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

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Immediately, the Tees puts on a show in the form of Low Force, a place where the riverbed is wide and punctuated by islands of dolerite. Set against a backdrop of dark woodlands, this is the Tees at its most beautiful.

Climb the steps beyond the bridge and set off beside the Tees. This is a delightful stretch of the Pennine Way, which, at the right time of year, produces a display of plants that has given Teesdale an international reputation among botanists. Globe flower seems to grow everywhere, while among the rocks shrubby and alpine cinquefoil have found root. The most famous of Teesdale’s plants is the spring gentian, making its home here among other rarities, the alpine forget-me-not, bitter milkwort, bog sandwort, bird’s-eye primrose and others.

Why such great plant diversity should appear here seems a puzzle – but the answer lies in the study of geology and early land formations. Teesdale (and parts of Scotland) were grassy islands in a vast forest, fragments of the carpet of tundra that covered Britain after the Ice Age. Later, when the climate improved, these areas were shaded out by trees. Carbon dating of pollen remains in the underlying peat reveals a history going back to the last Ice Age.