Kinder reservoir circuit

I had the opportunity to spend a day in Edale and planned a circuit along the edge of the Kinder plateau, past the downfall, to the reservoir, to Hayfield and back on the Pennine Bridle Way via Chapel Gate.

During my ascent of Jacob's ladder it became clear that it would be far colder on the hill than in the village due to a strong northeasterly wind. The past weeks have been dry which was reflected in the minimal flow in the waterfall. However the wind was strong enough to be blowing back uphill most of the water. I thought that it had been around 40 years since I was last on this part of Kinder. I completed the Pennine Way in the early 1980s and walked up past the reservoir with a fellow student one very snowy morning at some point pre-1986. We'd hoped to reach the downfall but stopped as the snow was too deep for reasonable and safe progress. This time I found the path to be dry, well-made and unpopular. The latter was perhaps due to it being a potentially wet Monday morning.

I'm unaccustomed to the steepness of the cloughs and wasn't walking as quickly as hoped. So I chose to turn back after the reservoir rather than go to Hayfield village. This might not have been a wise decision as I had a caffeine-deficiency headache all afternoon.

The route along the bridleway was longer and more undulating than I recalled. Perhaps this is because my last use was on a motorbike while the track still had legal motorised access?

Chapel Gate gave me a great view along the Edale valley with Hollins Cross and Win Hill highlighted.

Rivelin to Stannington

There are still may Rights of Way for me to traverse on my 'local' map but generally they are close to the periphery of the map and thus up to 14km from the house. Today I took the car northwards to cut the distance I ran though the familiar local paths. My self-imposed rule is that I must walk or run at least 10km or for 2 hours if I don't set off from home. 

Riveln and Stannington include steep hills in both urban and farmed areas so any journey can be hard work. There are many areas of allotments, I assume that the land was believed too steep for house-building.

Coal Aston towards Unstone

In my ongoing quest to cover the local paths I drove to Coal Aston to help me reach further into North East Derbyshire. This is an area with many intersecting paths so the task is larger than for some pasts of 'my map'. The majority of the land is agricultural, a combination of diary farming and small arable fields. Some smaller plots are paddocks for horses, recreational riding looks to be popular around here.

Although there were a few dry weeks in late May, recently there has been a little rain so the hedgerows and field boundaries have been flourishing.

Port Patrick coastal path

This morning I went out-and-back along the Southern Upland Way and a little of the Rhins of Galloway Coast Path for 2 hours. The latter seems to be under development still and where it became unclear on the ground I headed back.

As is so often the case there was a fair amount of walking involved due to steepness and/or uneven ground. However, the coast is picturesque and there was no need to rush.

Whenever I'm in this area I think that one day I should walk the cross country Southern Upland Way but haven't committed to it fully!