Kinder Scout, will it be second time lucky?

Our first attempt to summit Kinder Scout was marred by Covid, although at the time we were not aware Helen had Covid. She struggled like never before; the walking, the breathing, the cold air, the coughing. All of it was too much so we made the decision to turn back and head home.

We were determined to go back and complete the hike, and we did. Albeit with its own problems on the descent, more about that later. Firstly we had to get to the summit.

We parked in Edale and set off through the village and into the countryside. It was a cool start to the day and a little cloudy and misty but it was early. We wanted to make the most of the day, hiking and exploring the stunning surroundings.

Once we were through the village and farm yards we were just in time watch the farmers feed their sheep in the vast fields as we headed towards Jacob’s Ladder.

Jacob's ladder was not as difficult as we were expecting, the steps were steep in some places but there weren't as many as we thought. We had planned to take a short break at the top of Jacob's Ladder to admire the views and stunning landscape but the weather was not on our side. The clouds and mist obscured the view in every direction, it gave us the opportunity to have a chat with a lovely gentleman who shared the experiences he'd had over the years.

We continued on up to the summit. The wind was blustery, far more blustery on the summit than we expected. Making a coffee was not going to be possible. We stopped just below the summit where we managed to make the obligatory not-so-summit coffee. The wind shield we would normally use was no use, so we tucked the Pocket Rocket behind the rocks to protect the flame from the wind.

And then, came the descent, what a descent it turned into!

When Helen completed the national three peaks, she learned a valuable lesson; the right direction is not always the obvious direction, sometimes you have to take what appears to be the wrong direction. This is what we should have done!

The descent started as a gentle walk, an easy path of stones to follow. The clouds started to lift and the wind began to die down. The views became more visible and we were finally able to see the scenery; albeit the closely surrounding scenery.

We continued along the path for approximately half an hour until we reached a stream. At this point we should have gone right, but we headed left. Admittedly, going left did appear to be the correct way.

We continued along the stream, until the wet mud started. This wasn't too bad, we were prepared. We had already put on our gaiters to keep our legs dry and to ensure our trousers don't get too muddy. Shortly after, this happened.....

Yes, Mate took a step and ended up knee deep in a peat bog! It was a challenge to get him out, mainly because Helen couldn't reach him to be of any help. Mate managed to pull himself out without losing his bag, and more importantly his boots. Although he did take home a fair amount of peat which had made its way over the top of his gaiters. Note to self, tighten the gaiters more next time!

The peat bog went on for a long time, it felt like it would never end. Every direction we looked, we could see nothing but peat bog. We knew this was going to be hard work. What made it more difficult was the mist that appeared out of nowhere. We carried on in the direction we thought was right, luckily for us this time we had chosen the right way.

As quick as the mist descended, it disappeared. And, with that, a stone path appeared in the distance. We both dislike walking on stone paths, but this was one occasion were relived to see a path.

The path took us back, eventually, to where we thought we were heading. We quickly realised if we had headed right at the stream we would have saved ourselves two hours in time, avoided the peat bog and had clearer views.

 The beautiful autumnal colours, hills and rainbows would have been wonderful to walk through, but we opted for the doom and gloom of the vast peat bog. But, it's not one of our hikes if we follow the standard route. We like to make our own route when we can, it adds to the adventure and this one was definitely an adventure and left us with a lot of laughs!