21 September 2019

Teesdale

Where the River Tees meets Langdon Beck
Late yesterday afternoon, on the A1 Motorway in North Yorkshire, I noticed a sign - "Leeming Bar Rest Area 1 mile". And I thought to myself, "Hell, I need a rest".

So I drove off the motorway, parked in the promised rest area, reclined my seat and promptly fell asleep.  I woke up half an hour later and wandered into the "Costa" coffee shop for  a medium latte. Then I went in the Gentlemen's toilets (American: rest room/ bathroom) to urinate and to splash my face with cold water.

Back on the motorway, I felt alert with no chance of falling asleep at the wheel. It had been a long day.

I had woken at 6am in a tiny single room in The Teesdale Hotel in Middleton-in-Teesdale. After reading for an hour, I showered, packed my stuff up and headed downstairs for breakfast. Muesli, toast, tea and a full English breakfast - fried egg, black pudding, two rashers of bacon, grilled tomato and a sausage - all fine quality.

Then I stepped out into the gorgeous September sunlight, strolled around the village for a while, remembered I still had my room keys, took them back and then set off farther up the valley of The River Tees. 
Scar End Farm
"Where the hell are we going?" grumbled Clint.

"Into a land that is unknown to me," I whispered.

"Let's go," he said.
"New House", Forest-in-Teesdale
We parked near an old chapel in the dispersed upland farming settlement that  is known as Forest-in-Teesdale. Then I set off. I had my map. It was a diamond day as the weather people had predicted and I had ten miles to walk. Ten beautiful miles of sights not seen before and I loved every one of those miles. No need for a jacket but I did carry my rucksack containing a flask of cold water, a banana, an apple and a packet of cheese and onion crisps (American: chips).
On Wool Pits Hill
How good it was to be there and there was something unusual that I had not realised beforehand. Almost all of the farms in that remote upland area  are painted white. It was a peculiarity that I very much enjoyed. And I enjoyed seeing the place where the infant River Tees meets Langdon Beck before continuing its journey to the sea. It is a journey that two miles downstream takes the river over a hard layer of volcanic rock  - hence the dramatic High Force waterfall thundering down as it has done for millennia.
A view of High Force Waterfall - Upper Teesdale

34 comments:

  1. A grand way and a great day to celebrate 10 years of retirement. Lovely photos, as always. Your wonderful solitary walks certainly speak to the introvert in me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. On your own you can move at your own pace and rest when you want to and you do not feel any pressure to maintain communication.

      Delete
  2. You seem to have enjoyed your grand day out. I have to admit to drooling over the description of your breakfast, and those views!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A breakfast like that sets you up for a good few hours of rambling/

      Delete
  3. A sort of perfection in every shot. What a wonderful way to celebrate ten years of living your life on your own terms.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's encouraging to learn that you appreciated those images Ms. Moon. If I had still been in my stuffy classroom, I might well have looked through the window and wished that I could have been out there enjoying that sunny day.

      Delete
  4. A great walk, and I'm glad the weather was playing along nicely to the rhythm of your steps.
    All white painted farms, that's interesting. Personally, I like the look of the stone houses better, but a white one every now and then makes for an interesting change.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I really didn't know that about Upper Teesdale. Such a nice surprise. I have no idea why they paint their farms like that.

      Delete
    2. Mr Google led me to this website that informs us the tenanted farms on a particular estate were painted white... http://www.durhamlandscape.info/article/10104/Upper-Dale

      Delete
    3. Thank you for that useful piece of research Professor JayCee.

      Delete
  5. I like black pudding very much.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Good quality black pudding is a real delight.

      Delete
  6. Another beautiful area. Is your weather always that good? Ex-pats I have known from the UK were always citing the climate as their reason for leaving. The fact that they thought Seattle was an improvement suggested it really was wet a lot of the time. I retired at 55, it was a little earlier than I would have liked, but I just couldn't take it anymore.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. May I say that I love English weather and scorn those who run away and knock it. One of the things I love about our weather is its unpredictability. Any rain we get fills our reservoirs and our rivers and it helps the trees to grow. What was your work back then Allison?

      Delete
    2. I worked in computing. First as a programmer and then as a project manager for large data center move and change initiatives. Later, I moved into performance management of an off the shelf software package. It had terrible performance, but since it was off the shelf, there was not much to be done for it. Management seemed to think there was. I hit 55 and departed.

      Delete
    3. In a way, I kind of envy people who are in jobs they love enough to take them beyond sixty - such as my wife who is a nurse.

      Delete
  7. Beautiful pictures, especially that waterfall! How nice that you could visit an area you've not seen before. I'm surprised there are any places left you have not seen with all the lovely walks you take. This must be a welcome addition to your photos on Geograph!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are right Bonnie - a welcome addition - but I can still think of several "pockets" of this relatively small country that I have never visited.

      Delete
  8. Replies
    1. Yes... and a little wild too. Best seen in good weather I think.

      Delete
  9. That blue sky couldn't be more blue if you'd dyed the print x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Is it sapphire blue or robin's egg blue?

      Delete
    2. As an artist, you should know robin's egg blue, Mr. Pudding.

      Delete
  10. Glad to see a new post. The last one seemed rather valedictory. We like the Leeming Bar Rest Area. It feels like stepping back into the nineteen seventies. You could imagine it full of bikers. It once had the status of a full service station but was demoted when the road was upgraded to motorway. In fact we've been up there today with an overloaded car taking offspring back to university.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You sound like a student of motorway services Sir Tasker. I suppose you have notebooks in which to write your service station observations. Are you also a fan of Eddie Stobart trucks?

      Delete
    2. Oh yes. We saw the truck called Carlyn Margaret today.

      Delete
    3. Should read H111 Carlynn Margaret - PO68 YLG - see https://www.flickr.com/photos/167629556@N06/46722027094

      Delete
    4. I bet you also have a beige anorak, buck teeth and glasses with lenses like whisky glasses.

      Delete
  11. I like the first photo. Many of the Arctic rivers are shallow and rocky. Did I say cold? Try fording one!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I would rather walk across on stilts!

      Delete
  12. A new adventure and walk is always (hopefully) refreshing for the soul. I'd have spent a long time sitting by that waterfall.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The sound of it was thunderous. Lord knows what it is like after days of heavy rain.

      Delete
  13. The weather looks absolutely gorgeous. I didn't realise Hannah Hauxwell had died last year but I remember a documentary about her on TV years ago - a lovely, gentle lady, as I remember.

    ReplyDelete
  14. 'Tis interesting to learn about your toilet habits, Yorkie. I hope you didn't get confused over which water to use. You would've received a shock if the water splashed upon your face was warm.

    ReplyDelete

Mr Pudding welcomes all genuine comments - even those with which he disagrees. However, puerile or abusive comments from anonymous contributors will continue to be given the short shrift they deserve. Any spam comments that get through Google/Blogger defences will also be quickly deleted.

Most Visits