Edale

Why base here

Edale sits at the head of its own small valley, with Kinder Scout’s plateau filling the skyline to the north and the Great Ridge closing off the view to the south. It is barely a hamlet: a scatter of stone houses, two pubs, a church and a station, strung along a lane that stops being useful to cars well before it stops being useful to walkers. What Edale has instead of size is position. It marks the southern end of the Pennine Way, and the Old Nags Head, a former smithy dating to 1577, claims the honour of being the official start.

On foot versus by car

Everything that matters here starts from the village itself. Grindsbrook Clough, the original line of the Pennine Way onto the Kinder plateau, begins a short walk from the green. Jacob’s Ladder and the packhorse route toward Edale Cross leave from Upper Booth, a short walk further up the valley. Mam Tor and the Great Ridge are reachable on foot too, via Hollins Cross, though most visitors drive round to the Mam Nick car park and shorten the approach considerably. A car adds little here beyond convenience: this is a place built around arriving by train and walking out in every direction. The exception is Bleaklow, the broad peat plateau north of Kinder across the Snake Pass, which starts from a lay-by on the A57 and is a drive from the village, the long moorland day for anyone who wants more than Kinder.

Practicalities

Edale’s own station, on the Hope Valley line between Sheffield and Manchester, sits close enough to the centre that a car is optional rather than necessary. The Moorland Centre at Fieldhead has had no public visitor centre since March 2025, when the Peak District National Park Authority ended its visitor facilities there; the Moors for the Future Partnership stays in the building, open by appointment only. The Authority lists toilets and the High Peak Borough Council pay and display car park at the bottom of the village. Two pubs and a small shop cover food and a pint; there is nothing on the plateau once you leave the valley, so carry what the day’s walk needs before you set off.