David Pickering - 477593

Edale/Kinder Plateau/Grindslow Knoll (601m): Though I have walked from Edale previously, all of this route, with the exception of the portion from Edale Village up to Ringing Rodger was new to me. The primary focus of this walk was to experiment with new kit, including first field use of a new SATMAP Active20 in comparison with OS Maps App on a new mobile. Started from the Penny Pot Cafe in Edale. Walked north through Edale Village and over the foot bridge to Heardman's Plantation and onto The Nab. Continued north around the base of Ringing Rodger, turning northwest and crossing the ford at the top of Golden Clough. I have turned east (right) at this point in the past, but not this trail west. To go west onto the plateau in the past I have ascended Grindslow Clough, which includes a lengthy rock scramble. This path is a little gentler walk, though on this occation there was a mixture of mud and snow under foot. Continued along the edge passing Neither Tor and Upper Tor to the top of Grindslow Clough. Continue to the summit of Grindslow Knoll (601m), then off of the southern edge of the knoll, descending to the Pennine Trail leading back east into Edale, and ending again t the Penny Pot Cafe.

Planning for this walk included review of weather forecasts from MWIS and Met Office reports for Edale Moorland Center and Kinder Low. There was a good covering of snow on heights on Monday, with more snow expected on Tuesday and Wednesday. Unfortunately the Tuesday weather warmed and included heavy rain, so the snow pretty much disappeared from the ground. Tuesday's precipitation pushed into Wednesday morning and the walk started in heavy rain. This was OK, considering one of my planned practice objectives was to use the SATMAP Active20 with gloves on. Something that cannot be done without removing gloves with my mobile with OS maps. The ability to use the Active 20 with gloves on makes the unit worth having, particularly for very cold, wet, and low visibility situations. The start of the walk was in poor visibility with rain and fog once I reached about 400m, just short of Ringing Rodger. However, visibility improved fairly quickly and by the end of the walk visibility was good, though the wind chill "feels like" temperatures were around -3C on the plateau (especially at Grindslow Knoll.

Also tried out some new winter boots that I had purchased for an expedition in Sweden above the Arctic Circle in January (now canceled due to COVID). HanWag Fjall Extreme GTX. Very warm and dry throughout the walk, though very bulky and heavy. Over kill for the day, but gained familiarization.

This was a shorter than usual walk at just over 4 hours. I usually plan for minimally 5 hours, but a late departure and train schedules and early darkness with sunset at 3:50 left me short of time. I made it back to the Edale train station with minutes to spare ( and 2 hours until the next train if I would have missed this one).