Kinder Scout - The Lump!

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Route

After parking at Upper Booth car park, I followed the Pennine Way along to Jacob's Ladder. After collecting water, I climbed the fence line right up onto the Kinder Plateau to an area just below Woolpacks.


There are plenty of flat spots, either on top of the heather or on some of the exposed peat areas.

The next morning, I followed a path northwards along the top of Crowden Clough before climbing the short distance onto Woolpacks. I followed the edge path past Pym's Chair and Noe Stool, meeting the Pennine Way, then climbing on to Swines Back. I found the site where Shane and I had camped and managed to find the 3FULgear carbon tent stake that I had lost on our camp. I was feeling quite good at this point and actually jogged down Jacob's Ladder and part of the way back to the car.

Weather

Temperatures in the low teens and hardly any wind on the way up, but I still had to layer up once I got to the camp site. 


Some rain and wind gusts during the night dramatically stopped at about 1am. Temperature got down to 3 degrees. I donned the rain coat on the hike out, mainly as wind protection. Once I got to the top of Swines Back, I stripped a couple of layers off and yomped back to the car.

Equipment

I did take the merino blanket but also packed my summer Coleman sleeping bag. I had three layers of leggings on and my down jacket but was plenty warm enough during the night. I followed a tip I had seen on YouTube and took off the socks I had worn on the way up, replacing them with a pair of thick woolen socks. The slight moisture from the hiking socks is what makes your feet cold.


I had a new fuel bottle, which was actually a 750ml aluminium water bottle with a Triangia fuel valve. Perfect combo. Id also ditched the Platypus bladders for Hydrapak 2L and 3L bladders, which in combination with a 42mm filter worked really well.

Summary

One of my best solo camps, a real feel good factor and a very much needed head reset. I spotted some great camp spots that I will explore on future visits.



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