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Force
Four
Upper Teesdale.
Wild, exposed moorland with spectacular waterfalls, including England's largest.
Excellent selection of pubs in the traditional lead mining town of
Middleton-in-Teesdale.
14 miles (22 km) 1,150ft (350 m) of ascent.
Map: OS Outdoor Leisure 1:25,000 Sheet 31
Spring is nature's wake up call. Deep in the roots of even the smallest plant
an alarm clock starts to ring, and the world begins to stir. We can't ignore
it either. Light mornings and blue skies trigger a dormant desire to pull on
walking boots and participate in nature's dawn. One of the best places to
watch Northern England spring into life is the upper valley of the River
Tees. Here you'll find a virtuoso display of elements in action; earth, wind
and especially water, with great tumbling cascades continuously carving out
the landscape. This walk visits four superb waterfalls, including England's
largest, but it gets there by crossing high, wild moorland and sneaking up on
the "force" from behind.
Right at the start, lets get the terminology correct. A Teesdale
"waterfall" is called a "force", but pronounced
"foss", a word which comes from the old Norse language used a
thousand years ago by Scandinavian settlers. Our first force leaps into view
right at the start, immediately across the road from Bowlees car park. Low
Force is its most common name, but this kid brother of the big cascade
upstream is also known as Little Force and Salmon Leap. It's best seen from
the suspension foot bridge which crosses the Tees just below the rocks and
foam, the Wynch Bridge, which was built in 1830 to replace one constructed by
lead miners.
The route climbs a clear track towards Holwick, the village which gives its
name to the impressive crag of Holwick Scar, before turning right and
skirting an old quarry. Here it breaks out onto open moorland, part of the
Upper Teesdale National Nature Reserve, a large grouse moor which is also
home to curlew, dunlin, lapwing, snipe and redshank. The track is clear and
wide, there are no navigation problems, so one can contemplate the choice of
route that lies ahead. One option is to follow the bridleway which breaks
away from the track, although this will involve fording Blea Beck which can
be quite deep and fast after heavy rain. The alternative is to stay on the
main track until it starts to climb Noon Hill, then branch off on a footpath,
invisible on the ground, and use it to drop back to the original bridleway.
This route is longer and requires more climbing.
White Force is heard before it's seen. When it catches the eye it is quite a
sight; a spume of white, bursting from a narrow fissure in the high wall of
Cronkley Fell. The presence of these magnificent waterfalls is entirely due
to a shelf of hard volcanic rock called the Whin Sill, the same stuff on
which Hadrian's Wall is built further North. While it has resisted the
relentless effect of wind and water, the surrounding softer rocks such as
limestone and shale, have eroded. This created the dramatic cliffs and, when
a river was handy, set up the perfect conditions for a waterfall.
Call it seduction, call it enthusiasm, but the wildness of this place exerts
a powerful appeal over me. Even
in the worst of weather, when I reach the edge of Cronkley Fell, IÕm always been tempted to keep hiking into
Upper Teesdale. A little further
upstream, the young river bursts into the world at Cauldron Snout, another
fine Force, but a visit there is another walk. Our route turns back on itself, joins the Pennine Way, and
works its way towards Bleabeck Force, our third waterfall.
Although
not the biggest of the dale, it's is one of the most attractive, and much
better than looking at the eyesore of the Whinstone quarry on the opposite
bank. This point marks a distinct change in the character of the walk
because, even on a crisp Spring day, you're likely to start meeting tourists
out for a stroll. They've come to see just one thing, England's largest
waterfall, High Force.
No one goes away disapointed.
The whole walk has been leading up to this moment, when you peer over
the cliff and watch the River Tees transformed from a peaceful, peaty brown
to a whirling, thundering blur of white. With the car park just a couple of miles down the track,
this is a spectacular end to an energising Spring walk, and if you're close
enough to Teesdale to be tempted to try it, but are hesitating, let me say
just two words. "Force yourself!"
* Start at Bowlees visitor centre and car park (GR:907283), just off
the B6277 North West of Middleton in Teesdale
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