A Murky Day Up Kinder Scout

Easter weekend seemed like the ideal time to get out and about. Top of the list was Kinder Scout in the Dark Peak area, as we'd had to cancel a planned trip there last summer.

Off we trotted, packs on our backs, full of enthusiasm and optimism that the dismal weather would clear and we'd be in for a sunny day. That didn't happen, so its a good job we packed the waterproofs.

Not to be deterred by a little rain (it wasn't exactly hammering down) we soldiered on, knee-deep in mud, until we were faced with a sign- and a dilemma: "Jacobs Ladder". To go up or not to go up. 

The original plan had been to avoid it- many a forum post had warned how tough going it was, and plenty of these comments came from walkers who presumably didn't have 12-15kg packs on their backs. However unfit Bob claims to be, I am certainly many degrees worse than that. So, I lit a fag and we mulled it over. 

I knew Bob wanted to go up, and to be honest it didn't look that bad stood at the bottom. In fairness it wasn't. Yes, we stopped every few yards, had lunch halfway up and generally dragged it out. But all in all, given my dodgy knees and pack on my back, I'd say we didn't do a bad job. Without our packs we'd have been up it in no time, so don't be too put off by what you may read or hear from others.

Having conquered that, we mooched around for a while looking for (and failing to find) somewhere suitable to pitch up for the night, but after a week of solid rain the ground was so sodden we decided to forget about it. Hardcore.

We found some nice rocks to sit down on for five minutes before heading back down, from where I managed to capture this lovely photo of some fog:

Annoyingly, even out in the middle of nowhere people still manage to wind me up. Someone had kindly had a sh*t in a plastic bag and left it lying on the only decent rock there was to sit on on the main assent up Jacobs Ladder. Maybe it wasn't a human poo, maybe it was a dog poo. I don't care. Its now there for the next god-knows how many years encased in plastic.

Several items of rubbish were also to be found- water bottles and the like. It beggars belief that someone can go out presumably to enjoy the natural beauty of the countryside then throw their litter down.

Then there was the obligatory gates left wide open, despite many signs and general etiquette dictating that they be shut behind you. ARRRRGGGGHHH!!


Despite these grievances and the less-than-perfect weather, it was a good day non-the-less and I can't wait to get back up there.