Whilst this walk sounds easy, unless the weather conditions are excellent, Kinder does deserve respect. Once up on Kinder, there is very little shelter from the elements, you are completely exposed to whatever the weather throws at you, and even in July as today - the wind was biting, with horizontal rain.
One thing to remember if you are doing the Kinder round, is once you are on the other side of Kinder, from which you came up, it is a long way back to your car or tent, so go prepared, i.e. map, compass and I would also advise a GPS. Kinder is covered in well-trodden tracks, and it is easy to follow a route, that you did not intend in poor visibility.
Once up to the plateau, the walk round the edge is fairly easy, in places, with a few well laid slabs to help you over the boggy bits, but there are also some well eroded areas that you need to get across.
I take my hat off to the girls I bumped into from Warwick doing their gold Duke of Edinburgh award, they have had some awful weather in the last three days, but they were still happy, if not a little, cold, wet and looking forward to the day being over, and I found myself enjoying the brief chat I had with them.
On a good day - Kinder is a walkers hot spot, so if you are looking for solitude, start early, and if you are doing the Kinder round, get Kinder Scout Waterfall out of the way first. I suggest that people walk Kinder once during the four seasons as it changes all the time, and on a good day the views are superb.
There are many ways up Kinder, but once you are up, the aim is the same to walk round it, or however you want to enjoy your time up Kinder.
My route today covered 20 miles, starting at Bowden Bridge car park. Most people decide to take the famous William Clough, whichever way you go, you are looking at a good hour if not a bit longer to reach the plateau. My route is less challenging with a more gradual ascent (unless the fields are holding cows), followed by a short sharp climb to the plateau.
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| Map1 of 3 - the thin yellow line shows the way up to Kinder Plateau that I took, the thick line is the route I took back |
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| The view of the Plateau and Kinder Scout Waterfall just to the left, on the way up to the plateau |
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| The final ascent to the Kinder Plateau |
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| Map 2 of 3 showing the part route I took round Kinder |
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| Map 3 of 3 - showing the rest of the route round Kinder |
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| Just some of the weather eroded rocks you will see on the walk |
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| View from Kinder |
