Monday 16 September 2019
Miles: 18.8
Total miles: 129.6
Imagine waking up at High Cup Nick and putting your head out of the tent to see this:
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| Dawn... |
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| About 8am |
Definitely a high point of the walk so far. More photos in the gallery, see link in my last PW post
Then a long and slightly dull walk to the next highlight, Cauldron Snout. This is actually the outfall from Cow Green reservoir (do good names up here, don't they?) but still quite impressive:
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| Cow Green dam and outfall, initially quite innocuous.. |
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| .. but it soon turns into this. Wish I could photo the noise it makes! |
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Then after a tricky scramble over loose rock, which I would call talus but hereabouts are "clints," we reach the River Tees valley.
The upper Tees Valley for some reason retains an arctic alpine ecology, left over from the last ice age. One way it manifests itself is in a large number of.. well, what tree is this?
Yes, a juniper tree, obviously.. there are lots, which must make gin distillers very happy.
After four miles or so, the next highlight, High Force:
Not the highest waterfall in England but apparently it does put more water over than any other, when in spate. Fairly quiet at present, wikipedia has some impressive photos of it following a storm.
After that Low Force was predictably a bit of a let down, so I went on and was glad to reach Middleton at a reasonable time and check in.
Wildlife update: I have seen thousands of sheep and cattle, a fair number of bunnies, but not much you could call wild life. The haul so far is three hares, one so close I almost trod on it, two small deer, not at all frightened, we stood and looked at each other for a minute and then they sauntered off. A number of big birds in the distance, and a number of smaller birds not familiar to me. Oh, and some boggy bits in Northumberland were jumping with small frogs, had to watch where you put your feet.
One or two more random photos:
Yes, a juniper tree, obviously.. there are lots, which must make gin distillers very happy.
After four miles or so, the next highlight, High Force:
Not the highest waterfall in England but apparently it does put more water over than any other, when in spate. Fairly quiet at present, wikipedia has some impressive photos of it following a storm.
After that Low Force was predictably a bit of a let down, so I went on and was glad to reach Middleton at a reasonable time and check in.
Wildlife update: I have seen thousands of sheep and cattle, a fair number of bunnies, but not much you could call wild life. The haul so far is three hares, one so close I almost trod on it, two small deer, not at all frightened, we stood and looked at each other for a minute and then they sauntered off. A number of big birds in the distance, and a number of smaller birds not familiar to me. Oh, and some boggy bits in Northumberland were jumping with small frogs, had to watch where you put your feet.
One or two more random photos:
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| Low Force |
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| A sheep sculpture. On it, it says "It reverts to scrub, when it's gone it's lost. A farmer" .. not a sentiment I would agree with, especially as this area was once forest. It is more a reminder that there is now no part of Britain left that is completely natural, unaltered by man |
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