A week off work? Time to go for a walk!
Given I'm still supposed to be in the recovery phase of a hip operation, we decided to do an overnight campsite stop and just do a day walk rather than lump the weight of an overnight pack over the hills.
Doing a camp without being in the middle of nowhere is always a good chance to try new kit, this time my new Exped Synpad 7 with the innovative stuff sac/pump. Which, as it happened, worked very well. Comfortable, warm and using the dry sac as a pump, inflated very easily.
Winter camp
Given we had decided not to carry the weight of an overnight pack, we decided to camp at Edale and do a day walk from there.
The Edale campsite (www.fieldhead-campsite.co.uk) we'd used before a few times so we knew what to expect. What did take us a bit by surprise was just how wet and muddy the field was.
Meaning when we got home there was a day of kit cleaning to be done! Packing up a camp in the rain is never fun.
The campsite is located next to a couple of pubs, so after our day walk we a plan for a hot dinner and a couple of pints at one of the pubs before retiring to the tent.
This time we went for The Rambler Inn. Why? Closest to tent perhaps, more importantly last time we went to the Rambler Inn we enjoyed the food so no reason to try elsewhere,
The walk
The route was based on one from Go4aWalk.com.
From Edale we climbed to Mam Tor and followed the ridge to Lose Hill. When we finished our ascent to Mam Tor the weather was not that great - we were walking in dense fog/low cloud.
We stopped for a quick hillfie (a selfie on a hill), as we started off along the ridge the wind and sun started to make holes in the fog which finally cleared completely in time to sit and enjoy the view over Edale from Back Tor as we had lunch.
The descent from Lose Hill was steep and slippery, but the worst was yet to come.
The route promised tracks/footpaths back to Edale and the campsite. While the footpaths were well signposted and easy to follow, for several Km they were very wet, muddy and squelchy which made the going particularly hard and tiring. This continued from the bottom of Lose Hill through to joining the road near Clough Farm.
From Clough Farm the going was much easier back to Edale.
Anticipation of a hot pub meal and a pint helped, and very much enjoyed once we got there!