Crowden Clough Scramble | 7.5 Miles
Tucked away just outside Edale, this 7.5-mile Crowden Clough scramble is a brilliant way to reach the top of Kinder Scout. Starting from Barber Booth, the route follows a quiet path before heading into the rocky gorge of Crowden Clough, where hands-on scrambling takes you up onto the Kinder Plateau. From there it swings back down via Ringing Roger, with wide views over Edale making for a stunning finish (and there’s the Old Nags Head Inn on the way too).
We were camping at the National Trust campsite at Upper Booth Farm, which is right at the base of Crowden Clough (and is why the Komoot map only shows part of the walk). If you’re not camping there, you’ll want to start this walk in the small car park just after the railway bridge (W3W:// version.plod.secures). The OS Map shows the whole walk.
We did this walk on a hot day in August and the heather flies were swarming pretty much wherever there was heather, hence all the black dots in the photos!
From the car park, the route initially follows the road north-west to Upper Booth. It passes a red telephone box just before the Upper Booth Farm campsite and heads to the bridge over Crowden Brook. There is a small wooden gate on the right hand side of the path – we set off through this, following the path alongside the stream.
We crossed the stream via the wooden footbridge and then followed the path up the river bank to a wooden gate, which leads onto Open Access Land.
There’s another wooden gate with a National Trust sign for Crowden Clough, then the path follows Crowden Brook, climbing steadily.
We crossed over a stile and the path splits. We took the right hand fork for the Crowden Clough scramble – the left hand fork is the steep path that runs up Crowden Clough.
The scramble itself is pretty straightforward with no major obstacles. It’s classed as a Grade 1 scramble.
Once at the top of the Clough we turned right and picked up the path running around the edge of Kinder Scout.
It’s simple enough to follow this until a major fork in the path. Here the right hand fork will take you up to Grindslow Knoll, and the left hand fork will take you further around the plateau, passing the top of Grindsbrook Clough, Upper Tor and Nether Tor before descending down the hillside, passing a large, sprawling cairn to descend Ringing Roger.
The path has a couple of switchbacks and then emerges into a field. Picking up the slabbed path, we followed this downhill and over the bridge, emerging on a lane in Edale. Turning left, the route passes the Old Nags Head Inn.
Across from the pub is a beautiful old house and the official start of the Pennine Way. The route heads up this track a short distance before turning off through a wooden gate, heading over the fields at the base of Broadlee-Bank Tor to the entrance of the campsite at Upper Booth Farm. From here, turn left to head back out onto the lane and turn left again, following the road back to the car park.
Here’s the route map for this Kinder Scout walk:
Walk Map (Opens in OS Maps): Crowden Clough to Kinder Scout Hike
Parking: Barber Booth, Edale Rd High Peak S33 7ZL. W3W:// version.plod.secures Pay and Display: £4.75 for the day
Facilities: None
Walk Time: 3-4 hours depending on speed and fitness (and whether you stop off at the pub or not on the way)
Difficulty: ▲▲▲
Distance: 7.5 miles (12.8 km)
Trig Points Bagged: None
Peak District Peaks Bagged: None
Peak District Ethels Bagged: None
For more Peak District scrambles, you might like:
Crowden Clough to Kinder Scout Walk | 8 Miles
Kinder Downfall Walk via Nether Red Brook Scramble
Higher Shelf Stones via Ashton Clough Scramble
How to Find The Trinnacle at Dove Stones
Edale to Grindslow Knoll Circular Walk
For more walks near Edale, you could try:
Mam Tor and Rushup Edge Circular Walk
