The Trespass Trail

I’ve been hiking and taking images in The Peak District for about 3 years now, but never quite made an attempt to find the origins of the “Right to Roam” movement. I suspect it was called something different in those days and maybe the legislation is called that, I’m not sure. Either way Kinder Scout hasn’t been on my walking list up to this point.

I’d had a pig of a week, work wise, so Friday I was going to make an attempt to get onto the plateaux of Kinder scout. Thats what I thought. Late Thursday night I got an email which meant I would have to stay around and work at least a part of Friday. Long story short it wasn’t until 2.45pm on Friday that I put my camera back into my car and set off. I’d done some research and Bowden Bridge was a good start point, a decent car park, and would take me past Kinder Reservoir. Long time followers will know I like a good reservoir. What I’d forgotten, of course, was that Bowden Bridge is on the site of the old quarry and this was the start point for the original trespass walk onto to Kinder Scout in the 1930″s. (see featured image).

Th walk up to the point where this image was taken did take me by surprise as I wasn’t expecting quite such a steep slope at the very start. The camera bag is quite heavy and I’m not as young as I used to be!! The uphill walk was so worth it, as once I got to the reservoir the views unfolded in front of me. It was a lovely day and the sun was shining and as you can see from the image above that meant some nice light on the inspection tower in the reservoir. Access to the water side was restricted and I had to stay on the path on the outside of the fence that United Utilities (whatever the water company is called) had constructed to keep people away from what can be very dangerous waters.

I do like the progression that this image has, the tower leads the eye up towards the water which leads you onto the break in the trees in the distance with what looks like a gap in the trees leading onto the hillside above. This image is at 105m on my 24 to 105 f4 G lens and is sharp focused on the tower. Not my best image ever taken but I like it.

The research I had done suggested that the William Clough route was a good one to take to get up onto Kinder Scout. A quick look on my OS map app told me that the foot of William Clough was half way around the reservoir, so thats where I set off to find. A few YouTube videos I’d watched showed a small bridge over a brook at the foot of William Clough, and that might make a good image.

There is a good path around the edge of the reservoir and it wasn’t very long that I came across National Trust signpost that told me this was the start (or end I guess) of William Clough. As I approached I could see the brook (I think thats what the official title is) babbling along down off William Clough and filtering into the reservoir. I must have tried 6 or 7 different compositions in and around this spot and again whilst not be earth shattering this is a nice image of the bridge, brook and foot of William Clough. This image is at 25mm on my 16 to 35m F4 G lens from Sony, with a Lee Filters Little Stopper and Circular filter on the front. This gave me a shutter speed of 30 seconds which gives that smooth feel to the water that runs down the brook.

It was too late for me to attempt to walk up onto Kinder Scout, it was nearly 5.15pm and it would be dark at 6.30pm. The walk I had in my head was a good 3 hours from the point I was at, so I decided to retrace my steps back to the car. As I packed up I saw two walkers coming down off William Clough, and the 3 of us all arrived at the same point together. Being the gent that I am, I stood aside and let them walk through. As I stood waiting my eye was drawn to the scene in the image above. The wall is a good leading line into the image, followed by the brook opening out into the main part of the reservoir which leads the eye onto the hills and sky beyond. Perhaps there is a bit too much sky but it was such a nice day and I do like a spot of blue sky in my images.

The image above was taken maybe 10 yards further down the path you can see in the previous image. I like how the “water Shute” fits neatly into the contours of the ground and provides an obvious subject for the image. Beyond this I also like the layers of land that you can see that are formed from a combination of the walls, the contours of the hillside and the light streaming down across the slopes. The tripod was placed with two legs fully extended on the path side of the fence, with the 3 leg being on the wall atet stops folk getting to the waters edge.

This image was taken at 35mm on my 16 to 35mm f4 G lens, again with the circular polariser and the Lee Little Stopper, a 25 second shutter speed gave me the smooth effect again on the water as it cascaded down the shute.

This short trip really has given me an insight into what it will be like to get up onto Kinder Scout proper and I think I will be taking my hiking camera gear with me the next time I try. The camera bag I have is far too heavy to scale the slopes.