Many visitors staying in a Castleton B&B will bring walking boots and set out to explore the countryside around, something that was restricted in the past.
This year saw the 90th anniversary of one of the events that marked a key point in the battle for public access to the once private moorland of the High Peak, the Great Kinder Trespass. But that event in April 1932 was far from the only element of a varied campaign with many actors.
Another major effort led to the creation of the Pennine Way. This was led by journalist and one-time secretary of the Ramblers’ Association Tom Stephenson, who penned an article in the Daily Herald in 1935 calling for its creation as a long-distance path along the lines of the Appalachian Trail in the US.
Stephenson, who was a critic of the Great Trespass but also helped lobby for the creation of national parks in the 1940s, believed this would help open up access to the countryside, not least as a Pennine Way would include a path over the forbidden Kinder Scout. In 1965, his dream was realised.
The trail stretches all the way from Edale to Kirk Yetholm, just inside Scotland and passes through the Yorkshire Dales and Northumberland National Parks as well as the Peaks, but visitors to Castleton can certainly enjoy the local part where it starts.
Climbing out of Edale, the route climbs up Kinder Scout via Jacob’s ladder, following the scenic western edges overlooking Kinder Reservoir. Features include the Cairn on Kinder low and the Kinder Downfall waterfall. Watch for the water ‘flowing upwards’ on a windy day!
The path across Kinder eventually descends across the top of William Clough, scene of the Great Trespass, before heading north across Featherbed Moss towards the Snake Pass and, beyond, the national park’s other 2,000 ft top, Bleaklow.
While this is just the start of a 268-mile trail that includes Britain’s highest pub, England’s highest waterfall and part of Hadrian’s Wall, the section at its southern end is one of the most stunning. The realisation of Stephenson’s vision is one of the great reasons to visit this area.
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