Ten Great Peak District Walks - Kinder Scout

Kinder Scout via a scramble up Crowden Clough (6 miles/9.5 km)

This is a wonderful way to gain access to the Peak District’s highest hill: Kinder Scout. On this walk you will enjoy a great little adventure by scrambling up Crowden Clough from Upper Booth. Once up at the top of Crowden Clough you can take any number of options. Head right and look for the aircraft wrecks above Edale, head straight on (good navigation skills required) to find Kinder Gates and then Kinder Downfall or most simply turn left and complete a circular route back down Jacob’s Ladder (as given here). Best done on a scorching hot summer’s day when the water-falls of Crowden Clough have dried to a trickle. (Or just get a right soaking!)

Scrambling up to Kinder Scout via Crowden Clough

Kinder Scout via a scramble up Crowden Clough

General Information

Start / Finish Location – Barber Booth Car Park Hope Valley, S33 7ZL

Distance: 6 miles / 9.5 Km

Height gain: 1350 ft / 409 m

How tough? Anyone with reasonable fitness can manage this wonderful adventure – a great one to get your kids out too! Be aware, a reasonable head for heights is needed!

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Map for Crowden Clough Walk & Scramble

Personal experiences

Back in the day (many years ago) when I was a single man surfing the pages of online dating sites, I decided that if I ever got as far as a third date, going on this walk would be it. It was a winter’s day in 2005, the weather wasn’t great, and I led this young lady up to the heights of Kinder Scout. She didn’t complain about the cold and wet, and she coped marvelously with the ascent of Crowden Clough. At the top we stopped to have a picnic and supped our hot chocolate from the flask. As we looked over the view of the Hope Valley in front of us – she said to me “this is GREAT”. And that was the first moment that I thought, this girl is a keeper! As it turned out, I only got to a third date once because I married her!

Walking in Kinder Scout with views down the Hope Valley

Walking on Kinder Scout, overlooking the Hope valley

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Victoria Strong

23. October, 2023.

Booked a day of mountain biking, climbing and abseiling with Will, for my husbands birthday, and it was fantastic. From the great communication, Will’s friendly nature and knowledge and his great ability to encourage and enable us to do things out of our comfort zone, we couldn’t have been more pleased with our whole experience. Will was so helpful and flexible when our day didn’t start out as planned, and gave us a great day to remember.

Steve Mills

17. October, 2023.

Excellent circular walk around Eyam, lead by Dean. Views, beautiful countryside, anecdotes and good company: What else could you want?

Victoria Hartnell

2. October, 2023.

Amazing experience on the Overcoming Fear of Heights 2 day course. Excellent input from Alison, Angie & Will - clear, practical, kind and encouraging. I've booked a bouldering class back home for tomorrow!!

Mary Hill

29. September, 2023.

You start with theory and then apply it in a practical fashion. I wouldn’t contemplate attempting leaping across this gap before this course but here is the evidence. I learnt a lot about positive thinking but also balance and how to notice your body when moving. I would recommend this course to build your confidence when outside your comfort zone at height

Leif Moore

25. September, 2023.

My wife and I had the most phenomenal weekend with Adam from Will4Adventure. It’s the second time we’ve done this climbing course and we will definitely be back for more. For some context, I love the outdoors so was very stoked for this weekend whereas my wife had only climbed in bouldering gyms and was understandably nervous. It took some convincing and she agree to book the first one . Straight away, we bonded with Adam and we were both comfortably at ease with his style. The highlight for me was watching my wife gaining confidence as we both learned to be a climbing team. Supporting each other belaying, climbing on real rock, abseiling and starting to lead a couple bits. This would not have been possible without Adam and Will4Adventure. Stop reading this and book now 😛

Beverly Jane Johnson

24. September, 2023.

10 in 10 in 10 climbing challenge Just wanted to say what a great day we had on Thursday with Stu and Mini, they gave us confidence, guidence and encouragement throughout the day, they were patient and good humoured with us and we felt we were in safe hands at all time. The day was well organised and having spoken to Will when booking the climbing challege he was aware of our abilities and the climbing routes were selected appropriately. We are all hoping to do some further climbing next year and plan to book again with Will. Many thanks to Stu Mini and Will

Rachel

19. September, 2023.

'm just back from attending the 'Overcoming your fear of heights' course in the Peak District and would highly recommend it. Having spent much of my lifetime in the mountains with no issues, in recent years a fear of heights and falling was really stopping me from doing the things I love. This course had been recommended to me by a friend who had had great success with it, so I thought why not give it a go? I am so glad I did! The whole two days were excellent. The 'theory' morning with Alison, exploring my thoughts as to where my fear might have come from was excellent and really got me thinking. After just a couple of hours I had some practical ideas to try out that might help. Moving straight onto the practical activities for the rest of the weekend worked so well. Despite a background of moving on rock, I was anxious as to what we might be asked to do but Adam and Angie made me feel at ease right from the start. They both had a real insight into where each of us was starting from and were skilful in giving us each enough challenge without overwhelming us. Their knowledge and expertise was second to none and made everyone feel secure and confident in the tasks. By the end of the weekend I felt that I had got part of my real self back. I felt more confident, less fearful, and armed with enough knowledge and insight to help myself keep improving. In the 48 hours since since the course finished I've been and stood on some rocks with a sheer drop below, something I've not been able to do for a long time, and had a short session at the climbing wall in which I didn't shake at all! Thanks Will and team for an outstanding weekend. This is one that really does impact in a life-changing way!

Tim Pickering

11. September, 2023.

Recently took part in the Outdoor First Aid course in Dufton. The quality of instruction by Stu and Ian was second-to-none. Just the right balance of theory and practice to keep the course engaging, and Stu's delivery was highly informative, animated, and humorous, which was much-needed considering the gravity of the subject matter. Both instructors did a grand job of creating a cohesive group dynamic, and my only gripe (though some may see this as a bonus) is that it was on during the annual beer festival, so the village was busy, the hostel fully booked and the campsite rowdy with no shortage of drunk folk noisily staggering about at all hours. The course was so good that I'm certainly not going to knock a star off for that.

Adam Al-Kashi

8. August, 2023.

Fantastic day of adventure and empowerment. Will's professionalism and humanity shone through. Worked brilliantly with our family group of mixed abilities and additional needs.

Ten Great Peak District Walks – Kinder Scout

Kinder Scout via a scramble up Crowden Clough (6 miles/9.5 km)

General Information

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Personal experiences

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