Keïteï Ventures

My alarm is set for 4am as I want to beat the midday sun and arrive in Edale for lunch. Peering outside, it is still dark but enjoy the stillness and only the sounds of the river fill the air. I’m surrounded by tall hills on all sides and see stars above. These slowly give way to the dawn as the sky starts to turn a light blue.

I’m hiking by 5am and carefully use my phones torch to light the way. I have 40% battery left but know it will be enough to see me through till the end of the trail. Once I reach a path, I allow my eyes to grow accustom to the dark and follow it to a track which leads to a campsite. Tents and small campers sit in rows as I amble by silently, it looks full. All is quiet as go and can hear a busy road up ahead. Busy with lorry drivers trying to get as many miles in before the rush of cars and other commuters. Today was a bank holiday Monday so I wandered how busy places would be.

I reach the road where I’d planned to road walk to the Pennine way turn off but there isn’t much in the way of a pavement and it’s still too dark to really hike it. Lorries thunder by and I know I’d be an idiot to road walk so I head for the nearest trail that will lead me back to the Pennine way. I find one which is extremely overgrown but sure enough it gets me back on track.

The air is cool but I know the sun is coming and that soon it will be hot. I cross the road safely this time and follow a path through a beautiful pine forest. It runs alongside a reservoir which is low. It’s still and quiet and a few camping spots are tucked up here and there.

I cross the reservoir and pause for breakfast, or so I thought as midges appear to teleport to my location and I angrily stuff my chocolate back into my back and march on and up the hillside. Up I go and reach the crest just as the sun peek out from over the horizon. I follow the inns and outs, ups and downs as I go. The gritty stone and heather line the way. As I get near Snakes Pass, people start appearing, dog walkers, couples, families, day hikers all enjoying the bank holiday Monday. I reach the road and am disappointed the van I thought was a snack van is just a camper. Over the road I go and follow the flagstones. It’s lovely and peaceful on this side as I make my way under the sun and know that I’m nearing the end.

Up towards Kinder Downfall I pass a few solo north bounders and if I’m honest, I feel a tiny bit smug that I am so close to completing my hiking journey and they are just beginning. The wind picks up and all of sudden day walkers and tourists descend on the trail. After being alone for so long, the sudden influx of people is jarring. I follow the edge of the hillside for ages and finally reach the steps of Jacobs Ladder.

This section is sheltered from the wind and by now it is fast approaching midday. I see the look of regret in the faces of folk who don’t normally do this much hiking, let alone this type of steep hiking as the intense heat of the midday sun hits and the breeze fades to nothing. I’m so pleased I got up early and put the miles in before midday. It is hot and the wind doesn’t flow around this section. I pass sweaty tourists with water bottles in one hand and the other on their hip as they pause to gorp upwards at the remaining steps they have to take to reach the top.

I follow the path down, covered head to toe to avoid the scorching sun. As I reach the bottom, folk are still passing me and I wonder if they’ll make it to the top. A few months ago, my siblings and I had been some of those tourists as we’d come to Edale for a long awaited sibling holiday. Our last one had been in 2019 so we were long over due a get-together. That had been in April and the last 2 miles of this hike back then has pasted in no time, the final 2 miles this time were taking their time. Up a final mini hill, I paused to down my flavoured water in the shade as more city dwellers appear. Music blasting from their mini speakers.

Down the other side I eventually arrive the Nags Head pub. It is a quiet low key ending as I gaze up at the travern, smiling to myself that I was done. I head inside and refresh myself by washing my face with real soap and change into my sleeping top and out of my sweater hiker hoody. I order a pint of coke and a burger and sit by the window, my body confused by the lengthy midday break. I pretty much inhale the whole burger, chips and coleslaw and the coke vanishes with ease. I check the train times and see there are trains once every hour and I slowly make my way to the station. The train to Sheffield quickly fills up and from there I get an emptier one to York where my sister lives and where my car is.

I can’t wait to have a shower, put on clean clothes and sleep in a real bed.
The trail had been amazing and I was so pleased to have hiked it finally. As I watched the sunny fields of England speed by I wondered which trail I’d hike next. 🙂

Thank you for reading~!