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.
