Camping in the Peak District, part I

I'm back, safe and sound. This weekend was a little less trecherous than the weekend I spent climbing in Scotland, but it was still a lot of fun.

We drove on Friday night to Edale, a tiny town in Darbyshire. By the time we arrived, all there was time for was a quick drink at a local and the setting up of tents. It was raining and dark and everyone else at the campsite had gone to bed, so we had to struggle through the rain and dark, and do it without waking everyone else up.

I am not accustomed to sleeping out doors. Nor am I accustomed to sleeping next to other men, so I was having quite the experience. Dave, my fellow tent-mate, had to deal with me having a slight panic attack during the middle of the night due to my clausterphobia. I had to wake him when I couldn't manage to get the hatch to the tent open because of the stupied mosquito net. I managed to get it open and stick my head outside for a little while and soon everything was calm. Of course, everyone decided it would be a good thing to make fun of me the next morning when they heard of my struggles. Apparently, I'm the only person in the history of humanity to have a tough time sleeping in a 6'x4'x3' box with another person hogging the precious oxygen.

The next day proved to be soggy and cold, and then dry and cold, and then soggy and warm, and then dry and warm, and then soggy and cold. It was a rich meterological tapestry. We trekked up Kinder Scout. It is quite a place up there. It is a boggy plateau, many square miles in area, with extremely undulating terrain. The mud was so thick in placed that it nearly ate people alive. It was a very strenuous walk because you are constantly fighting to keep you footing, and picking yourself up from the tumbles you take every ten or twenty seconds. There was a number of groups walking here and there, but within minutes of walking, they were completely out of sight. I can see how it is very easy to get lost. When you are up there, you are alone. People can be fifty meters away, and you might have no idea that they are there, because they may be treking along a stream or behind a group of rocks.

We made our way around the plateau and past Kinder Downfall, a waterfall on the plateau's northwest corner. Then we made a long trek home, about two hours, down Jacob's Ladder and along the Pennine Way, back to our camsite near Edale.

I was dead on my feet as we arrived back. For some reason, Dave and I decided to run from the base of Jacob's Ladder to the camp, but we didn't make it very far. It was too wet to gain traction.

I did manage to get to the pub though. Believe me, nothing tastes better after a long, strenuous day out than an beer. For my part, I had two pints of Grey's Best Bitter at The Rambler.

When everyone was assembled, we drove to a pub in Hope, a few miles down the road. I had a steak and ale pie which went down quite well with a few pints of Black Sheep. We went back to The Rambler. I managed to fall asleep while the rest of the crew played card games. They were nice enough to document the disgrace. I'll get that photo to you when I get a chance to make it a bit smaller.

We went home, crawled into bed, and I slept like a baby till the next morning.
More on that later. Till then, here are some photos from me and from Doug.

Technorati tags: Edale, Kinder Scout, Peak District