Hiking at the Kinder Scout, Edale, England/Carlos Pueblo

Hiking at the Kinder Scout, Edale, England/Carlos Pueblo

The Kinder Scout is a high peak of the Peak District at Edale, east of

Manchester. Dave of the Canal & River Trust volunteer on the bank

of Marple Peak Forest Canal lock #8 recommended me pay a visit and

I did on one of my stay in Manchester. It was a lovely spring morning

I got off Edale Station and prepare to march on to the peak, about

2000 feet on elevation. There were tourists gathering near the station

for biking or hiking. An English gentleman was asking me where I like

to visit and I responded with some kinds of hiking along any canals

available. He smiled to tell me that there were no canals and I showed

him Dave’s note and he saw the Kinder Scout. He went back to the

coffee shop and brought a map to show me. I find that map today

and his scratch map and circle of Edale is still visible.

I followed some tourists toward the village center, a village of 312

mostly for vacation house or sheep farmers. Many fruits trees were

blooming including date and cherry which I could tell the difference.

The village is small yet there is a lovely church with a beautiful yard.

Trees are tall and the Grinds Brook enters the River Noe. He draws me

a map outside of the printed one and instructs me to follow the brook,

a small spring smaller than a creek from the Kinder Scout on the peak.

I was attracted by a big cherry blossom tree in front of a Café on the road

side. It is Kwansan, means the original is from Kwan Mountain, Japan even

though I haven’t discovered where Kwan Mountain is in Japan. It’s very

often to see Kwansan Cherry Blossom in the British Isles, London and Dublin.

Kwansan cherry is different from the popular Somei Yashino which I can

distinguish from each other. Out of 4000 Japanese Cherry trees at Tidal

Basin, Washington D.C. here are 400 of Kwansan, usually blooms one or two

weeks after the Yashino; however, in Japan there is no difference. Once I

come closer, I see additional 7 behind the Café at a camp ground. They were

so beautiful and in few days would be all gone. I went inside the Café to chat

with a waitress about the cherry blossom, she told me that came out on the

Easter day due to the worm weather and after rain. She noticed my appreciation

of such blossom and regret to inform me that the café owner once like to cut the

tree due to the fallen flowers afterward. I told her my experience at the Hyde Park

, the Kensington Park and the Green Park in Dublin, Ireland, etc. how people paid

so much attention to this flower.

I entered a gate and across a wooden bridge over a creek toward a huge grass

field on a hill. It is the Peak District with sheep spread all over the field. The hiking

path is very smooth and I can see far away. Some were coming back from the top

and some were hiking forward. I estimated my strength and supplies, water and

sweet dessert in case of low sugar. I did make to a pile of rocks of the original

formation and I knew that I was closed to the Kinder Scout and I didn’t dare to

go forward. It was easier to come down to the hill and there were still some

hikers coming up. I know that I shall return as long as there is a direct flight

from Houston to Manchester, England. I shall miss Marple, Marsden, and Eadle.

Sitting on a bench on the railroad platform, I watched a shepherd dog to herd

hundreds sheep back. His voice with authority reminds and makes all sheep

back to cages.