Dufton to Middleton-in-Teesdale: E2 Day 59

One of the most scenic stages of the Pennine Way today, a long day with rain in the morning and sun later.

My day began with a climb up to High Cup Nick. A dramatic glacial valley...if you can see it. Of the three times I have walked this way, it has only been visible once. That was not today. As I climbed up out of Dufton, I climbed into the cloud. A herd of black horses, merging with the grey mist, grazed in the wet atmosphere. Sheep were numerous on the rough grazing, glaring at me as I walked by, before stalking off. At the top I could see the towers of rock at the edge of High Cup Nick, but not the valley bottom through the mist. The first time I walked this way I was relying on my compass to guide me through the cloud, finding the right direction, if not on the right path. This time I had my GPS with a map and route loaded, so I could follow the Pennine Way with more confidence, and in greater safety. 

Looking back towards Dufton as I climbed into the cloud.

Looking down High Cup Nick.

As I continued towards the Cow Green reservoir the rain picked up. The wind blasted the drops against my side, in a manner that was becoming more frequent over the last few weeks. The harsh, empty, treeless landscape seemed to match the weather.

On reaching the Cow Green dam, I had to climb down the rocks beside the waterfall of Cauldron Snout. With the recent rains the Snout was in full, foamy flow, tinged brown, dropping in closely spaced cascades over layers of rock. I moved cautiously over the wet rocks, set among heather on the steep slope, using my hands as well as my feet. The subsequent section, where the path is trapped between the youthful River Tees and cliffs, had some difficult parts where you have to cross boulder fields. In my youth I would have moved easily, stepping quickly and easily from one boulder to the next. But now I moved with great caution, aware that a slip could result in some injury, maybe a broken leg. Even last year when I walked this way, I was moving sufficiently gracefully that a group of bird watchers asked me to pass. They were looking for a "ring ouzel", like a blackbird with a white collar. As I ate my lunch on a rock, glad the rain had stopped, I looked for such a bird, but without success. I had seen many grouse today, included a black one. They seem to just stand around waiting to be shot. As I approach they fly off moodily muttering, moving slowly with their frantically flapping wings. An easy target I thought. 

Cauldron Snout, the foam peaty brown.

After a length of more open landscape the valley again closed in, and the moors began changing to more cultivated farmland. An unusual area of juniper bushes caught my attention, a little before a group of quarry buildings which were busy crushing and sorting rock. High Force was a substantial waterfall on the Tees, the foaming water falling over the hard rocks of Whin Sill, which I first crossed at Hadrian's Wall, and which was also responsible for the waterfall at Cauldron Snout. Some miles later Low Force had a smaller drop. Only yesterday, I was close to Tees Head, the source of the Tees, but by today it was a fast flowing river.

Drystone wall snaking up into the moors.

The distance from Low Force to Middleton in Teesdale was rather longer than I recalled from my previous trips, with sections I had no memory of. However the weather had improved, and although the fields were not yellow with buttercups as they had been when I last walked this way, at least the sun was shining and as a passing walker commented, it was a "cracking evening". The evening sun was bringing brightness to the changing colours of the autumnal trees, rich oranges and yellows mingled with the remaining greens.

Evening light on autumnal colours.