Kinder Scout: the River Kinder and Kinder Gates

Intrepid explorers walking the length of the world's great rivers has become something of a cultural phenomenon in recent years - think Ed Stafford trekking along the course of the Amazon for almost two-and-a-half years or Levison Wood hiking the Nile from its origin in the Nyungwe Forest, Rwanda to the Egyptian shores of the Mediterranean.

With adventures like these in mind it's little wonder that we became suddenly inspired to walk the River Kinder a couple of weeks ago, from its source deep in the Peak District plateau to... Well, only as far as the Downfall actually, because we wanted a nice circular route that didn't involve traipsing downhill and back up again. And we didn't quite walk it from its source, to be honest, because - rather like the Nile - there are several indistinct points at which its waters bubble up from the ground and start their journey to the sea. If we'd put more time and effort in to complete the River Kinder's entire three-mile course, no doubt I'd have a book deal and probably my own TV show by now but we didn't so you'll have to make do with another verbose blog post and some occasionally over-exposed photos.

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Aran Fawddwy

After you've driven past Lake Bala on the way to the coast, a line of hills to the south east of the A494 can't help but catch your eye. It starts in relatively humble fashion with the rocks of Moel Ddu in the north but a ridge of increasingly high, rugged crags draws your gaze steadily upwards as the range stretches out to the south. Frustratingly, as the Aran mountains rise ever more magnificently above you, the road you're following begins to descend and pull away to the west, leaving their tempting summits hidden behind the slopes of smaller hills and screens of tree plantations. The highest of these mountains is Aran Fawddwy, at 905 metres (2969 feet) above sea level. I originally planned a walk to its summit along the ridge from the north but the logistics of turning this into a circular route proved difficult and made for a very long day that would've already involved a two-hour drive from Manchester just to get to the starting point.

Making our way into Cwm Cywarch.

Instead, I settled on an approach from the south, starting in the secluded valley of Cwm Cwyarch. I was a little dejected at the thought of missing out on the airy walk up the ridge I'd looked at so many times but once we were on the tiny, single lane into (and out of) the valley, any lingering sense of disappointment melted in the face of the beautiful vista that opened up around us. At one point we stopped the car to get a picture or two of the scenery that awaited us further ahead.

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Axe Edge Moor via Three Shire Heads

Flash. The old school is the white building on the left.

It's always a nice feeling to finally get to a location that's been beckoning to you from photographs and walking sites for many years and last week I managed to tick off visiting Three Shire Heads on my bucket list. 

I'd attempted the walk earlier this year with Rich, setting off from Flash in Staffordshire (Britain's highest village it is claimed, though not without dispute), but we'd had to abandon our plans partway along due to flooding. 

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