A-Walking: Teesdale Totters

Our expedition today (19-12-2009) took the form of a circular trek setting off from Middleton-in-Teesdale {NY 947 253}. Our route took us west along the Pennine Way and then north to Holwick Scars - returning east over Coldberry and then south along Hudeshope Beck back to Middleton.

We set off from the town square (see picture below) at about 11.00 am. There were 8 people in the group: JB, PB. KF, CH, MS, MuS, JY and PY. PB led the walk.


Following the B6277 road south, we crossed the River Tees at {NY 947 253} and then 'picked up' the Pennine Way (PW). We followed this in a south-westerly direction. This took us up onto Harter Fell - the first major climb of the day. Leaving the PW at {NY 925 233} we turned onto a north-westerly bearing and headed for Brown Dod and onwards to Crooks o' Green Fell. Turning north, we then headed for Holwick Scars {NY 900 270}.

From Holwick Lodge {NY 902 276} we headed in a north-westerly direction in order to cross the River Tees using the footbridge at {NY 889 283}. Once we were over the river, we headed for Bowlees {NY 906 282}; we went via Ash Hill {NY 894 289} in order to minimise the amount of road walking that we had to do!

Our route from Bowlees took us north (passing Gibson's Cave on our right) to Broadley's Gate {NY 908 298} where we now turned onto an easterly bearing. This took us across to Coldberry {NY 934 296} (and the second major climb of the day). Leaving the high ground, we now descended down to Hudeshope Beck {NY 946 292}.

Turning onto a southerly bearing, we followed the course of the beck in order to reach Skears {NY 948 279} and, further south, Snaisgill Plantation {NY 953 270}. From here I had intended to 'circle' around to take in Stanhope Gate {NY 955 257} (in order to avoid road walking) before arriving at our final destination. However, because we were 'running late' we had to give this a miss and continue down the road to reach Middleton.

Click the buttons below to see the GPS tracklog, the walk statistics, commendations, mistakes and, of course, the photos.

   

  

We had some tremendous weather today and experienced some wonderful sights. Undoubtedly, we saw Teesdale at its best.

---