(An article on Kinder Scout can be found at Wikipedia:- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinder_Scout )
Instead of going off for a walk on my own today, I went on a group walk organised by the Peak District Ranger's Service. Ian Milne, Asst Park Ranger and our group leader for the day met us at Bowden Bridge Car Park and gave us a brief outline of the day's itinerary and a handout on the history of what we would come across on our walk.
Our route from Bowden Bridge quarry car park, Hayfield;- Mount Famine, South Head, Brown Knoll, Swine's Back, Edale Rocks, Kinder Low, Red Brook Gorge, Kinder Downfall, Sandy Heys, White Brook. Approx 10 1/2 miles.
Our route takes us up and across 'Mount Famine' & 'South Head'
Looking back at the gentle slopes of Mount Famine
Ian, our walk leader (in Red) recounting a bit of local history
Checking out the memorial plate at South Head
Another Lovely View !! - Trig Point at Brown Knoll
Lunch Stop - Sitting With Ishi, Manchester Uni Student from Taiwan
Our view whilst eating lunch ...
Edale Vale - Edale village in the green area in the distance
Zooming in on Pym's Chair (central saddle shaped rock)
Kinder Low Trig Point (633 m)
Eroded stones at Kinder Low
You can just make out Mermaid's Pool down below
Another group looking down at Kinder Downfall
Just a trickle today though with no blow back so nothing much going on. 
An extract taken from Ian's "Winter Wonderland" guided walk handout, on the Kinder Downfall:-
'This is, without doubt the most famous landmark in the Kinder area so much so that the phrase is often stated "All roads lead to the Downfall." The name goes back to Celtic language times initially as Cindwr Scud then Kinder Scut, a Saxon name meaning "water over the edge". The Downfall is a large cleft cut into the rock face and made up of a jumble of rocks which have over the centuries broken away from the face to lie strewn about the base of the waterfall. The river normally quite small at this stage cascades over the edge to drop about 30 m into the valley below then on to feed the Kinder reservoir. The most spectacular time to see the Kinder Downfall is when a strong SW wind is blowing directly into the cleft and forcing the waterfall back up the cleft and creating a huge fountain of spray at times up to 15 m high over a considerable area of the plateau. The spectacle can be seen on a clear day for several miles around ....'
Looking down to Kinder Reservoir
A quick stop and time for reflection.
Looking across to Mount Famine & South Head in the distance
where we had walked earlier this morning
Stepping back in history - Booth Sheepwash
Today was a superb day, I enjoyed it immensely. Ian, of course was very knowledgeable about the area and made it extremely interesting and everyone was such great company. Before the day was through I'd made up my mind to find out the dates for some more, hopefully equally interesting, walks in a week or two. Next weekend I'm off to Wales which is a pre-expedition training weekend before my Challenge next month - that seems so strange saying "next month" it's really crept up and getting scarily close now !
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