Friday June 20th

 The Helicopter Walk- David Solo

It had been quite a while since I'd done the Helicopter Walk and today seemed to be a great day to do it- lots of daylight hours and no chance of rain. I parked up at the Birchen Clough layby just off the Snake Pass. It was a relief to get through the devastation of the plantation that had been felled- I understand that this was because of diseased larch trees. A little compensation was that I could see Fairbrook Naze a little earlier- my eventual descent from the Kinder plateau.

Fairbrook Naze above the devastated plantation

I made the detour to the bothy in Oyster Clough (of course!), which was nice and tidy although there was a couple of bags of rubbish in one corner- I must take a rubble sack next time, so I can take any rubbish away.

Nearing the Oyster Clough bothy

As I had plenty of time, I kept high on the next section on the other side of the clough, hoping to find a better way down than I had back in 2022. The path, faint in parts, weaves past a few grouse butts and passes bleached, ancient tree roots.

Ancient roots in the peat

The section above the Cowms Rocks quarry was still hanging on... just!

Still there, for the moment

This time, I was keeping an eye open for an alternative descent to that taken in '22, and fortunately, I spotted a stile which led past the quarries and down to the usual path and to the road.

Having crossed the Snake Road, I passed "The Lonely Trees" with a ewe and her lamb making the most of the shade, keen not to move.

The Lonely Trees with Crookstone Knoll in the background

Making the most of the shade

There were curlews calling, and I just about managed to take a photo of one using maximum zoom on my phone.

Curlew just about visible

I stopped at Crookstone Knoll for lunch- no need to shelter below the edge, in contrast to wintertime.

View across the Snake Road, Cowms Quarries visible opposite

The walk along the north edge of Kinder has its wonderful selection of gritstone sculpture. I'll have to make good on my plan to do a circuit, taking lots of pictures one day.

Wheel Stones on Derwent Edge just about visible
(if you squint)

The Helicopter Rock is always a welcome sight, and a place where I always take a break and have a drink and a snack.

Helicopter Rock
How the Helicopter Walk got its name!

From the Helicopter Rock, it's a relatively short walk (in the general scale of things) to Fairbrook Naze and its mushroom formation.

The "mushroom" at Fairbrook Naze

From here, it's the steep descent and through the bog cotton, to the River Ashop and the final walk back to Birchen Clough.

A walk of 14.2 miles with 750m ascent.



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