Tuesday 2 May 2023 7.3 miles, 14,891 steps
Covid and lockdown put a real kink into my walking activities.. you would think not, but long distance walks are tricky if all the pubs and restaurants are shut. And a week's food is heavy! So, there has not been a lot of action lately. However, it is time to get out into the hills, and for me that means another visit to the Peak District. Just for once, I am not going to Edale. Instead, I am taking Larry La Strada the motorhome up to a campsite in Hayfield. Hayfield is bigger than Edale, and about the same distance from the Kinder plateau; but nobody has heard of it, because it isn't the start of the Pennine Way!
It does have a claim to real fame, however: it was the starting point for the Kinder Mass Trespass, in 1932. Look it up if you haven't heard of it, it is a crucial event in the fight for public access to the countryside. This is a fight that is not yet won, until we finally gain the same rights as in Scotland. But things are so much better now than they were then.
Hayfield is proud of its role in the Mass Trespass, and celebrates it each year
Another Hayfield claim to fame .. I had not realised Arthur Lowe died as long ago as 1982
Usually I try to keep weight to a minimum and only pack the essentials, and give a list of what I am taking. But with my lovely motorhome, I can take everything! Everything, I tell you! Ha ha ha ha ... and not only that, it comes with a shower, comfy mattress and a cooker and fridge..
So now here I am in the Camping and caravanning club site in Hayfield, ten minutes from the village, two minutes from a pub, and quite close to Kinder reservoir, and the paths up to the plateau. I got here about 2pm and after something to eat I shall wander down to the village and then up to to and around the reservoir. Tomorrow, I will walk up William Clough to the plateau and go along to the Kinder Downfall. It would be nice to follow the River Kinder back down to the reservoir, but I don't know if that is possible. The downfall is a waterfall, after all .. we shall see. No hurry.
On Thursday I want to do a complete circuit of the Kinder plateau. It is quite a long way - 16 miles and 900m of ascent, overall - a typical day in the Pyrenees, but I am well out of practice and condition. Still I will give it a try. My friend Wayne is coming along too, so I shall have some company.
Not wishing to waste the afternoon, I set off to have a look around Hayfield, a pleasant little town, and then walked up to and around the Kinder Reservoir. Like many similar reservoirs it is a considerable feat of engineering, entailing the opening of two quarries and the building of a tramway and a railway and railway station too. You cannot walk along the dam, unfortunately, but you can walk close to the water most of the way around.
Larry La Strada at the Hayfield camping site
The Kinder Reservoir dam. Kinder Downfall is just visible at top left, next to the tree
Sounds good, Jerry. Looking forward to hearing more,
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