Kinder Scout Walk

This walk is not for the inexperienced or ill-equipped: it a circular walk to Kinder Downfall from includes long, steep climbs and descents over rough and rocky moorland terrain. Walking boots and Ordnance Survey map OL1 recommended; pack food and waterproofs and do not The attempt in bad weather. Likely to be boggy or muddy in places; several streams to ford. Allow 4–5 hours.

Pack Horse THE PACK HORSE 3–5 Market St, Hayfield, High Peak SK22 2EP tel 01663 749126 email [email protected] Hayfield web www.thepackhorsehayfield.uk @thepackhorsehayfield @packhorsehay 8¼ miles: strenuous This is a dramatic and strenuous walk to Kinder Downfall, the highest waterfall in the Peak District. In westerly winds the falling waters are blown “uphill” by the funnelling effect of the valley below. In hard winters, the waterfall freezes and presents a spectacular sight and a rare and irresistible challenge to ice climbers. Kinder Reservoir was built in 1903–1912 by Stockport Corporation. A short-lived railway was built up the valley, and the construction workers lived in a temporary “tin town” below the dam.

1 From the front door of the Pack Horse, turn left. 6 Keep left again at a fork below a high stone retaining 2 Bear right over the River Sett and keep left of the wall on your right. church up the main village street. 7 Descend to the river and after the last houses follow 3 At the top of Church Street, turn left and left again into the riverside path, ignoring a footbridge. Valley Road. 8 When the path divides, keep left through the 4 Follow the road, keeping left towards the river (but gateposts. not crossing it) whenever there is a choice. 9 Walk between the river and the campsite. 5 After a row of terraced houses on the right, keep left 10 Beyond the campsite entrance, go straight on, along along the no-through road. the metalled road to the right of the stream; bear right at the confluence of the Sett and Kinder rivers (with views ahead to Bowden packhorse bridge). 11 The road crosses the river on a bridge below a small 26 At a fork, take the right-hand (upper) path that weir. climbs slightly through the heather, leading away from 12 At a crossroads, go straight on through the gateposts the reservoir. and follow the track uphill. 27 Rejoin the reservoir wall at a hand-gate and continue 13 Follow the road round to the right as it crosses the along the wall, below open woodland. stream to reach Tunstead House, which the path skirts 28 After an information board erected to mark the via a track on your right. centenary of the reservoir, level with the dam, turn 14 Beyond the buildings, follow a short walled section right, uphill. to reach open fields. 29 Follow the path alongside the wall to a gate at the 15 Keep along the left-hand wall of the first field, then top. cross the middle of the next three fields, heading 30 Bear left then right across the open moor to a relentlessly uphill from gate to gate. junction of paths below the shooting cabin. 16 In the fifth field, as the slope eases off, keep parallel 31 Turn left (signposted “Hayfield 1½ miles”). to the right-hand wall to a gateway and then a further 32 Follow the obvious path through the heather to a gate into open country by the scant remains of a ruined National Trust sign for the Snake Path. building. 33 Go through the kissing gate and follow the track 17 Turn left briefly across rushy ground to the higher of across rough grazing land. two gates, then turn immediately right, steeply up the spine of Kinderlow End ridge. The steepest central 34 After a stretch alongside a wall, go through a gate section is pitched with stones. and cross the field, aiming for the treetops of Twenty Trees. 18 Beyond the rocky section the gradient eases, but the path continues uphill along the centre of the ridge to a 35 Follow the wall and then go through a kissing gate on further rocky outcrop. your right, above the clump of trees. 19 Pick up the paved path that skirts to the right of 36 Bear left past the trees to a further kissing gate and Kinderlow Bowl Barrow. commemorative sign. 20 Keep left when another paved path joins from the 37 Descend along the bottom of the next field to a gate right, following the slabs to the trig point on Kinder Low. and stile. At the trig point, turn left to reach the plateau edge at a 38 Follow the track beyond, which bends left to join a cairn. concrete drive and leads down to Kinder Road. 21 Follow the edge path for a little over a mile to Kinder 39 Turn right and walk downhill past the Library. Downfall, fording Red Brook above its rocky valley 40 At the junction with Bank Street, continue ahead about halfway along. At times, particularly in the rockier along Kinder Road back to the Pack Horse. sections, there is a choice of paths and the way forward is indistinct, but route-finding is generally simple: keep between the peat on your right and the steeper ground dropping away to your left. 22 Ford the shallow River Kinder above the Downfall and continue along the plateau edge in similar fashion to before, except now heading northwest. 23 After a little under a mile, having climbed to a minor rocky summit followed by a level stretch with sandy sections, the path reaches a projecting spur of land where the edge path turns sharp right. Turn left here and leave the Kinder Scout plateau, descending fairly steeply down the grassy shoulder. 24 Towards the bottom you ford a small stream, then descend further to cross the footbridge over William Kinder Downfall Clough, just above the head of the reservoir.