Peak performance
I thought it would be a good idea to find out now whether or not I'm up to a full day's hillwalking again, following on from my tendon injury , and also to try out a new pair of boots kindly donated by Alt-Berg for the Tay watershed walk. Not easy to do from London, but I worked out that the Peak District was just possible in a day by train. Raw-eyed and nauseous from a 4.30am alarm call, I slumped onto the train at St Pancras. Back in 2001 I lived in Sheffield for a year and got quite familiar with the Dark Peak and the hills around Hope and Edale. Last time I was here was a few years ago with my other half on a blistering August bank holiday weekend. We did a round of Edale, along the edges of Kinder Scout and Edale Moor round to Mam Tor, Hollins Cross and back down to the valley. We got seriously sunburned and ran out of water. No chance of that today. There was water in abundance, falling from the sky and flowing down the hills. The train dropped me at quiet weekday Edale...