EDALE January 13th 2013

We decided to get up to Edale today for our yearly visit. As it was Jill's first outing for a few months so this was to be an easy half day going up Grindsbrook and taking the right hand scramble that brings you out onto Upper Tor. We would then follow the ridge along to Ringing Roger and back down into Edale. It was quite a late start, we didn't get walking till 11am and the weather was sunny with a chill in the air but thankfully no wind. It stayed like that all the way apart from a slight breeze along the top ridge and down to Ringing Roger.
After parking the car at the train station car park we made our way up the lane and through the village where we crossed the bridge that takes you onto the main paths up towards Ringing Roger and the path we were taking towards Grindsbrook

 This is a very easy to follow, well laid out path, that takes you to a patch of wooded area and then on to a more traditional pathway that leads up alongside Grindsbrook and a general climb upwards.

As the path path climbs steadily, it becomes a bit more rough in places with a few stones and small rocks but still remaining well laid out and easy to follow. The path takes you to what looks like a new fence across Grindsbrook that looks like its in place to stop sheep getting in or out of the fields.

The view back shows how much of a climb we have come since the wooded area we passed through

 We had a ten minute break here as it was quite warm walking up hill in the sun. The next part was to take us in and beside Grindsbrook as we made our way along the edges and over boulders. It was a bit icy in places but not as bad as we thought after the overnight frost and also for the most part we ere to be in the more sheltered part of the valley. There was quite a contrast to between the sheltered side and the sunny side. There didn't seem to be much water running down stream either which was another suprise after all the recent rains.

There was one or two small waterfalls that had a bit of ice around the edges where care was needed but these were passed without any mishap.

We made our way up to where two streams join to make the main Grindsbrook and we take the right hand fork as it's the more interesting scramble that leads onto Upper Tor

We have taken the left hand fork before and that leads out on to Kinder Edge at the bottom of Grindslow Knoll with a summit height of 601m / 1872ft. The right hand fork does offer more hands on and a bit more clambouring over rock which is what we like

 Also going this way, we felt like we were going through a valley in the wild west with all the rock formations above us on both sides.  We were just waiting for the Indians to appear :-)

There was also a couple of deep looking pools that had be overcome. Quite easy if you have medium to long legs, but if you have next to no legs like Jill, it takes a bit of pulling and pushing

We were getting towards the top now and there was just one or two icy patches to get over but nothing too serious. It was quite cool in this gorge as the sun didn't get in here and luckily there wasn't any wind so it was quite pleasant.

We got out at the top to be greeted with some fine hazy views and a breeze that made it feel quite a bit colder than the sheltered gorge. We found a good place to have a bit of lunch. and the view over to Grindslow Knoll shows how frosty it is at this height with a cold wind. There was quite a bit of frost and ice up here which made the ground underfoot quite solid as opposed to the squelchy peat bog that is the norm for the Kinder plateau.

After a 30 minute lunch stop it was time to get going again and it was a pleasant walk around the Kinder edge of Upper Tor and over to Ringing Roger, on the easy to follow path with fine views down towards Edale and over towards Mam Tor, Lose Hill and the great ridge

As you walk around the edge you come across many weird and wonderful rock formations carved out of the gritstones over many years of natural erosion

With the weather being kind to us it offered some good views all around and showed the different and sometimes difficult terrain that can be had up here especially in bad weather in the peat bogs

As we were following the well laid out path it proved to be less challenging and we were soon coming down on to Ringing Roger with more rock formations

As we made our way down from Ringing Roger we had a great view of the walk we had just done from Grindsbrook and along the Kinder Edge

 And looking across to the valley fields below, where the sinking sun was casting long shadows on the trees, told us that we would be down just before darkness came

We were soon near to the end of the path where a few hours before we followed Grindsbrook up the valley, only for Jill to go and have a slight mishap, much to my amusment :-)

This had been a great 4 and a half hours on a favourite short walk of ours in great weather. It's a really nice place round here and all that was left was the short walk back through the Edale village and back to the car.

 As luck would have it, the weather took a change for the worst as we drove home as the clouds rolled in and the sleet and snow started to fall as darkness set in. All in all though we had another great day out in what proved to be a great sunny winters day

Cheers
Andy