A Taste of the
Peak District
Peak District, Derbyshire walks in the Kinder Scout Edale area, B&B, self catering holiday cottage accommodation, hotels, tourist attractions, walking, climbing, mountain biking history, towns, villages, geology, mining, local information, Derbyshire businesses and much more …
To get started with walking in the Peak District of Derbyshire, simply buy yourself some maps (White Peak or Dark Peak) and make up your own walks/runs or buy one of the many good guides to walking in the Peak - see the 'booksales' section of this site or try Pub walks, tea shop walks or classic walks (in association with Amazon). Click here for views from walks (large files so will be slow - you have been warned!). If you are looking for somewhere to stay, try our accommodation section for a selection of self catering and bed and breakfast holiday accommodation.
Kinder
Scout is a favourite target for walkers heading to the Peak District.
It was the site of the Kinder Mass Trespass that opened the way for access
to the hills
as we know it today. There are so many ways of getting onto the top. If you
are approaching from the Hope Valley and Edale Valley, you will almost certainly start from
Edale, where there is a convenient (but unfortunately pay and display) car
park. From here, the Pennine way starts. Most will take the popular Jacobs
Ladder route but with a little forethought you can avoid the crowds by choosing
one of the several other variations from here.
My personal favourite route upfrom Edale follows the end of the annual
Barrel Race as its start (if that makes sense!). From the car park, head
up
the main
street, past the pub and take the wide path a few dozen yards later. This
descends into a small wooded valley, a bridge takes you across a stream and
a paved track then takes you over a field. Bear right, up the obvious path
on to the top of Kinder Scout. From there, there are various options, navigate
the cloughs on compass bearings, follow the path round the rim either to
the left or right and so on.
Hope offers access to the lower end of the Kinder plateau
plus Lose Hill and
the Mam Tor ridge, the Peak District’s longest and arguably best ridge
walk. There is plenty of accommodation
in the area in easy reach of Hope.
The route up from Hayfield via William Clough also is (rightly so) popular, especially during the winter when the snow and frost makes the whole area totally magical. No visit to Kinder Scout would be complete without a visit to Kinder downfall - best in windy weather after a lot of rain as most of the waterfall blows back up to the top again! It is amazing after a prolonged spell of sub-zero weather, with the rounded rocks becoming coated in ice and look rather like a pile of mint imperial sweets!
There are several other walks from Edale that are worthwhile. The Barber Booth Horseshoe (so called by John Merrill) takes you across wild moorland at the head of the Edale valley. Head up on any of several paths and bridleways that lead up to Mam Tor (where you will encounter loads of tourists who can access the Peak via the easy steps from the narby car park. Cross the road to follow Rushup Edge (much quieter) then cross open country, heading nore or less north, shortly after the path and bridleway come together. There are many different options to follow in order to get back to Edale, we like staying high, along the edge of Kinder and dropping down the path that brings you steeply into Edale.
When you reach the Mam Tor ridge, instead of heading west, try the east. There are plenty of options that way too.
Click on this link for walking routes for getting onto the Kinder Scout plateau from the north (A57 - Snake Pass road).
Disclaimer - please make sure that your party has the necessary skills, equipment and fitness before setting off into the hills. It is often necessary to be able to navigate through peat bogs and over open moorland using a map and compass. The weather can change very quickly in the hills so be prepared.