun was casting an atmospheric light over William Clough on the other side of the reservoir.