The Year I Turn 40

This walk was planned as a trip rather than just a walk. The idea was to go over to Castleton on Sunday, stay overnight, spend the afternoon and evening in the village, and then drive to Edale on Monday morning to walk up Grindsbrook Clough. It made the whole walk feel like part of a weekend away rather than just a day out.

Sunday – Castleton

We arrived in Castleton on Sunday afternoon and spent the rest of the day walking around the village and visiting a few pubs that had already been carefully planned in advance. The route was Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, then the Peak Hotel, then the Swiss Tap, then Ye Olde Nag’s Head, before finishing the evening back at The George where we were staying.

The Swiss Tap was probably the most surprising — really nicely done out inside and easily the best beer of the day. They had beers from Abbeydale Brewery, which were excellent. Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese and the Peak Hotel were both good stops on the way round the village, and Ye Olde Nag’s Head was quieter when we went in but still worth visiting.

We stayed at The George, which turned out to be the best part of the evening. We had dinner there — fish pie — which was really good, and the staff were excellent. The room was very comfortable and breakfast the next morning was also very good — scrambled eggs — which was ideal before a walk. It worked really well staying there before walking from Edale.

The whole evening felt like part of the walking trip rather than something separate from it.

Monday Morning – Edale

The next morning after breakfast we drove over to Edale and started the walk from the village.

The walk begins along the stone path heading out into the valley alongside the river before turning towards Grindsbrook Clough. It’s quite a gentle start and it doesn’t really feel like you’re climbing Kinder at this point.

One thing about this route is that you don’t really see Kinder on the way up. You walk into the valley and then into the clough itself, and you gradually gain height without really noticing how high you’ve climbed.

Grindsbrook Clough – Grade 1 Scramble

Grindsbrook Clough is a Grade 1 scramble that follows the stream directly up through rocks and waterfalls. There isn’t really one clear path — you just pick your way up through the rocks, sometimes on the left of the water, sometimes on the right, climbing small rock steps and occasionally using your hands to climb up.

The higher you go, the steeper the sides of the clough become and the landscape starts to feel quite dramatic. The waterfalls run down beside you most of the way and it feels very different from walking up a normal path.

Because you’re climbing inside the clough, the best views are actually behind you, back down towards Edale. We kept turning around to look back down the valley rather than looking ahead.

This was definitely the most interesting part of the walk and probably one of the most interesting routes we’ve done so far.

The Top – Wind and Sleet Again

When we reached the top and could finally start to see over to the plateau area properly, the weather changed almost immediately. The wind picked up and then sleet started coming across the top again.

This happened in almost exactly the same place as on Kinder Walk 01, when we walked from Edale up to Ollerbrook and The Nab earlier in the year. Both times the weather had been fine lower down, and then as soon as we reached the higher Kinder ground, the sleet started. Not at the summit, just as soon as we reached the exposed Kinder edge.

We stopped briefly for a sandwich but didn’t stay long because it was very windy and cold, and then carried on towards Grindslow Knoll.

Grindslow Knoll & The Descent

The walk across towards Grindslow Knoll was probably the hardest part of the day because of the wind rather than the terrain. The path itself is straightforward, but it felt very exposed and quite uncomfortable in the wind.

From Grindslow Knoll we descended back down into Edale. The descent is steep but straightforward, and as we dropped lower the weather improved again and it felt calm again in the valley.

The walk took about 3 hours 20 minutes, so it wasn’t a short walk at all — just shorter in distance than Kinder Walk 01 but still a proper half-day walk with a lot of ascent.

At the end of the walk we stopped at The Nag’s Head in Edale, which felt like the right place to finish the walk before heading home.

Kinder Walks This Year

This was the second Kinder walk this year.

Kinder Walk 01 was from Edale up to Ollerbrook and The Nab. 

Kinder Walk 02 was Grindsbrook Clough and Grindslow Knoll. 

Later in the year we are planning to stay in Hayfield and walk from that side, and then at some point in the summer we’ll do a full Kinder plateau walk.

Each route up Kinder feels completely different, and the plan this year is to walk Kinder from different sides and routes before eventually walking across the plateau later in the year. So this walk felt like another part of a bigger plan rather than just a single walk.