Edale to Crowden

The official start of the Pennine Way, that will take me all the way to cross the Scottish border. The crossing of Kinder Scout is notorious for its boggy terrain and changeable weather, that can make navigation difficult. However we were lucky enough to be given a perfect day - sunshine and light wind, I even got sunburned! (forgot back of neck). It is a long trek all the same, and the second half we did encounter more of the infamous peat bog, than on Kinder Scout itself where much of the Way has been paved with large flat stones.

I keep saying 'we' here as mid-morning I fell into conversation with a fellow hiker also intending to do the whole Pennine Way, and after that we simply fell into step. Adam is intending to do some much longer days, to do the trek quicker, and I'm not sure that I'll be keen to match him. I probably could do it, but I really want to enjoy the route as well.

Scenery today has been spectacular - peat bog, heather, rock outcrops. The peat itself can look really odd, in exposed or eroding areas it can look like a pile of dirt has just been dumped on the hillside. It's so different from the terrain I've hiked in before. 

The campsite in Crowden is well organized, with good facilities, but the real highlight has been the people. Adam and I pitched our tents and then shifted higher up the field to enjoy the evening sun. Within 30 minutes we had been loaned chairs and given free beer, complemented on my singing by 2 groups, given some vegetables and milk to bulk up our dinner, and offered breakfast for tomorrow. Utterly incredible. That makes 4 nights in a row that I have been shouted beers, and company, by complete strangers. And I also got given breakfast this morning, by the campers I was chatting to last night. I don't know if this shift in friendliness is to do with being in an area of other hikers, or if it is a characteristic of northerners - either way I have no complaints, and no compunctions about accepting freebies.

I guess tomorrow I'll see if I can stick the longer day - it would be nice to have company for a while.

More photos when I have better reception