Bill's Walks

Round and About Forest in Teesdale

Filed under: Other

Distance: 12 miles

Start: Hanging Shaw Car Park (GR NY867298)

Click to view start position on Google Maps

Map: OS Explorer 31 – Teesdale and Weardale

This walk covers what is an outstanding area with attractive views both distant and nearby and also has the benefit of part of it being on some of the best sections of the Pennine Way. Surely there are few better parts of England than this.

The walk starts at Hanging Shaw car park. Shaw is an old word meaning wood and can be found in many place names throughout the country. Locally we have Penshaw which is celtic for the wood on the hill. Hanging Shaw is presumably for a wood hanging on the hill and the farm with that name is found a little to the north of the car park. The forest in question in the name of the area goes back to the Baliol family of Barnard Castle and Raby Castle heritage, when the area was wooded and also l believe used for hunting.
Upper Teesdale in the 1800s was a predominately lead mining area but the area where we are starting has a very long history of human habitation even though the terrain is over 1000ft (300m) and neolithic axes have been found hereabouts. To the north up the side of the valley can be seen High Hurth Edge passed on my Chapel Fell and Fendrith Hill walk on the Durham 2000 ft hills. Excavations here show the site was occupied circa 6000 years ago by a hunter gatherer population and the site was further occupied 3000 years ago. There are extensive caves here where the people lived and these were known in times past as the Fairy Hole. The excavations, which were done in the the late 18th Century, revealed over 30 animal species including both wolf and lynx and also the bones of an iron age woman.

Leave the car park and head west towards Langdon Beck for about 100 yards and take the drive to the farm on your left. The hill on the other side of the Tees is Cronkley Scar which is crossed on the Sweeter Side of Teesdale walk where the famous and special Teesdale plants, such as Teesdale gentians living on the sugar limestone, are found and protected. Pass to the left of the farm to go to Wat Garth farm and join the Tees at Cronkley Farm bridge which gives access to the farm. Here we join the Pennine Way. It will be noted that the Pennine Way from Middleton in Teesdale to Alston wiggles about for these two lengthy sections and the reason for this is to visit some of the outstanding locations in the area. These include Low Force and High Force which Wainwright was quite rightly enthusiastic about but the aims of Tom Stephenson (who originated the Pennine Way) were very wide and included all of Upper Teesdale including Cauldron Snout (now partly emasculated by the construction of Cow Green Reservoir), the loneliness of Birkdale and the surprise view of High Cup Nick and the summit of Cross Fell which is the highest point in the whole of the Pennines and has a superb view over the Eden Valley to the Lake District. The Pennine Way Association website has a photograph of Tom Stephenson with many prominent politicians surveying the route at Birkdale farm.

We now head south-east uphill on the track to Cronkley passing the farm on the diversion to the right and continue upwards to Bracken Rigg on the path winding up through High Crag. From now to Holwick Head bridge after High Force we are walking on flagstones rescued from disused mills in Yorkshire and Lancashire which are necessary to prevent further erosion due to the heavy use of the path here from day walkers as well as Pennine Way walkers. After reaching the top the Pennine Way gently descends eastwards towards High Force and returns to the river where we enter the Teesdale National Nature Reserve and its masses of juniper which is managed by Natural England. Keep an eye out here for ring ouzels which are not common and look like a blackbird with a white chest. The section of the Pennine Way from Langdon Beck to Cauldron Snout is even better to see them. This section is also good for oystercatchers and redshank with the occasional common sandpiper.

Regrettably there is now a major problem in this reserve concerning the juniper. This is a relatively rare tree occurring in a limited number of places and this is the largest juniper wood in England. Juniper is one of only three conifers native to the UK (the other two being yew and scots pine) and this is the main reason for the reserve. In the past the charcoal made from juniper was of a very high quality and much used in the gunpowder industry, whilst the berries are still used to add the flavour to gin. They are also an enhancement to venison and beef casseroles. In 2011/2012 it was noted that some of the junipers were diseased and comprehensive investigation revealed that they were suffering from a disease known as phytophthora austrocedrae which is a fungus which attacks the plant through its root system. This was a new disease in the UK and is only known in Patagonia and Chile where it attacks the Chilean Cedar and has been prevalent there for about 50 years. The first part of its name translates to ‘plant destroyer’ whilst the second part concerns its location and the fact that it also attacks the Lawsons cypress which is found in domestic gardens. The source of the disease is still as yet unknown and in an effort to prevent its spread at points of access to the reserve there are brushes and disinfectant to thoroughly clean your boots. PLEASE USE THIS FACILITY AT ALL TIMES.

On your left there is a large whinstone quarry which is the rock that gives us the many features in Teesdale and other parts of Northumbria such as Hadrians Wall and the Farne Islands and of course High Force, but the view on the opposite side is where to look as Bleabeck Force comes tumbling down to the Tees over a succession of small waterfalls. Like most waterfalls it is best after wet weather.

You can hear High Force before you reach it. This is the biggest waterfall in the country. It is not the highest but the amount of water cascading through a relatively small gap in the face and falling a distance of 69ft accounts for the noise. Occasionally there are two falls with an adjacent one further along the edge and before Cow Green was built it was possible to see the whole cliff face with a continuous fall across its whole length. The waterfall exists because of the hardness of the whinstone (as with Low Force) being difficult to erode but the whinstone overlies a band of softer shale which is eroded. Eventually this causes the whinstone to be undercut and the whinstone collapses. Over thousands of years this has created the super gorge leading down from the fall. This area is famous for flora with globe flower being abundant for several miles down river.

We leave the reserve by a gate with boot cleaning equipment next to a sculpture of sheep and the Pennine Way descends down to Holwick Head Bridge. However, we quit the Pennine Way here. The bridge is crossed over the Tees and the route is taken uphill to the main road. For those wanting refreshments there is an alternative path at the end of the bridge to the High Force Hotel and then it is necessary to walk down the main road to the track leading to Holwick Head Bridge. At the top of the track is a stile (quite high) where the footpath is taken and a field crossed to the minor road to Ettersgill at White Friar House. There is now a bit of quiet road walking and just before Dirt Pot there is a footpath on the left. Note the magnificent row of mature trees. This track was the old road up Teesdale. We do not go up it but continue up the Ettersgill road and divert to Dirt Pit to have a closer look at Ettersgill Beck with its steep sides.

At GR884295 just before a sharp right hand bend take the footpath on the left which heads south-west and after crossing a stile you emerge on the old road which here is a track which later changes to a tarmac surface. This passes the unused Ebeneezer Chapel built in 1880 and where the road turns sharp left to join the B6277 continue straight ahead round the back of a house. This track follows a wall past Dale cottage to The Dale and passes through a walled lane (with nettles!) to Forest in Teesdale School. This is still in use as a school which makes a pleasant change! The path passes above Langdon Beck Youth Hostel much used by Pennine Way walkers. This was a purpose built Youth Hostel and replaced an earlier one which was burnt down. Here change direction slightly to a north-west direction to cross a stile and them make for West Underhurth Farm via another stile. Pass through the farm, turn left, and then take the footpath alongside a wall to Brown Hill. Continue in the same direction and you are then looking down on the Langdon Beck Hotel built in 1887 to replace an earlier one. Normally good ales are served here. On your left is the church of St James the Less dating fron 1845.

This footpath comes down to the B6277 just short of the bridge over the Langdon Beck which carries a fair amount of water. Cross the bridge and take the path to Valence Lodge alongside the beck, which has an attractive waterfall and on arriving at the lodge head north-west to Old Folds and reach the B6277. This can be a good area for black grouse but you have to be there early to see them. Turn left back to the hotel and then follow the road towards Cow Green alongside the Langdon Beck. There is a bend in the road opposite Intake Farm at the confluence of Langdon Beck and Harwood Beck. The latter is much bigger and it is sometimes possible to cross the ford to Intake Farm. Otherwise continue on the road for a further 150 yards and cross the Harwood beck on the road bridge. Immediately there is a fine footpath down the side of the beck back to Intake Farm. Here the footpath continues from the end of the ford and not through the farmyard, and follows Harwood Beck down to Saur Hill Bridge where the Pennine Way is joined. The bridge is crossed and the Pennine Way followed alongside the beck. This section can be flooded if there has been a lot of rain.

After about half a mile you reach the confluence of the Harwood Beck and the River Tees and it will be observed that the Harwood Beck is about the same size as the Tees. The Pennine Way shortly reaches Cronkley Bridge, crossed earlier in the walk, and now head left back towards the B6277 on the Cronkley access track. On reaching the road turn right for a few yards and then left up to Dale Cottage, also passed earlier. Here it is now back to the Forest School and then down to the start at Hanging Shaw.