The Pennine Way: Lost on Kinder Scout, Derbyshire - 9th October 2005

Nosher and the Old Chap formulate a plan whereby Nosher would walk from Edale - the start of the Pennine Way - and meet up a few hours later on the A57, a few miles down the road from Glossop. Ordinarily, a map would be carried, but the assumption was made that because the Pennine Way had had its footpaths all upgraded recently, it would be fairly well signposted (there was a compass, for real emergencies). And for the first four or five miles it was, until suddenly any indication of the route of the onward path disappeared completely and there was just wilderness with nary a soul to be seen anywhere. Pressing directly north (the known direction of the road) was no good, as this went through a strange, creepy area of peat bog criss-crossed by deep ravines - an arduous task to navigate, both for the difficulty of terrain and the complete lack of features. Eventually, after back-tracking to a previously-noted waypoint there were traces of a path in a stream bed, and so the footprints in the sand were followed for a mile-or-two, eventually reaching the top of "The Edge" - a steep scarp slope - before following this for a few miles and past several tors with no sign of escape to the valley below. At least the footprints had increased in number and the track was now visibly well-trafficked. By this time, daylight was dwindling so, on seeing the A57, it was off down the 300 metres of the scarp slope near the point at Fairbrook Naze, and through bulbous tussocks of grass interpersed with bog, patches of fern and the occasional startled grouse. After half-an-hour of totally knackering descent, with a bearing of an abandoned farmhouse and river in mind, luck changed a bit as after crossing a small stream, a bridge over the much larger river presented itself, and, in an improbable twist of fate, led back on one of the official routes. The final push was back up the valley to the road - perhaps the most difficult thing ever - and a walk of a couple of miles along the dark, twisty Snake Pass, luckily with the ever-present mini Maglite, to the Snake Pass Inn and an eventual pick up thanks the Old Chap who happended to drive past.

next album: A Trip Around Macclesfield and Sandbach, Cheshire - 10th September 2005
previous album: Dave Read Leaves the Lab, Diss Publishing, The BBs and Murder, Diss and Cambridge - 7th October 2005