Day 2 of a 2 day Hiking trip in the Yorkshire Dales.
Today Nikki and Kat planned to run from Edale to Black hill and Me and Mick decided to hike around the Edale Skyline route, or at least as much as we could before our light was falling. I want to do the Edale Skyline fell race later on this year as its one of the English Champs races for 2025 and thought this would be a great opportunity to see the route at an easy hiking pace. Mick was just psyched to be out exploring the area and was happy to go along with my plan.
Safety -
Today, Nikki and Kat were also running with Kats Partner Andy, so there were 3 of them all running with full spine kit and extra safety kit. Me and Mick had all the same stuff as yesterday, only today we were suited up in our waterproofs as it was full on miserable.
There was really strong winds and gusts of 50mhp+ forecast over the tops so we both groups discussed what our main plan was and some possible contingency plans.
The three runners set off straight away when we got to Edale and me and Mick faffed around making sure we had all our gear and maps and everything else we thought we would need. Eventually we were ready to set off.
Even in the valley it was gusty. But we also noticed that it wasn't as cold as yesterday. This changed when we actually got up to Ringing Roger as the 47mph winds were super chilling, specially with the wet conditions. I checked with Mick often to make sure he was happy to continue and he was. He was actually enjoying the challenging conditions. So we continued anticlockwise around the skyline the wind only really picked up in small areas, there was a spot right near the end where we measured it as 62mph with Micks Handheld Anemometers. This was a brilliant device and I'm going to get one myself. We decided at this point that we were going to cut our route short. It was getting too dangerous. we turned around and made our way back into the valley and along a country road to the van which was parked at the Edale train station. We made it back to experience a stunning red sky as the sun set.
During the route Nikki had texted me to let me know that they were fine and again when they'd finished their run. Once we had gotten changed I let her know we were fine, dry and on our way to meet them.
Another excellent day. Highest point 620m which does count as a mountain (only just) but the challenging conditions and group management and re-routing/ decision making, makes this a solid QMD in my opinion.
Area :
Dark Peak
Is situated between Sheffield and Manchester. The underlying rock is Millstone grit which is often exposed at the edge of the higher peat bogs for which the area is famous.
