Читать книгу The Pennine Way - the Path, the People, the Journey онлайн

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Indeed, if there’s a hill in the South Pennines that matches the pre-eminence of the Pennine Way, then it’s probably Kinder Scout. Like the Pennine Way, it has a distinctive character and a reputation all of its own, even a spiritual pull for some people. It isn’t just that it’s high (2000ft), but it also feels seriously big. The summit plateau stretches almost 15 square miles and is made up of giant mounds or waves of dark chocolate-coloured peat, known as hags, and patches of bog and rough vegetation. Dotted about are weirdly shaped tors and it is fringed by precipitous rock edges. On Kinder Scout, you know you’re on something high and expansive that commands respect; but you also know that the Pennine Way goes across it.

Despite the unpromising weather, I made good progress along well-walked tracks to the head of the valley and within the hour I was puffing up a steep, stone-pitched pathway known as Jacob’s Ladder, which was once a well-used packhorse route. It seemed to rise vertically above me onto the broad south-western flank of Kinder Scout and, although I knew the path quite well, I could tell that I hadn’t walked it carrying a full backpack before. I paused at the top, gasping for breath, as the mist and rain enveloped me.