EDALE SKYLINE - JULY 25
In an earlier visit to the Peak District, I bumped into a group of local hikers in really bad weather who were doing the ‘Edale Skyline’. Soaking wet, I had a long chat with them about their walk, and so the seeds were sown. About a year later, 9 of us headed up to Edale for the weekend with the aim of completing the walk over 2 days, starting and finishing at the campsite each day. The only and most important person who was missing was Nick, as our cat, Banksy, was still ill and she stayed at home to look after him.
The campsite is beautiful. It’s even better than the photos on their website. The café is tremendous, the general store sells lots of camping essentials, including amazing fresh bread and the nearby pub (very close) is a traditional, old-school hostelry which oozes charm and has room after room after room. The local beer is excellent and the food is really nice.
Day 1 starts with breakfast and a 9am start. Astonishingly, given the time keeping record of several of those present, we left more or less on time. The Pennine Way starts right next to the campsite, but we soon veer off on the footpath towards Grindsbrook Knowl. The steepness of the climb is quite a shock. Most of us are former trail runners in varying states of disrepair, me being one of them. I don’t mind admitting that it was a struggle.
When you going gets tough on a climb, the best course of action is to turn around and enjoy the view. And this is what we saw.
The last section of the climb is a bit of a scramble until you reach XXXXX and everything levels out somewhat.
The weather is capable of changing very quickly and that’s what we saw. The angry looking clouds appeared on the horizon and 20 minutes later we were soaking. This was not the time to get lost, but I managed to miss a turn on a downhill section, which meant all of us climbing back up to the correct path. Just because a path is overgrown, small and slightly hidden, it doesn’t mean that it’s not the right path. Don’t think I was that popular for a while.
