Teesdale Way Section 2 (Cow Green to Holwick Head)

Introduction

Section 2 of the Teesdale Way starts at Birkdale Bridge, Cow Green, downstream from the dam at Cow Green Reservoir and finishes at Duke’s Bridge, Holwick Head, near High Force. The entire section lies within the Moor House Upper Teesdale National Nature Reserve where the glacial landscape supports a unique collection of sub-arctic and alpine plants collectively referred to as the “Teesdale Assemblage”. You’ll also find summer hay meadows, England’s largest juniper wood and many moorland bird species. The reserve lies within the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) where the igneous Whin Sill is at its most prolific. Dotted around the dale are the distinctive white-painted farms belonging to Lord Barnard’s Raby Estate, a constant feature along the trail all the way to Darlington. The “challenge” grading comes from the rocky descent and terrain right in the first couple of miles (see our gallery linked below).

Stats at a Glance

Distance 10.9 km/6.8 miles | Height Gain 84 m/274 ft | Maximum Elevation 462 m/1514 ft (Birkdale Bridge) | Going Generally good partially on well constructed trails and tracks but involving a challenging and rocky clamber down the Whin Sill at the start. Elsewhere very muddy and boggy in places. Generally exposed on moorland and farmland | Navigation (OS Maps Explorer OL31; Landranger 91); GPS File |Hospitality & Supplies Sayer Hill Farm (CS); Langdon Beck (Ho; YH) [2 km]; High Force (Ho) [0.5 km] | Start Birkdale Bridge, Cow Green NY 813287 (w3w: paradise.expecting.stooping) | Finish Duke’s Bridge, Holwick Head NY 889283 (w3w: cave.saturate.revived) | Grade Challenge | GALLERY

Trail Updates

The following updates have been published by The Durham Cow for this section: 030825

Description

The section starts unavoidably and somewhat dramatically, with a long, challenging clamber following the foaming River Tees as it plunges down Cauldron Snout — England’s biggest cascade. At the bottom — at the confluence of the River Tees with the Maize Beck — there’s a short transition onto the marshy floodplain of Lingy Holm where generous lengths of duck-boarding ease what could otherwise be a very soggy passage. Looming over you, on the left, are the precipitous cliffs of Falcon Clints where scree tumbles down to the Tees creating an intermittent but unavoidable, kilometre-long scramble over boulders of all sizes.

Across the river you’ll eventually be able to see the unmistakable course of an old drovers’ route known as “The Green Trod” (referred to on some maps as Nan Gate Bridle Road) heading up the side of Cronkley Fell where you’d once have found Silverband Lead Mine. The contrast with the rapidly widening pasture of Holmwath (Old Norse for “flat land by the ford”) is like chalk and cheese. It sits between Widdybank Fell to the east, and the towering, near-vertical screes of Raven Scar, across the river to the west. Widdy Bank Farm is the office for Moor House Reserve.

Beyond the farm is Widdybank Pasture where you’re likely to come across cattle — quite often, the placid, black-and-white Belted Galloways or “Belties”. Further downstream, on the opposite bank, are the remote, abandoned ruins of Cronkley Pencil Mill situated to exploit an outcrop of Ordivician slate, soft enough to make pencils that, due to the location, were known as “widdies”.

Eventually you arrive at Sayer Hill Farm and, beyond that, Saur Hill Bridge on the Harwood Beck where, once again, it’s a bit rocky (though not on the same scale). The trail improves past Wheysike House where the Harwood Beck joins the River Tees. A vehicle access track crosses the Tees via Cronkley Bridge to reach Cronkley Farm around which the trail passes to the right before dropping to a stile at the foot of a steep climb between Low Crag and High Crag.

Stone slabs prevent another potentially wet passage over an undulating, marshy section of fell leading onto Bracken Rigg from where there are fine views all of the way down the dale. Descending the spur, you’ll pass the first bushes of the juniper wood mentioned in the introduction. At the bottom of the slope there are a couple of footbridges leading onto the river’s floodplain — known as Pasture Foot — which has an ancient history of habitation.

Forcegarth Quarry, across the river, continues to extract dolerite (whinstone) from the Whin Sill for use as roadstone. Directly opposite the quarry is Blea Beck Force which is seen at it’s best after heavy rain. This also applies to High Force — England’s biggest waterfall — where the Tees thunders over a 20-metre drop in the Whin Sill. If you’ve never seen it before you can’t fail to be impressed. There are a couple of easily found photo locations directly off the trail (both very exposed).

If you want to see the falls from the bottom, you’ll need to pay a toll to the administering Raby Estate. Continue down the trail to the end of the section at Holwick Head (Duke’s Bridge). Then, if you want to visit High Force from the paying side, cross the bridge, continue on the trail back upriver, up a steep flight of steps and cross the road to a toll booth adjacent to the High Force Hotel.