I spent a few days in Edale this week where the Pennine Way begins. I pitched on a campsite on a farm at Upper Booth, a mile or so from the village. My ideal campsite really- a field basically.

 Even in late June England can be damp and chilly. Low cloud obscured the hills at dawn as the sun began to illuminate the scene.

 There's something very special about Edale. The outskirts of Shefield and Manchester are barely fifteen miles to the east and the west but the parish is enclosed on all sides by the hills of the Peak District.

 I did a couple of short walks when I arrived on Wednesday and before I left on Friday but my main purpose was to hike all day Thursday on Kinder Scout, the plateau overlooking Edale from the north.
 My way up was the track to Grindsbrook Clough. By now the cloud had burned off and the sun was beating down.

 The trail follows Grinds Brook ever upwards.

 At the top looking down. The last section is not really a path and requires stepping from rock to rock up the bed of the brook; I imagine it would be a fully fledged waterfall in winter.

 The heights of Kinder are an expanse of moorland morass and peat bogs.

 I had been intending to cross the moor but after traversing a section I found there are no reliable footpaths and the terrain is a featureless plain. Actually I should qualify that statement by noting that it is in fact a fascinating ecosystem but I decided to continue my hike along the edge of the plateau where great views and vistas abound...

 Case in point the chap perched on the edge of this outcrop had one of the best seats in the house.


  

 This is the view from that very rock looking down Crowden Brook, a similar water course to Grinds Brook. Indeed on a previous visit to the area I ascended Kinder using the trail up Crowden Clough which is also part track, part riverbed.
 In the distance is a patch of woodland- my tent was pitched about fifty yards to the right of it!

 The next section of the hike was memorable for the landscape of grit stone stone rocks and tors that have been morphed into strange shapes by the eternal abrasion of the elements.

 Kinder Scout is grand and severe whereas Edale is sheltered and pastoral. As I made my way down I reflected that it is the contrast of the two that made this hike so memorable.