Today we walked from Edale to Crowden which was 27km with 700m of climbing. This is one of our easiest days as dad frequently reminded us whenever Will and I got tired.
We left Edale at 9am after eating a extensive vegetarian breakfast that included a wide range of homemade jams served on delicious homemade bread. Our host kindly provided a pack lunch because there would be no refreshment stops along the path.
As we left Edale, we took a quick photo of the starting plaque by means of an official date stamp for the start of the walk.
Our high spirits were somewhat dampened as we were hit by the steepness of the climb approaching us. It is known as Jacobs Ladder and is also famous for being a staircase that goes directly up to heaven. It looked very daunting from the bottom but we eventually made it to the celebratory cairn at the top where we were glad to see a flat ridge which we could walk along for a couple of kilometers.
We then found ourselves on the moors that were very boggy but luckily someone had laid down some large York paving stones to form a path over it. Which was very helpful because otherwise we would still be there knee deep in mud.
For lunch we were glad to rest our legs where we enjoyed tofu sandwiches (a first) and a lot of melted chocolate.
We also listened to an audiobook from a speaker that had been attached to dad’s rucksack. This gave him some level of control, because if Will and I didn’t keep up, we wouldn’t be able to hear the story.
We finally arrived in Crowden where we found our B&B for the night. The B&B was very isolated and too far away from a Pub for dinner so we treated ourselves to a Domino’s pizza that went down very quickly.
You are probably wondering if the navigator was fired today, after a not so promising start yesterday? Fortunately, dad managed to keep it all under control and we didn’t get lost, so he is being kept on as navigator for now.
Best wishes,
The Battersby boys
