Fair Brook

Scrambling Fair Brook, north of the Kinder Plateau in the High Peak. Summary verdict: an easily-accessible, family-friendly introductory scramble in the first part of the brook; the rest not worth doing

Route in: park in one of the four lay-bys along the A57 just to the south-east of the old Snake Inn (if full, try the Birchin Clough car park further north on the A57)

Start point: where Fair Brook flows into the River Ashop it’s quite flat and dull, so walk up the footpath by the brook until it gets more interesting beyond the Nether Seal Clough turn-off e.g. around OS ref SK 11039 89914

Grading: in the lower half of the brook there are a number of short waterfalls above small, dammed plunge / dip pools and two grade 1 waterfalls just past the Upper Seal Clough turn-off. Beyond these the brook is of limited interest until the final steeper rise up to the plateau which involves a bit of grade 0.5-ish boulder clambering

Notes: this is the only scramble on which I’ve ever seen anyone else as it seems to be used by a commercial “ghyll scrambling” company for group trips

End point: you can go all the way to the top path on Kinder Plateau at SK 09330 89097 but I would recommend avoiding the final scramble and getting out about half-way e.g. anywhere between SK 10451 89755 and SK 10042 89457

Route out: a footpath runs a little way above and to the north of the brook for its entire length: wherever you get out, you can make your way to that and then back to the A57

Time: 10 mins from CP to Fair Brook/Ashop junction; about 2 hours to scramble up – more if you take time swimming or jumping into pools; closer to 1 hour if you only do the bottom half; then about 1 hour to walk back from Kinder Plateau to the CP

Combine with: Blackden Brook, or do the first-half water-based scramble of Fair Brook and then hike over to Nether Red Brook for a (largely) dry scramble, though it’s about an hour away

Gear: wetsuit and buoyancy vest; helmet only if you’re messing around jumping off things into pools

Verdict: the section from Nether Seal Clough up to the two waterfalls above Upper Seal Clough is a fun, family-friendly introductory scramble; the rest is not really worth doing

Category: Introductory

Score: 7/10 for first part, 5/10 for plateau scramble

Video guide: