Trail Running In The Peak District - Kinder Scout and Kinder Downfall Circular

Deep in the heart of the England's Peak District lies Kinder Scout, a moorland plateau and National Nature Reserve in the Dark Peak region. Having never visited the Peak District before, I decided to go online and search for some popular trails. I quickly came across the Kinder Scout and Kinder Downfall circular route on the All Trails website. The reviews were good, consistently over time, so I loaded it into my watch for navigation and decided to give it a run.

Parking and logistics for the Kinder Scout and Kinder Downfall Circular route

The day prior to taking on Kinder Scout, I hiked another popular trail in the Peak District region, the Roaches and Lud's Church Circular. Having spent the night sleeping in my car, I woke up early the next morning and headed to the Bowden Bridge Car Park which would be my base for the Kinder Scout trail run.

Upon arriving at 6.30am, I noticed that whilst the car park was empty there were a few free parking spots on the road, several of which were occupied by vans and cars, so I decided to park alongside them. Next to the carpark is the Hayfield campsite where there is a public toilet situated for free and easy use, which was a perk.

I used the toilet to get changed from my comfortable sleeping clothing into my trail running gear. The weather was forecast to be dry and overcast on the ground, though I knew there'd be heavy winds and the possibility of some rain on the top of Kinder Scout itself. I opted for running tights, a long sleeve top, a padded running jacket (which I initially stored in my bag), my Hoka Speedgoats, and my Adidas Terrex cap. I carried energy gels, sports bars, and my emergency equipment in my Salomon running backpack. The heavier coat weighed me down a bit to start, but I soon discovered that it was the right decision as the weather about to unfold on the plateau would be brutal to say the least..

With the sound of birds chirping overhead and more cars arriving for a day of hiking and adventure, I set off from my car and onto the route.

Kinder Road to Kinder Reservoir

The route starts with an easy paved road from the carpark along Kinder Road. On the way, I passed multiple country houses and I crossed several hikers until reaching the gate for Kinder Reservoir. Here, the path

The road to Kinder Reservoir, just before the trail starts

It was easy going for the first mile or so, and eventually I came to a small gate which lead to a very steep stone paved path and up onto the trail. Immediately, I felt some lactic acid build up in my quads which was to be expected given that the route contains over 2,000 feet of elevation gain spread across 8.5 miles.

The climb comes out at a flat trail, which was incredibly boggy and unpleasant to manoeuvre. Though I had my Hoka Speedgoats which are good for most terrains, they were no match from the swampy conditions and I slipped a few times but luckily I didn't fall over. If you're hiking this route in a season outside of summer, I'd suggest wearing proper hiking shoes or trail shoes with thick lugs, and possibly bringing hiking poles for extra stability.

The first trail of the route, with Kinder Reservoir on the right

The first proper trail took me along Kinder Reservoir, and I had my first glimpse of the beautiful scenes that the route had to offer. Footsteps from fellow hikers and runners were moulded into the ground, and I pushed ahead. The path then takes you to a small waterfall, where it cuts into the mountain and up a steep steady climb with many streams which need to be stepped over. Most streams had rocks conveniently placed for gaining perch but there was one or two where I had no choice but to submerge my feet a little to get across. Ordinarily, I'm not a fan of getting my feet wet under any circumstances when trail running or hiking but in this scenario I had little choice.

This section of the trail is extremely rocky and uneven underneath, so I took extra care to watch each step as I hiked and ran my way up gradually. After a while the path joins a steep staircase of steps, which I briskly hiked up to make my way up to Kinder Scout.

The stone step staircase, which took me further up to the plateau

At the top of the staircase, I came to a steep trail stone path which took me further up and eventually to the top of Kinder Scout itself. On the way up, the wind started battering me hard and small water droplets started blasting in my face. It started to sting and I could feel myself getting chilled, so I stopped mid-way up and put on my jacket. That was a wise decision, because upon reaching the top of the plateau the wind and onslaught of water smashing into my face only got worse.

The way I came on the way to the plateau of Kinder Scout, just as the wind started wrecking havoc!

Once on top of the Kinder Scout Plateau itself, it was time for a good few miles of solid running. Whilst elevation profile was pretty stable, the ground underneath was incredibly technical. Rocks, mud, grass, all soaked with recent rain, created an obstacle course which required care underfoot and attention to detail. Not only that, the wind only got stronger and stronger and I felt it pull or push me along depending on which way the trail ebbed and weaved. The trail was labelled as moderate in difficulty, but this felt hard mainly because of the weather conditions.

A view on top of the plateau. Very technical terrain, so care and attention to detail is a must

Despite the weather and tricky conditions underfoot, I enjoyed the majority of this plateau ridge run and quickly found myself getting into a steady rhythm. I hopped over stones, jumped over small bodies of water, and stepped over small patches of grass for better grip where it got muddy.

Eventually, the trail came to a sharp right turn where I came across the famous Kinder Downfall waterfall. This is the largest waterfall in the Peak District, standing at an impressive 30m. In Summer, I've heard that the waterfall can be reduced to a trickle but at this time of year with it having rained hard recently it was flowing in full force. As it was so windy, the water got blown back and upwards over where the waterfall began and created a mist of water which I ran through which quickly soaked me. All I can say is that I'm glad I was wearing my waterproof coat!

One of the many impressive views from the plateau

Next up came a slightly swampier and muddy straight past the waterfall. The terrain underfoot was slightly harder than before, and I found it hard to keep on the path sometimes as I couldn't stick to the trail very easily in the conditions. When I needed to navigate quick and easy to confirm the correct route, I took my gloves off and checked my position relative to the route on the All Trails app which was incredibly accurate and updated instantly with each of my movements. Each time, I did this at lightning pace because taking my gloves off exposed my hands to the cold winds which came with being so high up on the ridge.

Eventually, I came to the Kinder Low Trig Point which sits on the South-West corner of the plateau, north of the Edale Rocks. It was a huge relief to have been out of what I thought were hurricane like gales, and able to run without being pushed and pulled to the whims of the winds which had made all progress up to that point much more tricky. This was where the gradual descent started, and I made my way down a smooth paved path and back eventually onto a steadily downward muddy trail. There were many hikers and tourist groups during this section, and I wondered if many who had opted to go onto the Kinder Scout ridge itself were put off by the ridiculously strong winds I'd just experienced.

The muddy trail leading back to the car park

I soon came onto a field, with a stone wall which had been damaged. This created an opening which I stepped through, before running down the field towards the gate. After crossing through a muddy ice rink trail path next to a field of sheep, I finally found my way on a paved road which descended and led me back to the car park and to my car.

All in all, the Kinder Scout and Kinder Downfall circular is an exceptional route and I enjoyed it. If you're doing it outside the reliably hot summer months, I'd highly recommend bringing waterproof clothing and all the typical emergency equipment like a compass, map and bivvy, just in case. It also helps to have the route loaded up into a phone or watch which is accurate, because the trail on the Kinder Scout plateau itself was hard for me to follow at times and I ended up backtracking on occasion.

My Strava performance of the run

This is a fantastic route, and I hope to do it again sometime.

Craig Running Cafe