Kinder (alternative) walk 17 Nov 2019 Report

[Andy Smith]

Three of us met at the appointed time (10am) at what we thought was the appointed place (layby on the A57 below the Snake Inn). There was no meet leader, so after waiting a while we set out leaderless. It later transpired that the meet leader led a party of 6 plus a dog from a different layby, but we never saw them. The usual path down through the forest from the Inn is now closed and the forest has been felled, so we took a lower path from the road down to the footbridge over the River Ashop, leading into Fairbrook. The rain was already giving way to drizzle. The delightful path up Fairbrook eventually steepened below the temporary fence which keeps the sheep off plateau, thereby allowing the growth of several trees which were not there before. At the top we were in mist, leading a cautious member of our group to recommend keeping together. We soon reached Fairbrook Naze and the start of a path back down to the start, but we decided instead to continue as planned along the north edge of Kinder. We had occasional glimpses through the mist into Ashop Clough below. There were a few boggy/peaty sections, mostly avoidable. We had our picnic sheltered from the cool north breeze by the “Boxing Glove” stones. Pressing on, we soon reached the Pennine Way. Up to this point we had seen nobody else but there were a few on the Pennine Way. Dropping down the stone steps, we soon came to Ashop Head and turned right onto the Snake Path, which was followed back to the Snake road. The usually boggy sections were no boggier than usual and by this time the drizzle had stopped and we had a pleasant walk down. We saw nobody else after leaving the Pennine Way. The Snake Inn was closed, so we returned to the cars to finish. It was a pity we did not meet up with the others but we enjoyed our walk, an old favourite. 8.8 miles; 1600ft ascent. Andy.

[Author]

Posts