A Bivvy on the Quiet Side

Written by Haydn Williams

A hastily-arranged trip up on the Kinder plateau became Friday night’s objective after some text-based back-and-forth with Alex. We met in Edale at 21:30, managed the first couple of kilometres to the bottom of Crowden by moonlight, then donned torches and turned uphill.

Last time I went up the waterfall step at Crowden it required crampons and an axe, but after Alex did a bit of risky traversing over the plunge pool we scrambled up by torchlight and continued on to the top.

I do not have the confidence in my upper body strength to risk a drenching.
© Haydn Williams 2024
Left: Alex. Right: slimy waterfall.
© Haydn Williams 2024

From there we struck out towards Kinder Gates, on a path I managed to miss completely on my most recent excursion up there. Our approach to navigation was relaxed; the advantage of walking on a plateau is that it’s hard to stray outside a well-defined area without falling off a cliff. And that kind of thing tends to make you start paying attention again.

Leaving the uphill of Crowden for the flat of Kinder proper.
© Alex Hyde 2024

My waterproof socks worked well, but perhaps not as well as Alex’s feet, since he decided the best tactic for a boggy crossing of the plateau was to remove shoes and socks entirely. In fairness, the strategy did seem to work pretty well.

We soon met the River Kinder and turned to follow it downstream. At the gates we decided to carry on a smidge further and check out the downfall, but a suitably inviting bivvy spot presented itself halfway there and so we decided midnight was probably a sensible time to call it a day.

Setting up home under the moonlight. And Alex’s torch beam.
© Alex Hyde 2024

The temperature dropped a surprising amount overnight, and so with everything covered in condensation, and my night disrupted not a little by the forgotten spectre of “bivvy bags get drenched inside within seconds”, we woke early the next morning full of vim and vigour.

Impending sunrise from our overnight spot. White bags are full of brash as part of the bare peat restoration project.
© Alex Hyde

Our exit route took us past the Downfall, where we unfortunately had to extinguish one of four disposable barbecues which had been left behind and was still smouldering.

Atop a fairly dry Downfall.
© Alex Hyde 2024

We then moved efficiently over Kinder Low and through the Woolpacks, all the time playing ‘spot the tent’ (final count: 9) and congratulating ourselves on our cunning in finding the quieter side of the plateau for sleeping. As we approached Grindslow Knoll the small inversion in the Hope valley became clearer.

And so, we dropped off the summit and down into Edale, bringing our 11-hour adventure to a close. It turns out the perfect day out is simply a night out.