Distance: 10.5 miles
Ascent: 220m
Weather: fine, sunny spells
Unidentified brown mammals: 2
Unidentified brown birds: 1
Identified brown feet: 1
Rabbits: thousands of them
Lapwings, pheasant, buzzard, dipper, friendly great tit, thrush, snipe (making a chuff-chuff noise, not the flappy noise)
Violets, forget-me-not, comfrey, campion, buttercups, bluebells - all very pretty but not sure they're quite the rare arctic alpine flowers promised on the notice boards.
Alarm issues notwithstanding, we were away just before ten, and rejoined the Pennine Way just over the bridge near the cattle market in Middleton and followed the track which became a pretty path through flower meadows and fields.
We saw lots of bunnies, pheasant and a mouse, plus something without a head that could have once been a shrew.
The path enters some woods and then meets the River Tees, which is wide and rocky. The valley is very impressive and quite different from the dales and moors of the previous days.
We detoured off to Bowlees over the Wynch Bridge (a chainlink bridge that you have to cross one at a time) and its visitor centre to meet Pam and Martyn and the girls, who brought a picnic and joined us for the walk up from Low Force passed High Force and up to the top of Bracken Rigg. Well, almost all of us made it to the top of the hill, there was a muddy stream incident that resulted in one rather brown shoe which put someone off going any further.
After the others turned back, we carried on along the grassy ridge with juniper bushes and many rabbit holes, to drop down behind a farm at Cronkley, and then walked beside the river up the valley towards Langdon Beck, trying to identify some of the birds and flowers along the way without much success.
We are staying at The Langdon Beck Hotel, which is surprisingly heaving for somewhere in the middle of nowhere.
No comments:
Post a Comment