Another day, another dale. Yesterday was carnival day in Middleton-in-Teesdale and the carousing carried on long into the night. Despite this, the town is clean and tidy when we go to the Co-op to buy lunch at 7.30am. The shops and cafés are already open, with the local fire crew getting their breakfast from a café proudly displaying a ‘2nd in carnival’ certificate.
After breakfast, we head down to the river Tees, crossing it to attain the Pennine Way. The way is gently graded upwards and is easy walking despite the multiple stiles. The ducks all appear to be sleeping in shallow pools and we even surprise a grey heron resting beneath the trees just by the path. As we cross one stile, Rich comes upon a stoat which then runs away along the edge of a dry stone wall.
We leave the Pennine Way, crossing a nineteenth century suspension footbridge over Low Force where the Tees descends Whin Sill, a wedge of solidified magma that is also responsible for the better known High Force. The North Pennines are in fact a designated area of outstanding natural beauty (AONB) and a UNESCO Global Geopark. The UNESCO Geoparks are unified areas of international geological significance that are ‘managed with a holistic concept of education, protection and sustainable development’. There are 177 Geoparks worldwide, seven of which are in the UK. We will be visiting the North West Highland Geopark in a few weeks’ time, all being well.
We take a road up towards the moor and Rich suggests it’s time for a break. As we are discussing this, we see a converted chapel at the end of the road, directly in front of us. It’s the Bowlees Visitor Centre and café, complete with huge fruit scones, clotted cream and flat whites, so we take a well-earned rest.
After this, we head back up onto the moors to pick up A Pennine Journey, a route developed by David Pitt to reflect a circular walk taken by A. Wainwright in 1938. Before we reach the path, we meet a Weardale resident who discusses our various options for tomorrow. He comments that there’s no visible path over the moor on our route today, despite it being a recognised walk. We climb up gradually across the tussocky ground and have to agree with him. The map suggests that there is a hunting box close to the brow of the hill. Suddenly, I spot a pile of stones and rubble. It has a faded waymark, so is clearly the building.
We continue over rough ground consisting of marram grass interspersed with sphagnum moss, seemingly only inhabited by sheep and curlews. This is proper Pennine country with bogs, peat hags, and hidden streams with large drops below them. We descend out of the wind into a dry hag above a stream and stop for a very sheltered lunch.
After lunch, we continue over the moor, finally attaining a deserted road into Weardale passing the North Pennines ski lift (!). We have reached the highest point of the walk so far at 611 metres (2004 feet). The descent from here is easy on this smooth surface though we disturb a hare and some red deer before coming across some old mines. Weardale was a major centre for lead and silver mining from the 12th to the 19th century but the last mine closed in 1919 and only the Killhope mining museum remains.
We take a path to our left, carefully jumping a deepish stream in front of the gate. This takes us through a field of cows. This is our third cattle field of the day and, like yesterday, every one has contained a large bull as well as cows and older calves. The bull looks disconsolately at us briefly, then returns to grazing again.
The path peters out, with a dry stone wall topped with barbed wire running completely across where a gate or stile should be, so we take a track down the road and follow this for a mile or so into St John’s Chapel and The Golden Lion inn.
Total distance so far: 346 miles
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