Vole Explosion

LET’S GO FOR A LITTLE WALK…

Sunday 4^th September 2022

Edale to Bleaklow Head

As it’s a Sunday the trains to Edale don’t start particularly early, and this is made worse when the first one is cancelled, so I don’t get to the start of the Pennine Way until after 11am. I hadn’t been in a very optimistic frame of mind leading up to this. When I’ve started multi-day hikes in the past I’ve always been positive and enthusiastic, picturing myself striding confidently across broad, sunny uplands, but leading up to this it has been difficult to shake off the negative thoughts. This is the first long distance trail I’ve done where I’m not completely confident that I can complete it. Have I bitten off more than I can chew? On the train from Sheffield the usual excitement and eagerness has been replaced by nervousness, jitters and a slightly sick feeling. I will need to get my head to a better place… and fast.

I was going to start off with a calming pint in the Old Nag’s Head at the start of the trail but they’re not serving until midday so, with nothing better to do, I set off at 11.15am.

Jacob’s Ladder is its usual bastard self – the first of many hills I’ve chosen to die on. I take it slowly, have a rest, a couple of conversations with other hikers, and eventually I am up on Kinder Scout to be greeted by a pair of kronking, sky-dancing Ravens, flying in perfect synchronization.

Once the path splits at the top the weekend crowds that had been on Jacob’s Ladder thin out, with most turning right on a circular route back to Edale. I, a through-hiker, continue straight on and the walking soon gets easier and more pleasant on the plateau, before descending to a long, flat walk on stone slabs across moorland. The rain that had been forecast arrives in the form of a short, sharp shower. I put on my waterproof coat and leggings but the shower soon passes and I am now too hot. This will be the first and only time I put on my waterproofs, quickly deciding that the sweatiness inside them is wetter than everything except the heaviest of downpours.

I walk a bit further than Bleaklow Head but by 6pm it is obvious that, thanks to the late start, I won’t make it to the campsite in Crowden before dark. I’m still at least two hours away, so I decide to wild camp on the moor.

I go to sleep early but wake up after midnight when a huge storm can be heard approaching. It passes right over me at 2.15am and I try to decide whether a tent on high ground is safe or unsafe in a storm. It does have a metal pole in it after all. The rain is torrential and I flinch every time a flash of lightning lights up the inside of the tent. I probably whimper a bit as well. Once the storm has passed I sleep well on the soft, peaty ground.

14 miles; 22.5 km; 7 hours