Length: 26.8 km (16.7 mi) [shorter or longer walk possible, see below]
Ascent/Descent: 969 m
Net Walking Time: ca. 7–9 hours
Toughness: 9 out of 10
If you find this walk too hard on the day, try SWC 303 instead, which also has shorter options: Edale Circular via Kinder Scout and Mam Tor.
Take the 09.14 Manchester Piccadilly train from Sheffield (stopping service down the Hope Valley via Dore, Grindleford, Hathersage etc), arrives Edale 09.46.
From London, due to track works, participation in this walk is not realistic w/o a car.
Return trains down the Hope Valley to Sheffield: xx.29 to 20.29, then 21.27, 22.54.
The Kinder Scout Mass Trespass on 24/04/1932 was neither the first nor even the largest mass trespass in the early decades of the 20th Century, and it wasn’t even supported at the time by the established representatives of the Ramblers movement, as its driving force were organised left-wing urban activists from the large conurbations to the west and east of the Peak District that were fed up with the lack of progress in the fight for a Right to Roam on (formerly) Common Land, especially the high mountainous areas and the upland moorlands. They were willing to take a more direct approach against the forces holding them back (landowners’ game keepers and hired muscle, as well as law enforcement).
It wasn’t much of a walk either, as the two groups (Manchester folk from Hayfield, Sheffield folk from Edale) were just walking up to the rim of the plateau at Ashop Head for a short meet and then back down (into the waiting arms of the Derbyshire Constabulary in the case of Hayfield), but it was certainly very well-organised and – combined with an efficient public relations campaign – it became an important stepping stone in the (still continuing) fight for more public access to the countryside, subsequently leading to the establishment of National Parks and the creation of ‘Access Land’ in the 2000 Countryside Right of Way Act, finally enshrining access rights to those disputed high mountain areas and upland moorland tracts.
For a more detailed account, read here (Peak District National Park), here (Hayfield Kinder Trespass Group) or here (Wikipedia).
As for today’s walk:
This is a circuit of the Kinder Scout moorland plateau in the Dark Peak area of the Peak District with minimal directions.
The route described is not a true circuit, as it takes a different route up from Edale than it takes down from the plateau back to Edale. Completists can either continue along the edge from Ringing Roger to the point where the morning ascent over Grindslow Knoll joins the edge and re-trace the route from there (adds 3.4 km), or they can ascend and descend along the Grindsbrook Clough to/from the same point on the edge, this involves light but prolonged scrambling and adds 5.1 km.
In the easterly part of Kinder Scout, the plateau’s width is only about 500m, so – even without a clear path – a shortcut across it is not too arduous a prospect in the right conditions and if a confident map and compass user. The only route with a clear and firm through path is shown on the route map (cuts 1.3 km).
In the easterly part of Kinder Scout, the plateau’s width is only about 500m, so – even without a clear path – a shortcut across it is not too arduous a prospect in the right conditions and if a confident map and compass user. The only route with a clear and firm through path is shown on the route map (cuts 1.3 km).
Lunch: Picnic.
Tea: The Old Nags Head or The Rambler Inn.
For summary, walk directions, map, height profile, photos and gpx/kml files click here. T=swc.304