Teesdale Way Section 1 (Dufton to Cow Green)

Introduction

Section 1 of the Teesdale Way starts in the quiet village of Dufton, in Cumbria’s Eden Valley following the Pennine Way to Birkdale Bridge at Cow Green. The bridge spans the nascent River Tees as it emerges from Cow Green Reservoir before plunging down Cauldron Snout, England’s largest cascade. The location in Upper Teesdale is extremely remote, with no facilities en-route. From Birkdale Bridge, the nearest public road to is over a mile away so, unless you’re heading to one of the few hospitality options around Forest-in-Teesdale, you’ll most probably choose to walk the first two, or three, sections back-to-back.

Stats at a Glance

Distance 14.4 km/8.9 miles | Height Gain 540 m/1771 ft | Maximum Elevation 601 m/1970 ft (Narrow Gate) | Going Generally good but rocky and possibly boggy in places. Very exposed on high, open moorland. Confident navigational skills recommended, particularly in poor visibility | Navigation (OS Maps Explorer OL19; Landranger 91); GPS File | Hospitality & Supplies Dufton (PH; YH; BB; Ca); Langdon Beck (Ho; YH) [6.3 km] | Start Fountain, Dufton Village Green NY 689250 (w3w: buying.servers.leads) | Finish Birkdale Bridge, Cow Green NY 813287 (w3w: paradise.expecting.stooping) | Grade Challenge | GALLERY

Trail Updates

The following updates have been published by The Durham Cow for this section: 110825

Description

This section of the Teesdale Way is the most challenging of the entire trail. There are few opportunities for shelter so if there’s any chance of inclement weather, you need to be prepared with adequate clothing, some food and, ideally, the ability to make a hot drink. Narrow Gate is the highest and most rugged part of the trail where you’ll cross Strand’s Beck which flows from Hannah’s Well, across the trail and over the lip of the Gill. Once over the rocky top it’s almost all downhill — on trail, track and road — to the end of the section at Birkdale Bridge. Stone cairns assist navigation where the path becomes less distinct, particularly in areas of scree approaching Narrow Gate. Nevertheless, the trail is quite easy to miss in poor visibility — frequent in the higher parts of the North Pennines — so it makes sense to have at least one confident navigator.

The route starts (or finishes) at Dufton’s distinctive pink fountain, across the village green from the Stag Inn and not far away from the handily located YHA. It’s a long and increasingly rugged haul up to High Cup Gill (a wide glaciated valley that runs out spectacularly into the Vale of Eden). You’ll pass the first of a couple of range flags indicating the proximity of the Warcop military training area. The Helm Wind is the only named wind in the British Isles, and if it’s blowing down the slope it’ll feel cold, even on an otherwise warm day. Some of the most striking geological features in this part of North Pennines are formed by outcrops of the volcanic Whin Sill. On this section it appears as a distinctive fringe of vertically jointed rock around the lip of High Cup Gill, known as High Cup Scar.

Beyond High Cup, it’s possible to cross the Maize Beck using one of two footbridges. When in spate, the beck represents a potentially dangerous obstacle to the extent that a couple of walkers lost their lives attempting to cross it in the 1960s. At that time it was safer to use what became known as the “Flood Route”, crossing the beck further upstream via the footbridge at Maize Beck Scar. Sometime around 2006 a bridge was constructed on the main route, negating the use of the Flood Route unless you’re keen to see the remarkable geological conditions at the Scar.

The Carboniferous sequences of limestone, sandstone, siltstone and mudstone are part of what’s known as the “Alston Formation” in Upper Teesdale. Laid down by rising and falling seas over millions of years, the uneven weathering of the various rock types — known as “Yoredale Sequences” — have created the characteristic stepped flanks of the dale. A mile or so after crossing the Maize Beck you reach an access track that takes you down the dale, through Birkdale Farm, to the road leading to the finish at Birkdale Bridge, over the River Tees at Cow Green. On the way you pass some abandoned lead workings, by the range flag, at Moss Shop, where you’ll also see some impressively thick blanket bog — the only place on the trail you’ll see it.