Fairbrook
DATE 14.04.2012 | DISTANCE 14.5KM | HIGHEST POINT 625M
Posted by Matt | Filed under peak district
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Recently I purchased a great little book called Scrambles in the Dark Peak by Tom Corker and Terry Sleaford. I came across this route and thought it was ideal for Noah to do with me.
Check the book out! It's got some cracking scrambles, well detailed and has routes for various abilities.
The other thing that made me choose this one first is that I hadn't been on this side of Kinder Scout before. Being somewhere pretty unfamiliar to me was very appealing.
The first leg of the route started in the Snake Plantations just off of Snake Pass. Shame we couldn't hang around long as its gorgeous in there. Definitely worth a little stroll through on a short day. After a minor detour due to missing the bridge near the end of the wood, we followed Fairbrook which is a fairly deep clough coming down from the Kinder Plateau. the last 100m of ascent involves a rock chute of large boulders to hop across. it can be pretty easy going if you follow the common route to the right but i guess you could easily make things more difficult if you fancy it.
once we topped out on the kinder plateau an extra layer went on and we sat down for some hot chocolate. noah asked me if this was the highest he has been before. i wasn't sure at the time but it is by far.
we admired the strange rocks on fairbrook naze, noah found a patch of snow to play in and we looked out to great views across to seal edge.
Those views didn't last long though. thick cloud swept down from the north and we made our way following 'the edge' with very little visibility.
those clouds brought with them wind, then hail, then snow and rain. it was all an exciting experience for noah. i thought he was going to get a little worried and maybe a little upset by the weather. turned out though, that he loved it! 'I've never been in the clouds before', he said.
it was a real pleasure, him enjoying all that i had become accustomed to. i forget how young he is sometimes. he is such a strong walker with a good head for heights.
with not much to see, we pushed on following 'the edge' until finally the clouds cleared and ashop head came in to view. we were also able to see our return route below in ashop clough.
that return route took a lot longer than i had expected. a lot of bog hopping and weaving up and around the mounds of peat was very time consuming. good fun though and quitE dramatic towards the end when our path raised and the clough dropped into a deep scar below.
finally we arrived back at the snake plantations following the path until it became a faint track marked by arrow painted trees. at one point the arrows pointed left but noah decided we should carry on forward, following a fainter track. i went with it for that small thrill you get from going off the beaten track. it wasn't much fun though. steep, slippy and very deep mud. surprisingly we both stayed on our feet and we reached the valley floor with mud caked legs and branch whipped faces. thanks to the detour we ended the day with A RIVER CROSSING AND NOAH OVER MY SHOULDER.
