In search of Jacob’s Ladder
Todays adventure kicked off in the tiny village of Edale which is nestled away in the Peak District, the next valley over from Castleton. Having had a great time on Wild Boar Clough a few weeks earlier the hunger was there for a bit more scrambling. The drive to Edale is stunning, especially if you choose the route through Castleton which then takes you up through the dramatic Winnats Pass and onto views of the famous Mam Tor and the Kinder Scout plateau. After parking in Edale train station carpark its only a 5 minute walk to the trailhead which coincides with Pennine Way start. For those who don’t know , the Pennine Way is a 270 mile hike which takes you from the Peak District right up to the Scottish border and is definitely on my bucket list, but requires a bit of planning due to the logistics whether you do it in stages or one go (stay tuned for this).
The plan for myself and two of my mates ( Andy and Rich) was to have a bit of fun on one of the scrambles leading up onto the Kinder plateau, tag the Kinder Scout trig before heading down Jacobs Ladder back to the car. Initially I had looked at doing the Blackden Brook scramble up the other side of the Kinder Plateau. Although reports online suggested it may be a slightly more demanding and exciting route it looked to top out on moorland with no real paths around which would make it difficult to reach the trig point and then the decent point to the car in bad weather (which was forecast). Crowden Clough sounded like the better option, there was plenty of alternatives if the weather got dicey and most importantly it meant we would finish the day with a pub nearby…..winner.
It takes the best part of an hour to get to the bottom of the Clough from Edale via Barber Booth and there’s a nice obvious bypass to the left if you don’t fancy the scramble and just want to slog it out up the side. I’d say there was only one small section where a bit of concentration is needed as a slip could land you in a bit of trouble, but this is easily managed by someone with no real scrambling experience ( unless its wet and slippery then it might be worth a rethink). Following the tricky 10 metre section the rest of the route mainly involves climbing over large slabs and boulders until you reach the top, from where you’ll find you yourself at sort of a footpath crossroad. From here we carried on following the rocky stream towards to left as I’d heard about about a final bit of scrambling on what is know as the ‘Chimney’ which was literally just around the corner.
The Chimney is what just as it says on the tin, a sort of vertical shoot which sits amidst a great rock formation. There is one small dodgy move which pushes the difficulty into grade 2 scrambling territory. Don’t let it put you off though, it only involves pushing yourself upwards for a brief moment while also pushing on both sides of the chimney, just like scaling a doorframe as a kid. It’s all over a tad too quick but once done it was onwards and slightly upwards to seek out the Kinder Scout trig point.
Being higher up now the visibility and weather had deteriorated ,and it didn’t help that the ground is a maze of smaller paths and tracks which have been trodden by the many Kinder dwelling sheep and don’t necessarily lead anywhere. It’s always always a good idea to carry a map and compass ( and know how to use them) but GPS on phones can be handy just as a quick check to make sure you’re heading in the right direction. It took us around 20 minutes of walking through pea soup to happen upon the trig point. After a few quick pictures and some questionable drone flying in the wind and rain it was time to retreat off the foggy highlands… easier said than done.
Any other day we could claim we took the scenic route to the top of Jacobs ladder but as we were walking in the clouds I admit we got slightly lost and had to retrace our steps for 10 minutes to get back on track. I believe Jacobs Ladder is a reference to a Bible story about a staircase to heaven dreamt up by some fella named Jacob, in reality its more like a staircase to burning calves and painful knee joints. Luckily this time round we got to descend it and follow the long winding path back down to Barber Booth and onto Edale. However, a last burst of energy was needed as the rain got heavier we realised everyone was calling it a day on the hills and were heading for the pubs. Knowing there was restricted seating in most places to due to Covid restrictions we picked up the pace and grabbed one of the last tables in the Ramblers Inn for a pie and a pint, great end to an awesome day.