Читать книгу Great Mountain Days in the Pennines. 50 classic hillwalking routes онлайн

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Here, turn right, using the farm access to walk to Saur Hill Bridge, which spans Harwood Beck. On reaching the bridge, turn left before it, leaving the Pennine Way and taking to a path alongside the beck, and follow this beckside path to a crossing point on the road from Langdon Beck. Now, turn left, and simply follow the gently rising road across undulating pastures for 4km (2½ miles) back to the car park overlooking Cow Green. There is an air of openness about this return section, enlivened throughout by bird song and, in spring especially, a wealth of wild flowers, both of which combine to speed the return journey.

The River Tees below Cronkley Scar

WALK SIX

High Force and Cronkley Fell

Start pointBowlees NY908283Distance20.5km (12¾ miles)Height gain372m (1220ft)GradedemandingTime6hrsMapsOrdnance Survey OL31 (North Pennines: Teesdale and Weardale)Getting thereBowlees picnic area car parkAfter-walk refreshmentPubs, cafés and restaurants in Middleton-in-Teesdale

For much of its long journey the Pennine Way is charted across desolate acres, the preserve of experienced walkers. But for a while, as it progresses northwards from Middleton-in-Teesdale, it relaxes its challenge and injects a soft, pastoral interlude of riverside meadows before heading for the highest ground of all on Cross Fell. In this gentler stretch, the River Tees holds sway, just a few miles from its source. In places it meanders smoothly over a wide bed of rock; elsewhere it cascades forcefully with all the might of a major river over rocky downfalls.