Update After 20th May
Flickr Album for the 20th May Walk Click Here
Glorious day in the sunshine, and the trip through the Yorkshire Dales, via Barnard Castle was a delight. It was an early start for us all as the trip from Leeds to the 'Walk' itself was 2 hours and 90 miles to the North of Leeds. So we decided to set off around 7:00 AM Saturday morning, of the 20th may 2023. Monica, Qiniso, Knonzanani, and with John diving we did the 'pick-ups' around Leeds then headed for the M1/AI to the North!
It was a bright day, with some early morning mists being burnt off by the Sun. We drove to the famous "Scotch Corner" where the A66 meets the A1, and headed towards the Yorkshire Dales. A lovely drive indeed, and the scenery, as we turned off the A66 just got better with every twist and turn - and there were plenty of those! No road grid layouts in the UK! The breath-taking Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle that we passed, is clearly somewhere to visit at a later date.
Onward via, Middleton-in-Teesdale and Newbiggin and out to the Bowlees Visitor Centre, just West of Newbiggin. They have a great car parking arrangement with simply voluntary donations, rather than a set fee. And its mostly under the shade of trees and next to a babbling brook/stream too! BUT NOTE - get there early {we arrived at 9:30am and had the pick of the parking spots}, but at 1:00 pm with was completely full, with cars parked all the way along the approach roads!
The actual Walk itself was excellent too, although we set off in the wrong direction to start, and had to rectify that with a walk trough some fields (still technically a footpath as indicated on the Ordnance Survey map I was trying to use. PLEASE NOTE: Little of Zero Mobile Signal in the area of the Bowlees Centre! So in future I need paper maps!!
Since the day was getting warmer and the sun was shining - hard, we set off at a relaxed pace, partly to 'breathe-in' the views and atmosphere, but partly to keep cool. The walk down to the Low Force area, which was pretty close to the Bowlees Visitor Centre, and their car parking. There are steps and other paths that are unsuitable for those in wheel-chairs so be warned. Rocks and stony ground to climb over etc. But the sight of the Low Fall Area in the bright sunshine was magnification, with the waters of the Tees, spilling over a series of falls and into the various pools below. The waters, stained brown due to the peat hills on either side of the valley, were churning over the rocky river bed. The river is highly variable due to the large catchment area of the Tees Valley, today it was relatively calm, but looking of the photos of the High Force previously shown, indicate water levels several yards/metres deeper.
The full photographic log of the day is now available on the ZHRO Flickr Pro Website - LINK HERE TO VIEW. We did meet several interesting people during the day, including several Zimbabweans! We also me the Chair of "Without Borders" who was close to the Stockton-on-Tees base, and he was regularly in touch with Moses Mbano, one of our Walking Hero's and who has completed a few of our Walk for Freedom. Small World as they say.
We enjoyed our day-out to these Falls, and would recommend this walk to anyone again. So from Monica, Qiniso, Khonzanani, Melody, Innocent and myself, we strongly suggest that you too, try a "Walk for Freedom" both locally and for the August 5-6th Brighton to London {or part of it} See the AUGUST endurance details CLICK HERE
