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

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Further on, juniper bushes cloak the slopes of Keedholm Scar. Juniper wood was once gathered to make high-quality charcoal, and the berries to flavour London gin.

Looking along the Pennine Way to Cronkley Fell

The river bends sharply just past Keedholm Scar, and suddenly the air is filled with a distant rumbling, the sound of the most famous of Pennine waterfalls, High Force. A slight diversion at metal railings is necessary to get a decent view from this side of the river, but care is needed this close to the edge. The Force is a dramatic plunge over a shelf of dolerite and shale of some 21 metres (70ft), dark brown and peaty, often lost in a fine mist of spray. This is not the highest waterfall in the country by any means, but it is the biggest, and a sight everyone should see.

Upstream, the sound of the falls soon dies away and the Tees resumes a more docile air, rising in restless moorland wandering to its source high on the southern flanks of Cross Fell. The double falls of Bleabeck Force are nothing by comparison, a mere ripple. Ahead the route follows the Pennine Way as it climbs onto the shoulder of Bracken Rigg to an old Pennine Way marker post. From here it descends to a step-stile near a wall corner, beyond which the Way is paved for a while before reaching Cronkley Farm.