Stottie Walks on Walking Places

Pennine Way 2013

Saturday 13th April 2013 – Edale to Crowden

Pete Elliot with Stanley, Pete Stott with walking poles, Nigel Eyre with Scout & Dipper (photo: Dave Shipstone)

I received enough offers of transport to Edale to induce mild paranoia. Why did everyone want me out of the way? Nigel, Dave, Pete and three dogs accompanied me along the Official Route up Jacob’s Ladder on a gloriously sunny morning. We chatted with groups of Duke of Edinburgh Award hikers, but we left them all behind before Edale Rocks. After lunching at the Downfall, we parted company. I headed northwest towards Crowden as cloud obscured the sun and the wind strengthened. Such was the weather most of the way to Kirk Yetholm.

Routes for boots: It may seem odd that there are two routes from Edale to Kinder Downfall. In “The Backbone of England” Andrew Bibby writes of conflicting opinions within the rambling fraternity in the 1930s. Purists favoured the route up Grindsbrook and across the plateau to the Downfall. Others felt the masses should be directed via Jacob’s Ladder, leaving the plateau for serious walkers. The purists won the day, and Jacob’s Ladder became known as the Bad Weather Alternative. For various reasons, not least the relative ease of maintenance, Jacob’s Ladder is now the official Way, though the unimproved route across the plateau remains available to those who dare.

I’ve often walked between Edale and Crowden, so the day held no surprises. Had I been away since 1963, I’d have been amazed by the paving between Mill Hill and the A57 road. It makes progress so easy. Another visual difference is the re-vegetating of the peat on Bleaklow, as surprising at first sight as a wig on a familiar bald head.

Bleaklow’s groughs held residual snow banks whose thickness and load-bearing capabilities were unknowable. Melt-water rushed down Hern Clough, but my boots proved equal to the conditions. Rain and sleet set in near the summit, so I made straight for the long descent. That’s where the wear and tear starts to hit. I can be full of life at Bleaklow Head but feel battered by the time I reach Longdendale. I’m not the only one: many a Pennine Wayfarer looks shell-shocked in Crowden hostel, recovering from their first day on Britain’s first National Trail.

Way back then…

The way we were: John Thornton, Neil Spencer and Pete Stott at Ladybower Reservoir in 1963

On 24th August 1963 Dad’s Dormobile trundled through the centres of Leeds, Wakefield, Barnsley and Sheffield. It would be five years before the M1 turned that journey into a sprint. We disembarked at Ladybower and walked over the hill to Edale YH. Next day we set off up Grindsbrook, aiming for Holmfirth YH about 30 miles distant. We struggled across Kinder Scout in poor visibility, wasting time and energy. We learned from that experience, and we managed better across Bleaklow and all subsequent morasses.

At the foot of Jacob’s Ladder, now the official route but originally the Bad Weather Alternative