High Force waterfall, Maizebeck, Birkdale, Cauldron Snout, Forest-in-Teesdale, Co Durham.
[ 22.4 km] Thu 31 Mar 2011

NY 8931 2846
I reached Ettersgill Bridge in Teesdale and parked the car on a muddy parking area just off the main road. The weather was miserable and windy and I had to delay my start as torrential rain battered the windscreen. Eventually I set off when the rain stopped briefly. Across the road I headed down a track to Howick Head footbridge over the River Tees. The water was very dark and dirty in appearance. A path headed up above Keedholm Scar, through gorse bushes to a level area where it was possible to get a good view of High Force waterfall.

Across the river I could look down on the official viewpoint which is accessed from the main High Force Hotel area. The only problem with that viewpoint is that you have to pay to get there. The path headed west across a nice flat grassy valley. There were warning sign about blasting at the Force Garth Quarry which I could see across the river.

The westerly wind increased in force and the rain came back making it uncomfortable battling into the storm. I was on the Pennine Way route but left it at Fell Dyke Sike to head up Birk Rigg which has a wide path running up it. I couldn’t see much through the sheets of rain blowing by and as I approached the summit I managed to find some shelter behind a rock.

I stopped for a coffee from my flask then continued battling in to the wind which I hoped would decrease as I lost altitude on the descent back towards the river. Unfortunately it didn’t. My first problem of the day was to cross Merrygill Beck.

I managed to get across with my boots on at a fence but I knew the crossing of Maize Beck up ahead wouldn’t be so easy. The nice paths of earlier were all behind me and even though a path is shown on the map there is no sign of it on the ground. I saw an old mine entrance ahead, which I briefly visited, then followed the line of Military warning posts over the fell. The land to the south is a firing range and has to be avoided. Over the summit I could see the farm of Birkdale on the other side of Maize Beck. My next problem was to get across the river. At the crossing of Merrygill Beck I’d picked up a wooden pole which I kept as I knew it would come in useful for this crossing. Maize Beck is quite wide here and I would have to wade all the way across. So with boots and socks off and hanging round my neck I set off through the cold water. The first half wasn’t too bad as the water wasn’t more than knee deep. The wind continued and caused me some problems.

The second half of the crossing was the worse as the water became quite deep and the river bed boulders were incredibly slimy and slippery. I was very glad to reach the far bank and sit down to dry my cold a numb feet. It was nice to be back walking on firm ground as I crossed the two fields to the track by Birkdale. There was a vehicle parked by the farm but nobody was about. I followed the track to the Cow Green Dam where I left it to start the descent of the rocky path by Cauldron Snout waterfall.

There isn’t a good view of the falls from the path and it looks like the best views would be from the far side of the gorge, but no path exists there. Back in the valley bottom I rejoined the river Tees and followed a bouldery path below Falcon Clints. It was unpleasant in places due to the wet rocks but eventually became easy as I approached Widdy Bank farm. The path goes over a wall and across fields to Sayer Hill. The mole catcher had been busy nearby and many dead moles were swinging in the wind as their small bodies had been hung on the top of a barbed wire fence.

At Saur Hill Bridge I kept to the farm track and followed it to the main B6277 near Langdon Beck. I turned right and began the walk back to the car. I stopped to look at a nice stone sculpture partly done by pupils of Forest-in-Teesdale School nearby.

I reached the High Force Hotel and main parking complex. I could then see the costs to park and walk to see the falls. The car park was £2 plus £1.50 to walk to falls. I decided not to walk to the falls at that price but continued along the road and back to my car in the free muddy park. I didn’t see a single walker the whole day.